We started the day after an “entertaining” breakfast at Karei Deshe. There were two groups of “youths” at the hostel – an elementary school group with a English school teacher in charge and a rabble of Israeli kids. Watching them devour breakfast was interesting to say the least.

Traveling north along the Galilee west shore we stopped first at Tabgha, traditional site of the feeding of the five thousand, just missed a tour group massing outside (all in their orange backpacks – presumably so that the group leader could keep track of them), We moved on to St Peter’s Primacy, site of the Restoration of Peter, and spent a little time on the beach.These are the traditional Christian sites, in visiting them we were trying to get a sence of what it was like “in the time of Jesus”, this we were to discover was to change significantly for us over time.

The Galilee water level is a lot lower than 2006 but it was still nice to spend some time in quiet reflection. A Spanish mass was happening in the adjoining garden so this added an interesting backdrop of singing and guitars.

Stopping at Capernaum we met up with the “orange brigade” we had seen at Tabgha. Seems it was not only bread and fishes that had multiplied there because there were six times more of them we’d seen before (this is not one of Jen’s exaggerations). There was also a bunch of French pilgrims saying mass in the church built over Peter’s home, but with so many people milling about it was difficult taking photographs without at least one person in the shot.

After this we headed straight for Katzrin. This is an interesting town as the modern town is relatively new. Finding the ancient site was a little of a challenge as the signs were only in Hebrew but once we found it, we discovered that it was an amazing recreation of the ancient village of Katzrin. The synagogue which has been partially restored is adjacent to a number of houses. There is also a re-created home of the local Rabbi, which included a number of items, some original and others recreated of household items. Two young girls and their mother dressed in period (1st Century) costumes were taking pictures of each other in and around the site so Rob managed to snap a few as well. The young girl wasn’t quite sure she liked being a photographic model but mother said it was fine. We initially thought that the three might have something to do with the village but it then appeared that they were dressed that way as “part of the experience” and we wondered whether we would have had the option to dress up as well, had we been able to communicate a little better.

Also included at this site was a “Talmudic Experience”, a multi-screen video movie of the history and significance of the Torah, Mishna and the Talmud. It was thought-provoking as it seemed to be promoting the positive interaction between the orthodox observant Jew and the secular Jew, and that both should and could learn from each other. The village really gave a good idea of life at that time as it included a wine press (foot style), and a working olive press, similar to many of the ones we have seen around Israel.

Further into Katzrin we went and found the Golan Museum. This had many artifacts from Gamla, the site we had seen the day before. It also had a audio-visual of the fall of Gamla. Unfortunately the Hebrew version was playing when we got there and it would have been a long wait for the English version to play.

We made use of the time to walk across to a mini mall to cash some travelers cheques at the local post office. A bit of a wait in the queue and we were “observed” by the locals including a few Russians and a Moldavian lady. No, she did not have a beard nor smell of cabbage. Afrikaans came in handy and we commented to each other about what was going on.

By this time we were starving and went to a bakery in the mall. Jen, after the stuffed pepper “episode” refused to eat anything unless she knew exactly what it consisted of. A lot of people “don’t have English” so we tentatively asked what was in the pastries and were told it was a “secret recipe”. Anyway, this very pleasant gentleman explained what was in some of the pastries on display and we also chatted briefly about South Africa. (Jen often mentions South Africa as she hates being identified as British!) We chose cheese, cheese and mushroom and chocolate/raisin pastries and a few drinks and were on our way to Har Bental. The gentleman had suggested we sit down and eat but when he heard our ultimate destination he told us to “hit the road”. Rob tried to convince Jen that the pastries were inedible so he could have them all himself, but no go …

Driving on through the Golan we passed a few army bases and a number of shot-out tanks, remnants from the Yom Kipper War of 1973. Turning off the main road we drove up a hill called Har Bental. At the top is a disused military lookout bunker that gives a stunning view of the Golan of Mount Hermon and into Syria. We were told that on a clear day, it is possible to see the Syrian capital of Damascus but unfortunately it was too hazy. There was a cold wind blowing that was explained by the snow on Mount Hermon – a lot had melted but the valleys still appeared to have a thick blanket of snow.

A coffee shop at the top is named Coffee Anan. No relation to the former UN Chief! . Anan is clouds in Hebrew so in English it would be the “clouds coffee shop”.Another interesting fetuire of the site is the scultoures made from old bits of metal, not sure if they were to represent the hororrs of war or maybe the artist just had very bad dreams. Judge for your self …

Further along the road we passed through a few Druze villages and then passed Banias. Although we would have liked to have stopped at Banias again, we were starting to run out of time and drove on to Kiryat Shmona.

We stopped at a “PAZ” gas station with a “Yellow” café – these usually offer free wifi. This one did so we checked mail and uploaded our blog. Jen had minor heart failure on discovering an email from the Western Wall Foundation saying that they couldn’t find our reservation but a phone call fortunately resolved the problem (what a good decision it was to get an Israeli cell). Relief! This was going to be one of the highlights of our tour and we would have been bitterly disappointed if it didn’t work out.

While Jen was waiting for Rob, Suzanne called and discussed the possibilities for going to Sderot which is constantly under fire by Qassam rockets from Gaza by Hamas. She had contacted someone for us and we needed to follow up. We did this later during the day and are waiting for final confirmation for a visit next Sunday.

Suzanne is a gem – going out of her way to help us, calling with information and really taking an interest in us and our trip to Israel. To use her as a Tour Guide contact her @ www.suzztours

It was then off to Tel Hazor and it was difficult finding it as the road had been upgraded and relocated meaning that the turn off was not marked, which meant turning around and going a short way back. Tel Hazor is one of the most significant Tels in Israel, but as we got there only half an hour before closing we were limited in what we could see. The site also has only a few sign boards explaining what the excavations are therefore we were not always sure what we were looking at. But we saw a few reconstructed buildings as well as the water system which is similar to the one at Meggido.

 

What was interesting was the way that the cuttings had been landscaped. This sort of creativity we were to see all over Israel, and it was refreshing to see that bland and normaly ugly aspects of modern living so wonderfully worked.

Back to the main road we returned to Karei Deshe. Suzanne had told us that since tomorrow (Thursday 1 May) was Holocaust Memorial Day (which starts the night before), we should be aware that most restaurants would be closed. We were surprised that Karei Deshe had told us on Tuesday that Wednesday supper was fine, but when we returned from Tel Hazor at 5.30 pm, we were told that there was in fact no supper.

We called Nof Ginnosar which is just down the road (for those of you who have been reading regularly, it is the place where the “Ancient Boat” is, and where Jen almost broke the bank), and arranged to have dinner there. The buffet was really worth it with a better than normal range of salads, and large range of hot dishes as well. To quote Rob: “my dear wife decided that she needed to eat for the rest of the week and had two, yes two, full plates of food and then attacked the cheese cake with a piece of chocolate crème cake on the side.

So much for a light meal”. Unquote Rob. To quote Jen: “We paid for it, we can’t waste it”. Well we are now packing up here at Kare Desh on the shores of the Galilee, and moving on to Nazareth tomorrow via Mount Tavor and Zippori. Burp (from Rob – it was a good meal!) and good night (from Jen).

Tomorrow we travel on to Nazareth Day 5