Haifa Israel, Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee

Day 14 – Haifa Israel, Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee

Haifa, Nazareth, Tiberias

Sunday, 29 September 2013

We docked at Haifa in Israel about 3.30am to a beautiful crescent moon. But sad news on our home front as Merlin (one of our cats) is very sick. The vet suspects he has gone into kidney failure but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow for results of blood tests. He’s such a lovely cat – undemanding but loves his routine – regular meals and bedtime. Hope he’ll be OK.

The alarm went off at 6.00am for our walk around the deck before a light breakfast. 11 laps equals a mile. I jogged a few which made me feel very virtuous whilst Anthony did his speed walking when I tried to lap him!

Our shore excursion was about 11 hours long so we needed to be at the Constellation lounge by 7.15 to collect passports and visas, and go through Israeli immigration before starting our tour. We had a local Hebrew guide who was very knowledgeable and told many humorous stories.

We drove around the Sea of Galilee which is really a lake, not a sea. It relies on snowfall from the northern mountains to keep it full. They have dammed the southern end where it runs into the river Jordan as the water is too precious for them to allow it to escape. In fact the Sea of Galilee is the main water source for the whole of Israel. They are currently building a huge desalination plant which they hope will service Jerusalem where the population continues to grow.

We stopped at a point on the river Jordan commemorating where John baptised Jesus. Apparently they can baptise up to 1000 pilgrims at any one time, and we did see a group preparing themselves. There was a good shop on site where Anthony found a set of three original coins that he couldn’t resist!

We then visited Tabgha on the lake which is supposed to be the place where Jesus handed over primacy to Peter. There’s a beautiful little church known as St Peter’s Primacy which has this wonderful altar built on rocks like those outside.

When the lake is full it laps up to the church! Many people were dipping their feet into the water and other pilgrims were participating in masses at the outdoor altars.

We also visited the Mount of Beautitudes which is supposed to be where Jesus delivered the sermon on the Mount (Anthony didn’t see any cheese makers for those of you who know Monty Python!). There is now a church here also, and the site for many pilgrimages. Pilgrims can also have the experience of sailing on replicas of ancient fishing ships on the Sea of Galilee.

Another unique church was one dedicated to Peter the fisherman in Capernaum. This was built over what was claimed to be Peter’s house and you could look through the floor to see the ruins. The site also contained the ruins of an ancient Jewish temple/ synagogue.

Lunch was at a kibbutz which is in private ownership. Like all kibbutzim they seem to specialise in feeding the 5000. Alas no St Peter’s fish was served but certainly tasty enough.

Nazareth was the last stop with a visit to two churches, the Basilica of the Annunciation and the smaller church of St Joseph (he always seems to miss out) but both very beautiful.

What was more interesting is that archeologists have found the remains of a 1st century Jewish village which would had been between 500-700 people.

Forgot to mention Tiberias where we went to the Diamond Museum and showroom. Apparently Israel is the world leader in cutting and preparing diamonds, although it has no diamond mines itself!

	View of Haifa from Mt Carmel [Map]		View of the Gollan heights [Map]
	Site of baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist [Map]		Pilgrims waiting to be baptised [Map]
	Church of the Annunciation [Map]		Church of St. Peter at Capernaum [Map]
	Inside church of St. Peter [Map]		4th century Jewish synagogue at Capernaum [Map]
	Lunch at the kibbutz [Map]