The Israeli Adventure Begins

After a long flight from Atlanta, we arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday evening around 5 p.m. Originally we had planned to spend our first night in Tel Aviv, but since we agreed that our first stop would be Tiberias, we immediately boarded a bus to get the 3 hour journey out of the way.

"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and disease among the people." - Matthew 4:23

We awoke this morning very refreshed and well rested. Tiberias is a city on the coast of the Sea of Galilee in northeastern Israel. The Sea (lake is more appropriate) of Galilee is where Jesus walked on water, fed the 5000, and other noteworthy biblical events. We rented bikes and rode to the northwestern coast of the Sea of Galilee to see some of the land and historical sights.

Our first stop was at a museum to see a 2000 year old boat that was discovered in 1986. We suppose an old boat in another place might not be so significant, but this one has been carefully preserved and is on display for a hefty admission fee because, who knows, it just might have come in contact with Jesus himself.

Mount of Beatitudes

Next we went to the Mount of Beatitudes, which has been commemorated as the location of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (although the actual location is not certain). The road was long, steep, and windy to the top of the mountain, and not at all conducive to ametuer bikers with poorly shifting gears. We spotted a side trail which was completely overgroan with tall grass, but seemed to cut off a lot of the paved route. We had to walk our bikes uphill through the tall grass, sweating and grunting the whole time. When we finally got to the top, it was closed for lunch! We talked to the guard and told him we had biked all this way, and he was nice enough to let us in. The top of the mountain had well-landscaped grounds with nice views and a chapel.

We biked to Tabgha, a Byzantine Monastery built at the site where Jesus multiplied a small meal to feed 5000 people, and then on to Capernaum. In Capernaum, we saw the ruins of the old Roman town mentioned in the Bible, including the remains of a synagogue where Jesus taught and the remains of Peter's house.

After Capernaum we were so exhausted and decided to start the long bike ride back to Tiberias. We were far to tired to continue on to Bethsaida and the Jordan River. While walking the bikes up one particularly steep hill, a taxi van stopped and offered a ride. We were so worn out, that we accepted it.

When we got back, pretty much everything was closed because Moses received the 10 commandments today several thousands years ago...making it a big Jewish Holiday. No work from 4 pm today until 4 pm tomorrow. That includes the bus driver to Jerusalem...our next stop. The sunset over the Sea (Lake) of Galilee was beautiful though.