Hotel Mizpe Hayamim -- my favorite of the lovely places we stayed

Those of you who know me well will understand.  This in-the-country inn, organic farm and garden and beautiful grounds (and spa) was a place where I could have stayed for much longer than our three nights, with minimal time to enjoy the place.

We arrived after a late start from Jerusalem and stops at two Kibbutz and a too brief stop at Zippori National Park.  Kibbutz number one was a religious socialist-style kibbutz, one of few of this original type left in Israel.  Their specialty was bees.  They raise and sell a kind of bee that is purchased to pollinate gardens and farms and also raise bugs that can be used as pest control in organic gardens.  Our excellent guide was a woman who had grown up in the Unites States, one of several we me who had immigrated and become citizens of Israel.

Our second Kibbutz houses at-risk children and youth and developmentally disabled adults.  We had lunch in their gift shop, where many purchased items made there.  I have an art or writing tablet made of a special paper.

On to Zippori National Park, encompassing the ruins of a Talmudic city.  The first ruins found there date to the 2nd century BC (Hasmoneans), followed by Byzantine, Arab, and Crusader ruins.  The city of Sepphoris was under construction in Jesus time, and it is speculated that Joseph may have worked as a builder there. The focus of our tour was the well-preserved zodiac featuring Greek deities on the synagogue floor.  We were to possibly climb to see the Byzantine face called the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee," the most famous site there, but once again those few who didn't walk easily down the path to the synagogue and others who were ready for the hotel kept us from that effort.  Here are a couple of the Greek deities.

View from the porch outside the synagogue.

Here the "crown of thorns" bush was pointed out and Peter made certain that I saw it.












Denied a decent walk the entire day, upon arrival at the hotel I pulled my bags to our room and ran for the back door for a walk along the paths and to the garden.  During our three evenings there, I saw only one couple (from Houston) and a single doctor from Canada on the paths.

There were the early garden that supplied fresh greens for breakfast and dinner, and the goat whose milk we drank, cottage cheese and yogurt we ate, and even had ice cream made from goat's milk!

           The peacocks, one here, were merely for decoration.  There were chickens, missing from my photos.

The flowers were everywhere, including my loved hollyhocks!

The hotel had several buildings, and the one below was above the one where I stayed.  I also enjoyed a lovely gift massage in their spa.  I hoped to get to the hot tub, but it closed too early as I walked first.

The path on the right was front our back door to the hotel dining area.  In this hotel breakfast (an amazing meal in Israel!) and dinner were included in our tour so we had a chance to get acquainted with more participants.  And here I attended two presentations, the only ones I heard as we usually went somewhere not on the tour during the time allotted for talks.

Now for the food--more beautiful and bountiful than the photos!!!  These were taken at our last breakfast.



















Our last evening in the Galilee, I walked along the highway to the top of the hill for a stretching walk and took these photos from there.  The village was mostly likely Arab as is that area.

                    In the distance, the Sea of Galilee (really a large lake) and the hills beyond are in Jordan.

This is my last post for a few days as I need to let my computer, on safe mode as that's the only way I get internet, rest, which it won't do in this mode--and me too!

Around the Sea of Galilee and the Coast -- Israel 2

Good Morning!

Although I will post images and write about experiences that have nothing to do with Jesus, there will be one more in this series.

Our plans to hire a driver to take us to sights around the Sea of Galilee weren't needed.  Our guide, realizing that out of the 42 on our tour, about a dozen were Christian and another 4 or 5 were interested, scheduled an early two-hour tour from our spa hotel, about ten miles away--wonderful with a smaller group.  She also scheduled a long morning at Caesarea's Roman ruins--so fascinating!

At the Sea of Galilee, pictured above, I walked away from the group and imagined Jesus and the disciples walking there.  It was one of the most real experiences of connecting that I had.  While the churches were interesting, it is more likely that Jesus preached.outside in this area.

We first went to the Church of the Multiplication, built on remains of earlier shrines, reputed to be on the sight where Jesus multiplied the two fishes and five loaves of bread to feed 4 or 5,000, depending on your Gospel choice.  The floor filled with  fifth century mosaics, has the loaves and fishes before the altar. The photo here is the best one I have, taken in one of the front aisles.

The Church of the Primacy, a short walk from the Multiplication church is a modest chapel incorporating 4th century ruins, commemorates the reinstatement of Peter after his denial of Jesus with Jesus saying "feed my sheep" as recorded in John 21. This led to the Catholic church's believe that Peter was to found the church.  A large rock in the church is supposed to be where Jesus cooked breakfast by the Sea of Galilee that morning.  

 

This photo was taken from the shore of the Sea of Galilee as this
was the place where we walked to the shore to dip in our hands (or feet as some laughingly did).






Our next stop was Capernaum National Park where Jesus
established his base for three years and recruited some of his disciples.  It's also a place of interest for Jews as synagogue ruins dominate the site.  An ultra-modern church, which looks somewhat like a flying ship, has been built over the ruins of a house (Peter's) where Jesus was believed to have lived.
Again, there are wonderful views of the sea.  Below the glass wheel in front of the photo, one can look down and see ruins believed to be that house.

And the synagogue ruins--

At the end of the day, after lunching at a Druze kibbutz and a wine tasting at the Golan Heights Winery, we returned (and drove through Nazareth twice but on the wrong side for the Christian sights), we returned to the area of Jesus' ministry and drove up the Mount of the Beatitudes, the only Christian place actually on our tour schedule.  And it is beautiful!!!  Everything there is pristine with wonderful views of the sea and area surrounding it.  A jarring fact--the domed Catholic Church run by Franciscan sisters was commissioned by Benito Mussolini when he was dictator of Italy!              

All of the beatitudes are on stones such as this one, which seemed the most appropriate in this difficult part of the world.

I'm including the fascinating ruins at Caesarea, about an hour's drive from Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean Sea, in this post or I would be tempted to bore you with an entire post of this amazing site.  We were lucky that it didn't fit in the day where an attempt was made to get two days of stops in so those who wanted to spend time shopping or relaxing in Tel Aviv could.  Consequently, only twelve of us met at 8:30 by our bus to travel to Caesarea, a favorite place for Deena, our guide, who was a fount of knowledge about this port built by Herod.  It was also a Byzantine capital, later a Crusader stronghold and is one of Israel's major archaeological sites.  Excavation there continues today.  Notice the different construction of the layers. There had been a Phoenician settlement on the shoreline as early as 586 BC during the Persia rule.  

For Christians, Caesarea is most identified with Paul and other apostles' ministry.  The Centurion who was the first recorded Gentile to convert to follow Jesus' teachings was said to have done that here.  Paul was also recorded as being imprisoned by Herod in Caesarea.  Others believe that Peter and Paul named their faith Christianity here although I don't know that source.  
                      Our guide, Deena, in front of an amphitheatre where chariots raced and animals fought.

Other photos below:

The next photo is an amusing one.  Herod had an idea of toilets so people were to sit with one hip of each stone and use the area between as a toilet.  One of our folks wanted to climb up and try it out, but Deena said no way.

This sign was fascinating, and one photo is representative.  

It was hard to get close enough to any of these as they were in an area where traffic wasn't allowed.

Finally, the beachfront Roman Aqueduct closed our visit.  Workers cut a channel about 4 miles long through solid rock before water was piped from a spring about 8 miles away in the foothills of Mt. Carmel into the aqueduct.

While it would have been easy to spend a day here, we spent three hours, more than at any archaeological site that we visited, included Petra. Those who went on this trip were very interested and able to walk around in the areas that had steps or rocky paths.  At other spots we were hampered by several who had a difficult time getting around.  While small in number, one was the conference director's wife!  

Addendum to the Israel One Post

Here are some photos that I just uploaded (after finding a way to do it that was easier!).  They are: the sign outside the Church of the Nativity, the exterior where we entered and Banksy painting on and near the Palestinian side of the wall, and two other art pieces on the wall.

                                                        Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

             These two are by the graffiti artist, Banksy--the top one on the wall, and the dove nearby.

                                                    Two other paintings on the wall that divides.

After these viewings, the driver and my companions were anxious to get away from the wall.  I promised a friend here that I would go there or might not have insisted.

Israel -- April 2015 -- Hebron and Bethlehem

                                                      Jerusalem from Mt. of Olives overlook

There was so much to see, and often a very short time in each spot on our Creativity and Madness Conference tour of Israel, my participation, a gift from friends.  While we walked through the Christian section of the old city and drove through towns mentioned in the New Testament, the only actual Christian place on our itinerary was the Mount of the Beatitudes.

I begin with our off-the-grid trip to the West Bank to visit Hebron and the tombs of the Patriarchs and Bethlehem and Jesus' place of birth.  My roommate and I were introduced to our driver by the young man at the King David Hotel's desk where our "conference" group stayed while in Jerusalem.  He first took us to the Christian sights in Jerusalem, which I'll describe in a later post. We trusted him enough to make a reservation on Friday afternoon, April 17th, to take us and our friend, Peter, to Hebron and Bethlehem. We drove the highway that all can drive, though most vehicles we saw had Israeli license tags.

Doron, our driver, pointed out both Palestinian towns and Israeli towns and settlements, noting that the Arabs on the West Bank and those in the Gaza strip mistrusted each other.  He pointed to a settlement that was inhabited by conservative Orthodox Jews. We passed one Palestinian refuge community as well.  

                                     Me, Peter, Simone (roommate from Ft. Collins) and Doron
In Hebron, we visited the Machpelah, built by Herod the Great over the cave where the patriarchs are buried. It has changed hands, depending on the invaders, and currently houses a Muslim mosque. Cenotaphs of Abraham and Sarah (tombs with tapestries over them, but without bodies) can be seen through bars that keep visitors from touching or entering the rooms.  These cenotaphs were added to this complex in the 8th century AD, while Jacob and Leah's were placed in their present form in the 14th century. These are in the part of the building governed by the Jews.  A few Jews were praying in front of these "tombs". We were directed by our driver, who couldn't go with us, to the Muslim side of the building but weren't allowed in to see the tombs of Isaac and Rebecca as they were preparing for a service. They said "come back tomorrow." I understand that the Muslims have a viewing of the Israeli tombs from their side of the building, and that Israelis can visit Isaac and Rebecca's tombs on only ten days each year. The actual tombs are in the cave underneath, closed to visitors.  Rachel's tomb is near Bethlehem, and we didn't have time to stop there.

Today on-line news reported that a Palestinian youth tried to stab an Israeli solider at a check point near Hebron Saturday morning though no one was hurt.  Other recent such incidents have resulted in the attackers being killed. Hebron is a Palestinian city.  Doron drove us through a mostly deserted area where a few Jewish flags were hanging outside houses.  He said when the Israelis moved in, the Israel police moved the Arabs out of the area. It seemed harsh, but less so after reading more about Hebron as a stronghold for Hamas.  Today's Timesofisrael.com's reporter's notebook has a fascinating interview of Palestinian youth by an Israeli reporter.

From Hebron we drove to the outskirts of Bethlehem, where Doron had us get into a car driven by a young Arab, since he couldn't go into Bethlehem.  On the way to the Church of the Nativity, we picked up our guide, a very knowledgeable Arab, Doron's contact for our tour of the sites there.  

                                 These young men wanted us to take their picture for them and for us, also wanted to
                                 sell us trinkets in Hebron

We entered the Church of the Nativity by a low narrow door (that's Peter) built in the 16th century to protect worshippers from hostile Muslims.  The earlier entries are closed.  Also much work is being done on the structure.  We were shown striking mosaic tiles uncovered from the original church, built in the 4th century, and told history of the church. The main sanctuary area is that of the Greek Orthodox where work is being done.

I looked longingly at the long line of people waiting to walk down into the grotto to see the shrine of where Jesus may have been born.  It didn't look as if we could possibly have time to wait.  Then we were led to a door on the other side of the church, where we could see the Armenian transept (below). Our guide told us to wait there, and we would be allowed to enter and walk into the grotto without waiting in line!

A group of young men, identified by our guide as officials of the PLO, were allowed ahead of us.  Then we walked across and down into the grotto where women and men were kneeling and kissing the star in the floor that marked the official birth spot (!).  My photo isn't good, but it's below with one of the projected wise men coming to the manger.

Afterward, we were led through the Armenian area to a side door where we entered St. Catherine's, the Catholic Church there.  The monks have access to the Grotto at particular times of day when visitors aren't allowed. A service was being held for a group of visitors and we quietly went down steps into the grottos there.

The final rooms included an altar for the holy innocents, babies who were killed by Herod's orders, and the room where St. Jerome supposedly translated the Bible into Latin.

Then we met our young driver at a gift shop, where it seemed imperative that we purchase souvenirs.  We did, though simple ones.  Our driver, on my request, took us to the wall where I took photographs (not yet uploaded). He must have known exactly where the graffiti artist, Banksy, had painted for we saw two of his creations along with a couple of others before raising back to our Israeli driver to get back to Jerusalem in time to dress for our Shabbat dinner at a local family's home.

(I can see that I must compress descriptions in the posts to come!)