Hotfooting It In The Holy Land
With an action packed schedule, it was another early start today. Fadi doesn’t take too kindly to tardiness so there was no dilly-dallying at the brekky buffet.
We realised this morning we were already halfway through our trip. The time is just flying!
Around these parts, when looking at the places that historical events occurred, there’s an “if not here, then very close to here” policy. That was the case for our first port of call today: the Church of Multiplication, which was in the general - if not here, then close to here - vicinity of where Jesus fed the hungry horde on the hillside, from just a couple of measly loves of bread and a few fish. The church had a beautiful circular stone courtyard, shaded by a big-boughed olive tree. The church floor was getting some much needed repairs by some hard-working tradesmen, but these were tradies with a difference. Swapping drills and hammers for tweezers and pots of paste, they were meticulously working to piece together the tiny puzzle of intricate mosaic tiles on the floor. They were so patient and focused.
We have so enjoyed staying by the Sea of Galilee and watching the tourist-filled wooden boats milling around on its clear blue surface and today it was our turn to board a boat. The seasoned sailors on our big, heavy wooden vessel surprised us by raising the Aussie flag as we left the shore. We all (well most of us anyway) joined together in a rousing rendition of Advance Australia Fair, bringing a little of the “oi, oi, oi” spirit to the heart of the MIddle East. Just chilling on the Sea of Galilee, shooting the breeze, the gentle flapping of canvas in our ears; it was magical. The Sea of Galilee is really more of a lake than a sea - just 14km long - but Fadi explained it has historically been referred to as a sea so the name will forever remain. Taking in our picturesque surroundings, we had a fun sing-a-long followed by great talk from Gary about Jesus calming the storm, on this very same sea we were sailing on, albeit a little calmer today.
Back in 1986, the area of Galilee was in the grip of a drought and the tide was at an all-time low. A couple of young blokes were just frolicking on the muddy shore when they found a couple of very old looking nails and some even older looking wood. They had a gut feeling they’d stumbled on something big so, sensing this was beyond their humble buckets and spades, called in the big guns to keep on digging. It turns out they had perceptive guts, and what they found was almost a complete wooden sailing boat, dating back to 40AD(!), give or take a few years. Referred to now as the “Jesus Boat”, this incredible piece of history has been beautifully preserved and is on display for all to see (including us) at the Ginosar Kibbutz. It was amazing to check it out.
After a picnic lunch on the Galilee shores, we headed to Capernaum, where we’d been told we’d have to be modestly clad. Signs around the ancient metropolis warned: “no short clothes” and amongst our obedient group there wasn’t an uncovered shoulder or knee in sight. Dropping her guard a little, Debbie commented that she hadn’t noticed any police patrolling for short clothes, so I dared her to pop out a knee to see what would happen.
Capernaum still housed the remains of the synagogue from Jesus’ time with the oldest black stones a stark contrast to the newer paler ones, used when the Byzantines decided to give it a makeover. We got to see Peter’s house (which must have been missed when the Byzantine renos took place, as it was looking in desperate need of an update) and we saw the room where the secret church would meet in the first century. It was pretty surreal to be there. Capernaum was a pretty, leafy place just brimming with relics and ruins, under shady olive and fig trees. We’ve also noticed loads of gum trees here in Galilee, but sadly, haven’t spotted any koalas yet.
After lunch, we got to visit the famous mountain where Jesus delivered his all-time Sermon On The Mount. A beautiful church stands atop the hill with balconies boasting uninterrupted vistas over the sea. The striking building can be seen for miles around and is surrounded by gorgeous gardens of bright flowers and manicured hedges and tall palm trees with short tufty tops. Denise read the well-known sermon to us as we sat in the shade of the hillside and imagined what it would have been like to have been back in the first century and be hearing it for the first time.. There were groups of visitors dotted all through the gardens, many of them singing songs together and feeling the vibe. The Mount of Beatitudes, as it’s referred to, has a natural amphitheatre, with great acoustics, that is still there to this day.
Our hotel advertises that every room has a sea view and keeping that promise means it possesses the longest, widest hallway in hotel hall history. If there was a Hall Of Fame for Halls of Fame, this hall would take out first prize. Four storeys of rooms run along one side of one extremely long, thin corridor. We need to bring a packed lunch and a change of clothes for the journey back to our room each day. The lifts are also hilarious with a strongly-accented Israeli woman reciting the room numbers for each individual floor. The doors open and shut 3 times before she’s spat out all the numbers. My particular favourite is where she announces her usual string of room numbers followed by “reception, lounge and ‘bitch’.’
We picked up our washing from reception tonight, squeaky clean, pressed and expertly folded, all wrapped in paper like a great big parcel. I enquired as to how much I owed for the service and almost fell over when she revealed the exorbitant 3-digit figure. I’m sure we could have bought a small washing machine for that price. It seems I may not be quite as good at my shekel/US dollar/Australian dollar conversions as I thought I was. Oops. (Though it is nice to have our long underpants and tow-piece dresses back).
We had a beautiful and pretty special afternoon down by the sea where our resident minister, and all-round nice guy, Dean, baptised 5 of our team members, including Deb, in the Sea of Galilee. Afterwards we all floated and bobbed around until we were pruny and Molly swam way too far out, dodging boats (and giving me more grey hairs). “It’s alright mum, I’ll just wave my arms around and they’ll see me”. Thankfully these didn’t become famous last words and she’s lived to swim another day, assuring me the sailors that narrowly missed her were very friendly and chatty. If you are going to get run over, it may as well be by nice guys.
Tonight we ventured out after dark, into the bright lights of Tiberius, in search of a funky wine and cocktail bar that Deb had previously visited. We found it and had a lovely drink upstairs in a beautiful bar that we almost had all to ourselves. Deb, Sue and I were driven back to our hotel by an Israeli taxi driver with no English whatsoever. We had thought the language barrier totally insurmountable, that is, until our driver twigged in a light bulb moment, where it was we were from. Grinning from ear-to-ear he exclaimed loudly and proudly “Ahh! Kangas!”
