HAIFA, ISRAEL

April 14, 2015 -- HAIFA, ISRAEL

Today is a 10 hour tour and hopefully will be more exciting than yesterday. We are heading to a national park, lunch at a kibbutz, and then we head over to the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, and the Golan Heights. Israel is bordered by Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and lies along the Mediterranean….or surrounded by the Red, Dead, and Med.

I opted to stay on the bus during the national Park visit since I knew that there would be a lot more walking ahead. I was told by some of the other tourists that I was very smart doing what I did.

We had the same tour guide is yesterday, much to my regret, but luckily the Rabbi was the escort so I thought we would have more details and correct information.(In talking with the Rabbi later in the day it turned out that the guide was giving misinformation and had no idea what she was talking about and was arguing with the Rabbi. Don't mess with the Rabbi!) The guide asked for one of the tourist to read out of the Bible when we were at Capernaum. As soon as she mentioned reading out of the Bible approximately 8 of the 34 people walked away. I can understand their dismay… I don't feel that she should have been reading the Bible to a mixed group of people.

Lunch at the kibbutz was about the same as yesterday… There was more than enough food and unlimited wine at the table. They had a souvenir shop in the kibbutz building… They are very proud of their souvenirs and the price shows it.

The afternoon brought us to the Sea of Galilee and finally I felt I was in a holy place. We were at Capernaum, home of St. Peter and the synagogue where Christ taught. It was a very moving experience to see the synagogue. A church was built upon St. Peter's home and part of the floor with a laugh so that you could see the actual foundation and walls from the home. It was a very serene area and luckily there are not that many tourists which made it all the better. There was a boat on the sea and you could almost imagine Christ telling his apostles to throw the net into the water together the fish.

We then went on to the River Jordan where Christ was baptized by John. One of the women told me that she was there 30 years ago and there was nothing there but the river; today we have ramps and stairs and plants and trees and gift shops and bathrooms and souvenirs and anything else you want including towels if you decide to go into the river to baptize yourself!?!?

There was a bus load of pilgrims from Trinidad and Tobago and they were all going into the river immersing themselves completely and being baptized by I assume a priest. It was a very pretty area and if you turned your back to the shops and all the other distractions you can imagine what it was like 2000 years ago.

 Onto the Golan Heights. This drive was amazing! Traveling on a very narrow switchback road we traveled upwards to I believe 2000 meters. As we were traveling up the guide told us that the land on the left-hand side was once part of Syria before the War. The Golan Heights is bordered by Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. As we were traveling up we came to a Syrian checkpoint…

About 1/4 mile off the road. The bus stopped but the guide said we couldn't stay there very long and so we continued on. When we reach the top of the Heights you can see why the Israelis wanted it. It is a very fertile region where they are growing wheat and other grains. About 20,000 people live in the Golan Heights and of course there was a kibbutz in the area. We stopped at an overlook which encompass the entire Sea of Galilee and the Heights. It was a magnificent view and it didn't take much to imagine what it was like all those years ago.

 

All in all it was a pretty good day; we got back to the ship around 7:30 and left the port at eight. Too tired to head up to the Lido so was room service, a glass of wine, shower, and bed.

 

A note about my fellow tourists. We have a couple on the cruise from Amsterdam who are both sight impaired. He has macular degeneration and she has a condition where everything looks very misty. They are in their late 40s and they have a guide dog. When they are on a tour he sits up front so he can see and she goes to the back of the bus in the last row so the dog has room. She is to rose from the back door and as soon as she puts the harness on the dog he knows he's going to be going somewhere. Now if you see this going on which you not wait to get off the bus until she has made her way off? Well not this group. The dog is trying to move in these people are rushing to get off the bus like they're going to get a bonus if they are the first ones off. Oh well, I guess it's just human nature I just smile walk with my boot and trip whoever I can with my cane...NOT!

 "I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it."...Rosalia de Castro