Day 4: Zippori, Sefar, Beatitudes and Peace Vista

After we spent time in Nazareth, we traveled not far to an archeological dig on Tel Zippori. Again this was a city built by the Romans, the taken by the Turks later on. The Mosaics are incredibly intricate as the artwork offers clear shading with the tiles…some mosaics contain up to 26 different colors…you can check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippori

We were then off to our next stop, Safed, which is the center for Kabbalah, which is Jewish mysticism...sorry everyone, no Madonna sitings...but we got to see a neat synagogue and I got to wear a yomica and Paula got to wear a cool shawl...

After we left, we drove through the town of Cana, which is where Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding. We didn't stop, but saw a shop that advertised "Wedding Wine"!

Then we had lunch at a local mall, and there were many IDF soldiers (Israeli Defense Force) which is common...most of them are around 16 or 17 years old and carry large machine guns, just part of the situation in Israel. Then came a group of young adults dressed as civilians who all came up and greeted these IDF soldiers, in English! They were all from the US and were traveling on the Israeli Birthright tour...if you are Jewish, they Israel will pay for a 10 day trip to visit Israel...pretty cool! You can check it out at http://www.birthrightisrael.com

We then came to the highlight of the day for me, we visited the Mount of the Beatitudes, which is situated on the Northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee, it is believed that it is here that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5-7. The reason they think this is that the terrain is built like an amphitheater and it has a large place where the crowds could have gathered and is just outside the city of Capernaum.

So we all gathered into a little nook next to the church that was built there and I got to read the sermon to the rest of the group. Very powerful...

We then traveled to the Kfar Haruv Kibbutz which hosts the Peace Vista resort which is an incredibly beautiful place, right on the Eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. We are several hundred feet above the lake, so we can see the whole lake from here...well, we could if it wasn't so hazy...

We got to hear about the history of the Kibbutz from a couple who have been living here since the mid-80's, very fascinating...this particular Kibbutz has moved from being solely a commune to largely a capitalist organization...

A great group of people who really know the meaning of service...they bring us breakfast at our cabin at 7:30 am and it's just the most incredible cabin...we each have our own cabins! Our guide says most people don't want to leave when they get here...I am one of them...alas, we have to leave soon, but we will enjoy it while we can! The only thing I don't like is the internet is a bit slow, so doing these blogs takes a long time...but I will suffer through it...:)

More later....