Nazareth and Galilee

Today was miracles day. We began by travelling to Nazareth. Our first stop was the Sanctuary of the Annunciation where Mary was told she was having a baby. The Church is very special and most counties have given a mosaic as contribution. Some gave two. Inside there was a group from Brazil having a personal mass so we went

next door to the Church of St Joseph. Between the two are ruins dating from the 4^th Century including some interesting mosaics. We returned to the Sanctuary and were able to see the grotto.

Next stop was to get a drink… at Cana, the site of Jesus’ first miracle where he turned the water into wine. A shop sells “wedding wine”. They gave us a sample. Sweet and not really to my taste. We tried to buy some for my eldest son but they had nothing dry. We left the shop and headed to the chapel built on the wedding site.

 

 

 

Here three couples renewed their wedding vows, for a small consideration to the priest. It was really lovely and they received a certificate at the end. On the way back we passed my son’s namesake church, St Nathanaelis.

Continuing the miracle theme we headed to the site of St Peter catching fish out the other side of the boat. Here is a pleasant park with nice chapel on the shores of Lake Galilee. I had heard about a bloke who walked on it some time ago. I tried but sank straight to the bottom. I guess I just don’t have the touch.

Briefly we took a break from miracles and went to Capernaum.

Here they have found the remains of St Peter’s house. It is not under a huge building that allows people to look down into it. You can also see it from under the building. It was pretty warm now with the mercury touching 40. That was not going to stop us though. We walked around the site visiting the remains of a synagogue from the same era and other interesting relics.

Of course we quickly got back to miracles and visited Tabgha, the site where Jesus fed the multitude with 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread. They have an altar over the actual rock he placed the food on. This was cool but what appealed to me was the pond with Koi Carp out the front of the Church. It just seemed right.

But there is more. We had lunch at St Peter’s Restaurant and enjoyed tilapia. I thought they were only in the African Rift Valley but clearly I was wrong. It was very yummy but all too soon we were off to another site.

The Mount of the Beatitudes. Here Sisters have built a hospice and Pope John-Paul II gave the vestments he wore when he blessed the site.

On the way down we looked out over Lake Galilee to the Golan Heights. It is not hard to see why the Israelis will never give them up. Whoever controls the Heights controls the entire region.

Almost finished we went to the Jordon River and the site where John baptised Christ. It is lovely but a touch commercial.

No one is allowed to enter the water but you can be re-baptised… for a small contribution. We managed a quick paddle.

At dinner that night Anna sprang a surprise. She had teed up the tour leaders that I had turned 60 in Australian time. They organised for the entire group to sing sto lat, the tradition Polish birthday song. It varies from Region to Region and I got all the versions. I was thrilled but more than a little embarrassed.