Day 13 Galilee

Today was another travel day. Our bus drove us the 2+ hours up the Jordan rift valley (filled with date palms and agricultural activity) to the Sea of Galilee where we visited several sites associated either for real or by tradition with the Gospel accounts of Jesus' ministry in that area.

Photo 1: typical scene of the Jordan rift valley. The mountains you see are in Jordan. If you can see the Jordan river, your eyesight is better than mine. There was only place where I actually saw river water during our 2 hour drive.

Photo 2: The Sea of Galilee (looking towards the south east) from the Mount of the Beatitudes made famous in Matthew 5. The flowers may be native but the greenery below are banana plants - not a native crop.

Photo 3: A portion of the restored tile floor from a 4th-5th century church that commemorated the feeding of the 5,000. In front of the altar, the central image contains 4 loaves and 2 fish - one loaf less than recorded. It is suggested the 5th loaf was to be understood as the one being served as part of the communion celebration thus allowing worshipers to participate in the miracle. However, you don't get to see that because I took a lousy photo. What you do see is a portion of the rest of the floor that contains images of birds and animals native to the Nile river. Perhaps that year's most popular decorating pattern?

Photo 4: The required photo of a typical visitor standing in the Jordan River.