Shalom!
One thing Tel Aviv has in common with Dubai
is it gets pretty warm in the morning. But that is what you get in summer.
We woke early and had a small breakfast
before being picked up for our first tour in Israel. We were dropped off at the
meeting point and met the others who were going to join us on our tour, quite a
random bunch of people from all over the world - USA, Mexico, Holland & Nigeria (probably got the money as a Nigerian Prince) and the tour guide, Haya.
Haya was awesome as a tour guide. She was
knowledgeable about her country but was also quite funny in an older lady
who-takes-no-shit-kind-of -way. We drove for about an hour through country
Israel before reaching Nazareth.
Nazareth is the Arab capital of Israel but
also the supposed birthplace of Jesus Christ (not Superstar, just the
original).
Just above the entrance to the Annunciation Church
We visited the Basilica of the
Annunciation, a beautiful old church where the Virgin Mary was told she would
give birth to the Son of God. It is a big church that was financed by the Medici’s and
built by Italian Giovanni Muzio We toured through and were able to see the cave
where the angel visited Mary and also some remains of the original church.
Views suck but gas and electricity costs were next to nothing
The second floor has a magnificent lily
dome and paintings donated by various countries (including Australia) lining
the walls and a large painting behind the dias depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary
and St Peter.
After the Anunciation Church we went to St
Joseph’s Church a little down the road where it is believed to be the carpentry
workshop of Jesus’s father, Joseph and where he taught Jesus carpentry. Smaller
than the Annunciation Church, the lower levels of the church have an ancient
water pit/well, mosaics, caves that have survived since the 1st
century. Access to the crypt (the ancient areas) used to be accessible to the
public, but no longer except on Christmas. However people still throw money and
photos into the tunnels for some reason.
Joseph's workshop, like mine, hasn't been used in a long long time.
We departed Nazareth and headed to Tiberias,
in the region of Galilee, where we viewed the Sea of Galilee and visited
Capernaum, the home of Jesus Christ after he was banished from Nazareth. It was
another place where the ancient times still stood. You could see the black
stones of the houses, some walls still standing (though only a couple of feet
high) and the white stone of a synagogue with it’s pillars and some walls still
standing. There were even etchings in the stone still readable (if I could read
the language). It was quite amazing.
We also saw the Octagonal Church that sits
above the remains of St Peter’s house, which is still viewable today.
Like I said, amazing.
Lunch was along the Sea of Galilee, about a
2-minute drive from the Synagogue. We stopped at a restaurant with a great view
of the water and had the amazing Capernaum fish for lunch. Delicious. The tour
is worth it just to taste this fish.
After lunch we departed for Yardenit, the
baptismal site on the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. It was possible to
pay $10 to get baptized if you wanted to, it was also tempting to do it just to
get in the water. It looked so clean and refreshing and it was so hot today.
However I didn’t and I still remain a heathen…except my hands. I put my hands
in the water, so when I die, my hands will be waving at me from heaven.
The site was pretty cool but nothing
memorable except that you have to pay 2 shekels to use the toilet. Needless to
say I was outraged and didn’t pay out of spite.
The river where they dunked some poor kid
The tour finished there and we drove back
to Tel Aviv and dropped off at our hotel. We put away our stuff and went a
couple of blocks down the road to a German, restaurant called Bayern. We ate
some damn good veal schnitzels and then returned home and packed for tomorrows
tour.
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