The Sea of Galilee

Well, Deb and I just got back from the Sea of Galilee. We had a great time. Friday morning we went out and rented a car, loaded up and headed out. This was my first chance to really see the city. Tel Aviv is a very interesting city. In some ways very cosmopolitan and in other ways kind of primitive. Architecture and making things “look pretty” is clearly not a priority. The buildings tend to be square, grey concrete often cracking and rubble-y. Even the nicer ones. There are lots of billboards and large flat signs over stores with their names that gives it a kind of Bladerunner feel at times. Deb says the pollution is a problem with concrete.

We drove down the coast highway and stopped for lunch at Sabarros. I always think it is fun to eat at chains from home and see the difference. Since it’s Kosher, there was no meat on the pizza. Had a yummy mushroom calzone and they have really great salads here. Often you get salads where you would get french-fries at home. And where as fast food salads in the U.S. are usually on the gross side, here they are tasty. I had a green salad with eggplant salad on top. Yum. Deb restrained me from going into the Ikea and we continued on. As we got closer to Galilee, the land got even drier and rockier. Definitely desert country. It’s funny, everything is fairly dry here (meaning the not a lot of green stuff growing.) And as you go down the highway you will pass little areas where there will be a cluster of stores, much like at home as you drive down a highway between towns there will be an exit that has a home depot and other stores. Here the stores are very colorful with huge colored signs and it has this weird effect as if the lumps of stores are like oasis. It’s not like there are howling sands in-between and yet you definitely get that oasis feeling. And people here are very committed to greenery. As you pass apartment high-rises, the balconies will be covered in plants, even trees. I wonder how they got some of them up there! And bougainvilleas everywhere, huge 8 feet high bushes in every color. It’s very odd how they can have so many plants and still have a barren desert feel at the same time.

We arrived in Tiberius, a resort town and one of the 4 holiest Jewish cities in the country, before sunset. Our hotel was an old Scottish Hospital and mission that has been completely redone by the Church of Scotland and turned into a 5 star hotel. Personally, I would have only given it 3 or 4 stars, but that is still pretty damn nice. The main draw for Deb I think, was that it was non –Kosher so we could get non-kosher food. Apparently, if you’re not used to it, the taste of kosher meat can get old. Our hotel was beautiful and right by the water.
(photos of hotel and view of Sea of Galilee from Hotel)

We checked in and took a little nap and headed out for dinner. The hotel recommended a restaurant out at a Kibbutz on the south side of the sea. We drove around Tiberius first and then down to the restaurant. The sea is really an extremely large lake and all around the side are large pull off areas where families come out and camp. It’s a little like driving down in the keys but in a desert! After a few wrong turns we found the kibbutz restaurant. If we had been back home it would have been a barbeque joint. You walked down a plank walkway under trees to get to the building. It was a plank building with a huge porch and seating inside and out and off to the side under huge trees was a separate bar, some pool tables and lots of low tables under the stars. The band was warming up. It was very funky and fun and the food was great. I had a tasty chocolate milkshake made with dark chocolate and mushrooms stuffed with cheese and walnuts. Yum. Then we drove around the Sea of Galilee for a while enjoying the breeze (it cools off a bit at night) and the beautiful view of the full moon on the water. We finally headed back and collapsed after making massage reservations for the next day. I wanted full body but Deb thought it was too expensive so we settled on neck and shoulders. We thought that might give us some energy. Between my jet lag and her bronchitis, neither of us is going too fast. And it is really, really, really hot.

We got up the next morning and had the most delicious breakfast at the hotel. They do a full buffet with omelets and fried eggs, 4 types of fish. A huge array of cheeses, yogurts, cereal, pancakes, crepes, several loaves of homemade breads, fruits and fruit salads and a salad bar. Apparently it’s a traditional Scottish breakfast, a traditional Israeli breakfast and some European and Arab thrown in for good measure. Whatever it was it was tasty. Our plan for the day was to see as much of Galilee as we could stand and then when the heat became to much to bear, we would head up to the Golan heights were it was suppose to be cooler. Our first stop was the Mount of the Beatitudes. It was amazing. It’s where Jesus gave the sermon of the beatitudes and is run by the Franciscans. Man can those guys to do peace. It was one of the most peaceful, tranquil places I have ever been. It was a beautiful garden high on the hill/mountainside overlooking the sea. They have a small, circular church. Beautiful and very peaceful. I don’t know how to describe the place properly but you just felt spiritual, the calm, the peace. I didn’t want to leave. I wandered around taking pictures and just resting. I think I was there for a couple of hours (Deb took a nap in the car) I could have stayed for days. It was beautiful. Finally, I dragged myself away. When we had pulled in they had said it was 5 shekels to get in and 11, 45 to close the gate. We had no idea what they meant but they took the 5 shekels so we went on in. At 12:30, when we went to leave, we discovered what they meant. At 11:45 they will close the gate. We were locked in!! We trekked back up the hill to the convent and after much searching, found someone to open the gate for us. Our first lesson that the times given the guidebook do not match up to reality!

(photos of Mt. of the Beatitudes church and view of Sea of Galilee from gardens at the church)

After that it was too hot to go on the next site so we headed up to the Golan Heights. We decide we would try to drive to Mt. Hermon, which is the highest spot in Israel, where there is a skiing in the winter. Our experience with ski resorts has led us to believe that they tend to be much cooler then other places even in the summer. The drive was very interesting. The countryside is very barren, mostly rocks and scrub and red dirt; It reminded me a lot of Utah. Every so often we would pass a little town. Again a very oasis feeling. Miles of rock and scrub then 50 or 60 houses with lots of trees and flowers and then back to rock and scrub with and occasional half collapsed concrete building. (photo: collapsed anonymous building) At one point we got to a T in the road. On the left was the road toward Mt. Hermon and on the right…Syria!! No guardhouse, no soldiers, just a little metal sign and a gravel road. Of course, if we had gone that way, we would have been arrested and with Deb’s diplomatic passport and us not having diplomatic relations with the county, who knows what would have happened. It was a bit disconcerting to know that that was just a steering wheel’s turn away, especially with my propensity to get lost! But we turned the right way and stopped to talk pictures. Here Israel, there Syria. As we got higher into the mountains it DID get cooler and(photo: left Syria on the right Israel) we were even able to roll down the windows and turn off the air! A miracle like unto the loaves and fishes! (Think Florida right now without air on in the car!) We passed through this cute little town Mas’ade (not the Masada) An Arab town. You can tell the difference right away (and not just because the signs are all in Arabic.) Israelis are clearly not interested in architecture or design. In contrast, this little Arab town with all its half built houses was beautiful. Many of the houses were made out of stone and had arched windows and balconies. Some were painted pretty colors, even the half built ones, with gliders in the front. My favorite was all the houses that would have grape arbors across the top of their front yard with grapes growing down, beautiful and shady and you can eat right off the roof of your porch! We stopped for water at a grocery store. Typical of the town. Just one room with merchandise stacked on the floor and on shelves lining the walls but with beautiful blue mosaic tiles floor! They didn’t sell cold water but the girl working there gave us her own bottle of cold water! What an act of generosity!

We eventually made it to Heron. We weren’t quite sure the car would make it up the mountain. Deb had the petal on the floor and we were going along pretty slow! But we made it. Not a ski resort by any stretch of the imagination. We did see a ski lift. One, small one, that’s it.
We drove along the mountaintop until Deb was able to partially translate a sign that said, “Warning! Road closed to public traffic.” At that point we decided we needed to head back for our massages anyway. After getting a bit lost in the town (despite my attentive navigation after our near visit to Syria) we finally made it back down
the mountain and the drive that took almost two hours to get there, was a mere 45 minutes back! One of the strange things to get used to over here is how close everything is. I am used to U.S. proportions. We drove up about a third of the country and did it in a few hours! (photos: the view of Lake Ram from Mt. Hermon. View out of side of car on Mt. Hermon - with wildlife!)

We were getting pretty hungry on the way back and decided to stop at a McDonalds. They had a McDrive! This is very unusual in Israel. Many of Deb’s Israeli friends don’t understand the concept of drive through. And I love that they call it a McDrive. Deb says the Hebrew translation is the phonetic version of “McDrive” in Hebrew! The burgers sucked but the fries were tasty and the coke was cold, so we were happy. (One of the things I love here is that if you want coke you have to ask for coke. If you ask for soda you get soda water. This makes me happy) We made it back in time for our massages. The masseuse was so good that when we were collapsed back on the bed like limp spaghetti, I said, “You think we could fit in a full body before we check out tomorrow?” Deb said, “I was just thinking the same thing!” We called and sure enough, there was just enough time. For dinner went out to the boardwalk. Lots of booths selling jewelry and fake tattoos and cotton candy. Many seafood restaurants but we went for Lebanese. Some of the best pita bread I’ve ever had! Yummy humus and olives and other little dishes. We wandered back and collapsed.

The next morning brought another yummy breakfast at the hotel and a glorious massage. We checked out and smushed in a little more sightseeing. We went to Capernaum, Jesus’ home from home. It is where he is said to have done a lot of his preaching and met several of the disciples including Peter. (As an aside, one of the things so disconcerting is how close things are…diving by car Capernaum is about 5 minutes from Tiberius. Yet if you were walking it would take quite awhile. Thinking of it as another city seems so odd, it’s not any further than the McDonalds from my house, yet in Jesus’ time it was another city. The difference in distance and space perception that cars make becomes very apparent) Capernaum is another amazing spot. The have an archeological site where they are excavating the old houses. They have also built a church, shaped like a ship. So as not to destroy the site they have built it over the excavation. You can walk under its arched base and look directly the site or you can look through the glass floor in the center of the church. Next door is the ruins of an old synagogue. (Possibly the one Jesus taught at, possibly built in 2nd century A.D. on the same site) It looks like Greek or Roman ruins, pieces of large columns and raised edges. The bible stories just come to life here. You can SEE people sitting around talking as Jesus preached. And the sight of the Sea of Galilee from there, with the waves tumbling, suddenly the story of the storm on the water and the boat nearly capsizing feel so much more real. Capernaum also had that similar feeling of peace and tranquility with beautiful gardens and a small miniiforest with seats underneath to enjoy the shade and talk. Another place I could have stayed quite a while. After we left, Deb pulled over into a little restaurt on the water so I could stick my hand in the Sea of Galilee!

(photo: ruins of synagogue at Capernaum)

We headed back to Tel Aviv taking a scenic route (my code for sort of lost but not really) We went through Nazareth (it is so weird to see Nazareth on a road sign, or my personal favorite, “Nazarene Express” on the side of a bus…I feel like I am in a Monty Python sketch.) Our intention was to stop at the church of the first Miracle (we like to commemorate any miracle that involves wine drinking!), which according to the guidebooks should have been open. Unfortunately it was locked tighter than a drum. After circling for a while, we could only conclude that the church was closed for Sunday! We meandered the rest of the way back, stopping for lunch and groceries (no big grocery stores in the city, so whenever she rents a car, Deb pays a visit to a neighboring town for groceries) We got back in the evening and had much fun bringing all our luggage and groceries to the 16th floor! I see a wheeled cart under the Christmas tree for Deb! All in all, it was a pretty fabulous weekend.