This post is Day 4, Part 2.
I'm back to making posts about the trip more in line with the sequence of events.
I felt like I was putting out some lesser posts while I held off to get the photos I wanted to be tagged with location data tagged. A few were approximated for the shots I took while the bus traveled from one site to the next. But the photos taken at a holy site was at least tagged to the correct site.
On the morning of February 6th, we woke up in our hotel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
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| Sunrise on the Shore of the Sea of Galilee |
The bath towels were nice. It was really easy to tell which towel was intended to step on when one stepped out of the shower.
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| What is this towel for? |
The view from the hotel room allowed me to see some of the sea to the east, the hotel pool, some of the local vegetation, and the hills to the south. I loved the view, and I'm glad I took photos so I can see the dramatic color changes that took place as the sun rose.
I went downstairs to take a few photos before breakfast, hoping to capture the sun as it rose over the Sea of Galilee over the mountains of the Golan Heights that flank the far side of the sea. The first photo of this post was taken when I ventured out before breakfast.
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| Birds at Sunrise |
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| Sunrise Over the Sea of Galilee |
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| Some of the Sea of Galilee Hotel Visible at Sunrise |
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| Trees at the Hotel at Sunrise |
It was going to be a VERY busy day with many sites to see. So I knew I better get in and enjoy breakfast. Each hotel we stayed at had lots of food in a buffet for breakfast and the evening meal. One table had cheese and various vegetable options. They adhered to the kosher laws, so the only time of day we would get dairy was breakfast. I'd rather have it for the final meal of the day, but this worked out. The other main table had a variety of main course dishes. But these tables contained only part of what they had to offer. They had a few other things available that were more simple items. For instance, if you like/need coffee, this is your one meal per day that you will find coffee.
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| Vegetable and Cheese Breakfast Table |
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| Main Courses Breakfast Table |
My digestive system hadn't adjusted too well from the travel. I think between being a bit hot with my sweater and a jacket on for the full flight there and staying awake practically the whole way, and I might have had some water that used local ice (not positive), that led to me being awake early in the morning to catch the sound of things going through the air (a prior post). But it also meant I was going to play it a bit safer and eat less exotic food for breakfast. I would have loved to try a few other things out. But I didn't want anything to mess up the day we would see more places than any other day (I think). After enjoying a good breakfast, I took one more photo, this time with the sun behind a palm tree.
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| Sunny Palm |
It was time to head out. The first stop was our opportunity to take a boat out onto the Sea of Galilee. We approached the Vigal Allon Centre. As one approaches such a place, one doesn't know what to expect. What is in here? We would stop briefly for a restroom break, if we needed one, and pass through the building to board our ship.
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| Vigal Allon Centre |
The pathway to the boat was flanked with various works of art. Many boulders and rocks have carvings in them. As one walked along the path, one would see some notes in various languages. There was a message that clearly only took a single sentence, and in English, it made it clear that the Jews and Arabs worked together to create the art at this site. Note that Arabs tend to be the Palestinians, who are Christians and Muslims.
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| Carvings on a Rock |
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| More Carvings in the Rocks |
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| We Work Together |
I just had to put the reflection of the sun close to the right spot for the guitar art to have a bright spot for the sound to come out. The sun itself is at the top of the guitar.
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| Guitar Art |
As we approached our ship, we saw it was named "Noah".
Upon boarding the ship, I realized I had to find a seat, and most people boarded before I did. I saw a spot near the middle, but with a seat nearest where I boarded the ship. As I sat down, I told the people next to me that I just HAD to sit on top of the trap door. I noticed the detail in the wooden deck, and it looked like my chair was in a rather unusual spot. Nothing eventful resulted from my choice of seating.
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| Trap Door? |
The ship held many people since it was much larger than the ships from the time of Jesus.
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| Others on the Ship from the Perspective of Where I Sat |
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| Others on the Ship from the Center |
While we were on the Sea of Galilee, I tried to take a picture of this guy that was walking toward us on the water, but for some reason, the camera just showed a bright blob! Perhaps I just took a panoramic shot starting from a spot that didn't have the sun in it, and eventually had too much light from the sun. You decide which one makes more sense.
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| Bright Sea of Galilee from the Boat |
But very seriously, the visibility of that day produced a light haze in the distance. Between that and the shade of blue in the sky, the water had this very glassy, silvery steel look to it. That made it look more walkable than any lake I've ever seen. But with a boat of that size, the water was down there a bit, and I didn't think the guys running the boat would appreciate me testing out the waters. So I just took photos.
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| Sea of Galilee Looking Walkable |
Some ripples formed when they demonstrated fishing with a net. They caught nothing, so I didn't bother posting the photos. I liked that they cut the motor for the boat for a while. A priest read a gospel reading while we sat in the stillness and quietness of the sea.
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| Ripples on the Sea of Galilee |
I loved the cliff that was just north of our hotel. I took photos of it from bus, from the hotel, and also from the boat on the Sea of Galilee. These photos help show a slight haze in the distance.
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| A Nice Cliff |
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| Zooming Into the Cliff and Its Reflection |
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| Some Birds Checking Out Our Boat |
When looking south, the haze was more apparent, since the sea is longer from north to south than from east to west. It made another boat look like it was just floating in a sea of whiteness. It wasn't in fog. But it almost looked like it was floating in the air.
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| Ghost Ship? Hover Ship? |
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| Coastline of the Sea of Galilee |
We eventually ended our time on the sea so we could head out to many other places. But there was still a little more to see at this site. Before going back inside the building, we looked back at other ships coming back to dock. One boat had a group that was singing quite a bit.
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| Ships in the Distance |
Inside the building that we merely passed through earlier was the Ancient Sea of Galilee Ship! It's from the first century. So it could have been on the sea in the time of Jesus. They showed us a brief film about it first. It was found a few decades ago and had to be carefully preserved to prevent it from decomposing and falling apart. They added a structure around it to hold it into position.
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| 1st Century Sea of Galilee Boat |
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| 1st Century Sea of Galilee Boat from the Front |
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| A Model of What Such a Complete Boat Would Look Like |
After seeing that boat, we could start checking out the many other sites for the day. But we were already off to a rather enjoyable start.
So much happened on Day 4 that I think it will end up in 9 parts, and I still have much to say. I wanted to avoid having posts as long as Day 1-3.
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