A Day by the Sea (of Galilee, that is)!

We awoke to lovely sunshine and the sound of the call to prayer blaring through loud speakers from the minaret near us. We enjoyed watching the children come to the school on the grounds where we are staying as we boarded our bus for the day.

The altar at the Church of the Multiplication

Driving east through a lush and productive valley, we came to our first stop, the Church of the Beatitudes, built in the area where perhaps Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. The Benedictine sisters both started and continue to serve in this compound on the Sea of Galilee. Driving further up along the west side of the Sea (actually more like a lake in size, being about 6 miles by 14 miles in size), stopped at the Church of the Multiplication set on the shore of Tabgha, commemorating the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. There is a large rock under the altar here where it is said perhaps Jesus set the boy's basket of food as he blessed it. We were able to touch our toes in the water here.

Peter's house, perhaps

On the north shore of the "lake", we visited the ancient synagogue in what used to be Capernaum. There are really two different synagogues here, one built on the other, with the first dating back to the 1st century. We know Jesus preached in the synagogue at Capernaum, so seeing these "old rocks" was meaningful. There is also a house that has been unearthed that was known to be a house of worship from the earliest time of Christianity. That has led some to believe this might have been Peter's home where Jesus healed his mother-in'law.

Our lunch was eaten right at the shores of the Sea of Galilee and included tilapia caught in the Sea. That was fun! After lunch we drove around the east side of the Sea, viewing the now famous Golan Heights to our immediate left as we headed south. Coming to the south side of the lake, we stopped to view the Jordan River at Yardenit, a site where many people come to be baptized or re-baptized these days. We saw several doing that. What was interesting to us is that it seemed to be self-baptisms, as we saw several dunking and crossing themselves three times.

Casting the net

Our drive continued through Tiberias and on to a kibbutz that operates a museum holding the remains of a boat found in the Sea of Galilee in 1986 and strongly believed to be from Jesus' day. It has been carefully preserved and on display, a great thing for us to see. We boarded a much more modern version of such a boat for a ride on the Sea of Galilee. Contrary to some of the rides Jesus and his disciples had on the Sea, ours was peaceful and serene in the lat afternoon sun - very pleasant. The fisherman who took us on the ride did a demonstration of casting a net into the Sea. He caught none on the one side, cast it on the other side, but caught none there either. I think we needed Jesus with us!

This second day of touring has been as long as the first, but less strenuous in terms of the type of walking required, a bit of a relief after the hikes of yesterday. We head out tomorrow morning from the Galilee area moving south.