FEBRUARY 27 - TABGHA, CAPHARNAUM and more.....

After a lovely breakfast, which, again, comprised of any number of starters, main dishes and desserts, we found ourselves with a little time before our 9 a.m. meeting with Moody and George, so we took a walk around the lovely grounds of The Scots Hotel.  

 

There's a swimming pool, spa and herb garden surrounding the various buildings that make up the hotel and we even saw one of the chefs, possibly, collecting herbs early that morning for whatever fabulous culinary wonders he planned on making that day.

A quiet room is even on the premises for people to gather their thoughts, meditate, achieve a little peace during their travels or simply read.

 

Sculptures line the walkways between the buildings and levels of the property and I fell in love with this one - "Big Mama."  I found her to be absolutely beautiful.

Looking through our photos, I see that we had another full day traveling around the Sea of Galilee.   First stop was Tabgha, the Benedictine Monastery and Church of the Primacy of St. Peter.  "Tranquil Tabgha, on the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee, is best known for Christ’s miraculous multiplication of loaves and fish to feed a multitude." 

 

 

 

 And, of course, the place where Christ gave the Primacy to Peter. 

 

 

 

 

 

Signage...

 

On to Capharnaum, the town of Jesus.  According to the highlighted website, here is where Jesus performed several miracles.  It is also the place of Peter's house, which fell into ruins and an extremely modern looking Church built in 1990 now stands there.  When walking around the Church, you can actually see the ruins of the previous foundations.  Like I've said several times before, there are ruins built on other ruins, churches built on top of others churches, tombs built on top of other tombs. 

 

 

 

There was a magnificent painting of Mother Teresa within the walls of this Church  .....

....as well as a beautiful painting of Veronica touching the gown of Jesus....

 ....and an incredible sculpture (one of my favorites) outside of a homeless man ..... (notice the scars on his feet.... Very powerful.

On to the Golan Heights.  There's plenty of history behind this part of the world, but, very succinctly, in recent times, the Golan Heights, once part of Syria, is now part of Israel and recognized as such by the United States.  "Speaking at the first ever Cabinet meeting to be held in the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on April 17, 2016, that Israel will never give up the Golan Heights. 'It’s time that the international community finally recognize that the Golan will remain forever under Israel’s sovereignty.'”  As I've said before while quoting Ernest Hemingway, "Isn't it pretty to think so." 

 

 

 

 

 

Military bunkers are still there.....

More interesting signage.....

 

A stop at the local store .... the shop keeper hadn't been open for very long and didn't have her credit card machine working yet.  Fortunately, we always have cash.   Beautiful carvings were available.  We bought a mezuzah in this little shop and asked about the markings on it.  The mezuzah is imprinted with the letter "SH" which is "Shaddai" or "God."  Moody, although raised as Orthodox, is no longer Orthodox, but he still will not say the name of "God." Orthodox Jews will say, "the Name" in place of "God" but will never say, "Shaddai."  Neither I nor Michael knew that. 

Sculptures along the walkways....

 

 

 

While we were at the Golan Heights, there were groups of school children and teens visiting the site as well.  It is all part of Israel's requirement that young people learn about Israel's history.  We also encountered a family of Druze. The Druze, according to Moody, are a 1,000 year old offshoot of Islam.  It is somewhat a secret religion - you can't even read its sacred writings unless you want to be a member of the religion.  Women wear white head scarves (that's how you can identify someone who is Druze) and the men wear mustaches and white yarmulkes.  There are 1 million Druze and there are about 20,000 who live in the Golan Heights;  they don't care whether they're Israeli.  They pray in prayer houses, not mosques, and you wouldn't even know the house was a prayer house because it's secret.  They were (are?) persecuted and, therefore, required secrecy.  They only marry within their community.  Moody suggested watching the movie, "The Syrian Bride."  The family we noticed were taking turns photographing each other and Michael offered to take one of the whole family with their cameras.  We, of course, didn't take any photos of them. 

On our way to Magdala, we noticed yellow signs along the highway and asked Moody what they were.  They were signs saying "Danger" - warning of Syrian mines that still exist are on either side of the highway.  

 

 

Almost in Magdala, we spotted children dressed for Holy Communion.  

 

"Magdala’s fame down the centuries rested on one notable person, Mary Magdalene. "This enigmatic woman — revered as a saint by the Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches — was one of the few persons named in the Gospels as being present at Christ’s crucifixion and the first recorded witness of his Resurrection."

We had lunch at the Magdalena Restaurant;  this was where Michael had the worst meal during the entire trip.  He ordered a steak and it was the absolute worst steak he'd ever eaten.  I think he should've returned it but that's just me.  But, in the end, I think the ambience and company, Moody and George, made up for the lousy steak.  

We then went to a hotel, the name escapes me, because right next to it was discovered, during excavation, a 1st Century synagogue.  "More archaeological remains were uncovered in 2009 on an adjacent property newly acquired by the Legion of Christ to establish a hotel, institute for women and retreat centre. The Legion, a Catholic congregation, manages the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem." When the remains were discovered, the hotel moved over a little and the hotel was built while preserving the ruins.

Our final stop of the day was the Yigal Allon Center.  The Yigal Allon Center is home to the "ancient boat" – a 2,000-year old boat found off the coast of the Sea of ​​Galilee, a one-of-a-kind archaeological discovery.  Beautiful grounds and landscape surround the Center.

 

 

 

 

 

Back at The Scots Hotel, we bid Moody and George a good night and had dinner on our own at the hotel's outdoor dining area which was absolutely beautiful.  No one else was there and the evening was magical.   Middle Eastern pop music played all evening which I fell in love with and Michael captured the artists and names of the songs on his phone.  I've got them all written down and now I just have to find them all on youtube! 

 

 

Our penultimate day of touring came to a close... tomorrow, we leave for Nazareth and Tel Aviv and home on the first!