Nazareth and Galilee

I never wrote about the last few days we spent in Israel.  So I'm going to backtrack to June...

There were several places we wanted to see in Northern Israel, so we decided it would be easiest to join a tour guide.  That eliminates the need to navigate public transportation between tiny towns.  Even though we're familiar with cities because they're in the Bible doesn't mean they're big towns today.  When I was looking into going to Caesarea or Haifa, there was barely any public transportation to even get there.  I was struck by how normal most of the towns were.  The touristy stuff is confined to a few locations, and the rest of the city is business as usual: street markets, taxis, mothers trying to drag their kids along the sidewalk.  

After passing through the lower Galilee region, our first stop was Nazareth.  The two main churches in Nazareth are the Basilica of the Annunciation and the Church of Saint Joseph.  

The Basilica has beautiful art all around a courtyard depicting Mary in the style of different countries.  It's a fairly modern church, which was built on the foundation of many older churches.  Supposedly it's built on top of Mary's childhood home, and of course, is the site of the Annunciation. 

Basilica of the Annunciation

Colombia, Slovak, Thailand, Spain, and Korea (a few of the many)

the doors has friezes of scenes from the life of the Savior (birth, flight into Egypt, crucifixion, etc)

Dome of the church

The Church of St Joseph is supposedly built on the site where Mary and Joseph's house stood.  It's a smaller church, next door to the basilica.  Underneath are caves, where they say people used to store things like grain. 

We continued on farther East in Israel, until we arrived at the Sea of Galilee region. 

The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes is in Tabkha at the site where (again, supposedly) Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes.  There is tile work near the altar of the church that shows the loaves and fishes.  Nearby is the Mount of the Beatitudes.  Jesus did a lot of preaching in this region. 

After Tabkha we ate at a restaurant right on the Galilee.  Hyrum is eating "St Peter's Fish."

Next we headed north along the coast to Capernaum, where Jesus taught, and also where many of his disciples were from.  There is a church built on top of what they think was Peter's house.  (Really??)  There are also remains from a synagogue built at the end of the 4th century ad.    In the same area were the remains of a Byzantine village (made out of black basalt stone, which is found locally.

Interestingly, Capernaum is kind of like a heat trap.  Our tour guide said it's consistently 10-15 degrees hotter than surrounding areas.  And I felt it!

(L) you can see the side of the church-- it's a modern looking building.  That's the basalt stone.  (R) glass inside the church covering the foundation/ruins of Peter's house.  

Synagogue from 4th century

Our last stop was Yardenit, which is just south of where the Jordan River flows out from the Sea of Galilee towards the Dead Sea.  I don't think they claim that Jesus was baptized here, but it's a site of pilgrimage for many Christians who come here to be baptized.  The area was really pretty, but it was really touristy. And in a weird way.  You can rent baptismal clothes, and pay to be baptized.  We watched people wait in line, and when they reached the end of the ramp they'd go under the water, and then have all kinds of reactions:  Crying. Shouting.  Floating with a smile on their face.  Some people even had so much fun they kept dunking themselves under.  One group that we saw go through was Catholic.  The priest was at the end of the ramp with a stick/branch that he actually just used to tap them on the head.  They didn't immerse themselves at all.  Isn't that a little anticlimactic when you're in the Jordan River??  And then to top it all off, these people come wading out of the water with see-through white dresses clinging to their bodies and soaking wet hair.  Let's just say I wasn't jumping out of my seat to go in the water.  But it was certainly an interesting experience to sit and watch for a while.