Day 10 - Wednesday 9/21/05

Today we made our leisurely way down the coast back to Rechovot, with many stops along the way. We began with a few sites on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Church of the Beatitudes

Mount of Beatitudes

The Mount of Beatitudes offers a magnificent view of the Sea of Galilee and the area that was frequented by Jesus during his ministry in this area. The Church of the Eight Beatitudes is a beautiful Franciscan church, built with the love and simplicity for which the Franciscans are noted, and with the financial resources Mussolini was noted for -- he contributed to its construction in 1938, and the church is still served by Italian nuns today. This is the location where Jesus delivered the Sermon of the Mount (Matthew 5, verses 3 - 12), which begins, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And goes on to bless the mourners, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. Not being well versed in Christianity, it took us a while to determine that these eight groupings of people were in fact the eight 'beatitudes' for which the Church was named. (Once this light bulb finally lit, John began to quote from Monty Python's Life of Brian with 'blessed are the Greeks and the cheese makers'. This sent me into a fit of giggles, which just isn't polite when surrounded by devout Catholics in a holy place, and we retreated to the gardens to recover).

Capernaum Synagogue
Saint Peter's House

Capernaum

Capernaum also known as Kfar Nahum is a site on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that was first inhabited in 150 BCE as a small fishing village. It contains the ruins of a synagogue, as well as a modern Catholic Church built over an older 5th century octagonal church (remember the eight beatitudes) that was in turn built over the ruins of the site of the home of Saint Peter where Jesus lived during much of his ministry in this area. This site is just three km up the shore from the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha and the Church of the Primacy of Peter.

Bet Gabriel View

Bet Gabriel

Then it was onward to Bet Gabriel with its beautiful gardens and striking view, where we had blintzes for lunch. This was the site of the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, signed by King Hussein and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 'Peace Room'.

Caesarea Aqueduct
Caesarea Ruins
Caesarea Bathhouse
Resting in a Vault

Caesarea

Continuing down the coast, we reached the archaeological dig at the site of Caesarea where the 'kids' spent many glorious hours scrambling about the ruins and the 'adults' went off to visit friends Yovav and Miti Katz at their nearby home. Caesarea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Palaestina) was originally settled by the Phoenicians in 586 BCE and flourished under the Hellenists under the name Strato's Tower. It was conquered by the Romans and awarded to Herod in 30 BCE. He built a large port city at the site, naming it after his patron Octavian Augustus Caesar. Caesarea was a planned city including a network of streets, a temple, an amphitheatre (which has been restored and modernized and is in use today), an aqueduct, markets, palace, bathhouse, and hippodrome. By 6 BCE, it was the capitol of Palestine. Over the years, it was conquered and occupied by the Byzantines (who built a perimeter wall in the 6th century), Arabs, Crusaders, and Ottomans. The area is still undergoing active archaeological excavations - this is the site where Oreet dug during the summer of her 21st year. We had a wonderful time wandering the ruins and exploring. In the heat of the afternoon, we took a rest break seated on old Roman blocks of limestone in the shade of a vaulted warehouse, a view of a gull circling the Mediterranean shore, no sounds but the crashing of the waves and not another person in sight - a perfect moment.

Visit with Mimi

Mimi Prise is Shula's sister and we made a stop in Rishon Lezion on the way home to visit with her and her husband Noam. Of course, she treated us to a meal while we were there. It was pleasant to chat and catch up with them, as well as to view all the amazing artwork and collectibles on display in their lovely home.