Reflections in Galilee

Last week I had the opportunity to head north for a few days with a friend and her mom. We visited various places in the Galilee/Golan region of the country, most of which I had seen before. However, the weather and seasonal differences helped to make the sites a new experience.

Our first day we went west and then north from Jerusalem along the route our guide-for-the-day called the "Via Maris." (Note for geeks: that is not the correct term, historically speaking. The ancients never called it the way of the sea. The usage of that term is a modern misunderstanding.) Our first stop was Megiddo. It was the fourth time I'd been there, and I still haven't managed to leave my own destruction layer, but perhaps that will come next time. The day was a lovely mix of rain and sun, just enough to give us the first rainbow of the day on Masada, along with a lovely view of the Jezreel Valley.

The rain made our plans a little uncertain, so for our next stop we ended up at Sepphoris/Zipori. It was only my second time there, so I enjoyed looking around and being more aware of what I was seeing (Nazareth, Gath-hepher, Cana, Hanathon...) It cleared off beautifully just as we approached the summit and tower, enabling us to get a great view of the Beth-Netophah Valley.

From there we continued on to Hazor...my second visit there, and the second "Solomonic Gate" of the day.

Our final stop ended up being Zafat, one of the more important religious cities in Jewish history. Jewish Mysticism (Kabalah) originated in Zafat. We went through the "Old City," and would have like to spend some time exploring, but our guide was single-minded, taking us to three of the oldest Synagogues in the town. They were very interesting to see, but I made a mental note that someday I want to go back there on my own time and explore.

Our guide dropped us at the Christ Church associated guest house in Migdal, just off the shores of Kinneret. (I believe the town name is associated with the hometown of Mary Magdala.) The next morning we caught a bus into Tiberias where we rented a car for the remainder of our adventure.

Our first stop on the second day (other than ElDan) was Ginosaur where the so-called "Jesus-Boat" is on display. I had seen the boat before, but it was quite a while ago, before it was moved to its current museum display area. It's really quite impressive that a boat from around the time of Jesus survived to the modern day, and their methods of preserving it as it was extracted from the sands in which it was buried are also quite impressive.

Next we ended up at Chorazin. It was, again, my second visit, and again, the first was long ago. I enjoyed climbing things, taking pictures, and looking at plants. In fact, most of my trip could be summed up those three activities.

After that we headed into the far north, visiting Dan, Banias, and Nimrod's Fortress. Again, none of them were new sites, but I saw them with more water and foliage than I had seen before, so it was a fun perspective. Additionally, Mt. Hermon was visible from many places, in all its snow-covered glory. Unfortunately, we didn't get close enough to actually touch snow...but at least I saw it.

Proof of skiing facilities nearby:

On our way home from Nimrod we saw numerous cars parked along the side of the road with lots of people out, climbing over the hillside. Wondering if something interesting was to be seen, we got out and looked around and found this:

For our final day we started our morning on the beautiful Mt. Arbel, with a dramatic view of Galilee, into the Golan. In the background you can see Hermon in its winter finery.

With the sun shining and puddles from the recent rain scattering the landscape, I had fun trying to take pictures with reflections. I think it looks like a little piece of the sky escaped and is watering the plant below it.

After Arbel we drove to the east side of the lake where we visited Capernaum, Kursi, and Hippos.

Our final stop was the epic decapolis city, the entrance to the Harod pass, Beth Shean.

All in all, it was fun to get out of the city and do a little extra exploring and thinking. Hopefully I'll manage to do something similar again this semester.