Spring Break in Galilee!

I love the Galilee!!! This trip (just shy of two weeks) has been the refreshing the vacation that my soul has needed for a very long time. I'll add one day at a time and pictures soon, so you don't get overwhelmed, because this was the crowning jewel of my Jerusalem experience and I want you to get the scope of the awesomeness. Enjoy!

Day 1- March 15th) We left Jerusalem at about 6:30 in the morning and headed for the coast. There are three ways to go from Jerusalem to Galilee: through the Jordan River Valley, through Samaria, and by the way of the sea. So, we went by the way of the sea. Our first stop was Caesarea Maritima, which was built by Herod the Great, to give Judea a big port and to gain favor and legitimacy in the eyes of Rome. As many times as Judea was conquered through the ages, this port was also conquered. We watched a movie and spent some time in the ruins of an amphitheater, which is actually the one in which the Roman soldiers celebrated the destruction of Jerusalem. There is also the remains of a hippodrome – if you don’t know what that is, you should watch “Ben Hur”…..actually, you should just watch “Ben Hur” anyway. And of course there were ruins from the breakwater, a temple and other important buildings, but my favorite thing was being at the beach. The Mediterranean is pretty awesome. The beach at this port is made of shells – millions of perfectly halved clam shells of all sizes and colors – that’s it, no rocks, no sand – just shells. I grabbed a handful.

After Caesarea, we drove up the coast and stopped for 10 minutes at the ruins of the aqueduct that carried water to Caesarea. We climbed on it, jumped off, took pictures. The whole bit. The fun very ended, as we hit Tel Megiddo next. Who can tell me the significance of that place? The valley of Jezreel, which the tel overlooks is so beautiful and verdant. We had history and scripture lessons there and tried to imagine Ahab chasing Elijah across the valley. Brother Manscill pointed out to us that he’s felt that all of us who come to the Holy Land and learn the lay of the land and such will have some sort of role in the last days in this area. We left and moved on to Nazareth. The entire city is set high on a hill or plateau. It’s beautiful and covered in churches that memorialize the Annunciation to Mary of Jesus’ birth. We drank from the spring where this supposedly happened, which is inside the Greek Orthodox Church. Apparently the waters are supposed to help you get pregnant. No such luck. The Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation is HUGE and contains mosaics from 100 Catholic nations depicting this event – even from China and Bolivia. Very cool. I didn’t think that we would find Palestinians there, being so far from the West Bank, but there were plenty. It looked a lot like the Old City of Jerusalem.

Eventually, we wound our way through the hills, passing herds of sheep and cows grazing in very green fields, and came to the lovely view of the Sea of Galilee. The sun was on its way down at the time, so by the time we got to Ein Gev (on the eastern side), we through our stuff in our rooms and watched the sun set with our feet in the water. There is a great feeling of peace and the luxury of taking one’s time to sit and relax and ponder for a change. There are many others here – mostly foreign pilgrims and even some nuns from France. Beautiful setting.

Day 2) I am grateful for a break. We had three hours of New Testament class and then some time before lunch to just spend doing whatever. Since half the group was gone on the fieldtrip we would do the next day, the kibbutz was very quiet. I sat on the seashore (love saying that) and journalled but took breaks to pick up some of the squillion seashells on the seashore. After lunch we had our first free time, which mean the first time to test the waters. It was really windy, so there were some pretty good waves. That made the water fun but also difficult to be warm in. But the water was warmer than the air. I was lifeguarding for the first hour and had to wear my coat along over my swimsuit and board shorts, as I stood in calf-deep water. I’m impressed with the students’ adamancy to make the most out of every situation we’re in. They go out in the city when it’s cold and raining. They swim when it’s cold. They go all out in every condition and I think it’s because we all realize that we’ve only got one shot at every day here, so we have to make it count and if that means making memories in uncomfortable and precarious circumstances, so be it.