Day 10 - Saturday, March 18, 2023 - Nazareth and Capernaum

March 18, 2023

A hazy but warm morning looking out over the Sea of Galilee.

We took the "Shabbat" elevator down from the 12th floor which took quite a while. The ultra-orthodox Jews are not allowed to create a spark on Shabbat so they are prohibited from pressing a button to select a floor on the elevator - it therefore stops on every floor and opens the door! This feature is only on Shabbat, from sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday.

It was about a 45 minute ride to Nazareth a mixed Arab Christian and Arab Muslim community. Along the way we passed through Cana, the site of Jesus' first miracle of turning water to wine. In Nazareth we entered the Church of the Annunciation to see the cave where Mary was told by the angel that she was going to have a child and to "have no fear". There are beautiful original mosaics of the 5th century Byzantine church which was enlarged during the Crusader period and is now covered by a huge 1960s Catholic church, the largest in the middle-east. The new church has large paintings of Mary and Jesus from many countries around the world in very different styles - see below.

On the walk down we stopped to have a glass of delicious pomegranate juice and took a photo of a man showing an absolutely huge pomegranate. Then to a historic sweet shop to pick up traditional middle-eastern treats of sesame, nuts and nougat with pistachios. Then we went to a bakery where we had pizza made with sesame and zatar, a seasoning made from the hyssop plant. (Jesus was given a sponge with "sour wine" and hyssop at the crucifixion).

On the way to Capernaum we stopped at a fish restaurant where we had St. Peter's Fish, a typical fish of the Sea of Galilee. It was deep fried with a crispy skin and tender flesh - delicious.

Then to Capernaum where the gospels mention Jesus preaching in the synagogue. The synagogue which one can visit today was built in the 4th or 5th century over the synagogue of Jesus' time. Nearby in the excavated town is a house which is said to be that of St. Peter. A large modern Catholic church (looks like a flying saucer) was constructed over this in 1990. We had free time to explore pieces of other ruins which had not been reassembled.

The trip to our next destination of Magdala became more interesting when the bus engine overheated and we had to stop. Fortunately, Moki, our driver, was able to get a small bus after about 10 minutes to shuttle us to Magdala which was only 10 minutes away.

Magdala was only discovered in 2006 during the construction of a Franciscan hotel and retreat center and it was determined to have been a town from the 2nd century BCE. The archeological excavation uncovered a synagogue from the 1st century, one of the oldest found in Israel. Along with the synagogue they also discovered houses, store rooms, a mikveh and other structures that we could see. The synagogue is notable for a beautiful mosaic on the floor and a religious stone carving that was at the center of the synagogue.

A number of us dipped our feet in the edge of the Sea of Galilee. The shore is interesting because instead of sand, it was covered with millions of tiny snail shells.

Yonatan treated us to coffee at the nearby "Aroma" coffee shop and by the time we were done, another small bus was located to take us back to the hotel for our final dinner in Israel.

Although it was forecast to start raining a little afternoon, we were exceptionally fortunate that we had good weather all afternoon. And also very fortunate that the transportation glitches were readily resolved.