Sea of Galilee

Another view from our balcony. The round stone building in the middle is part of the remains of an old monastery.

Sunrise on the Sea of Galilee

The view of the sunrise from our balcony.

Tiberius

The view of the Sea of Galilee from our balcony at the Oasi San Fransesco in Tiberius. This place is ran by charismatic Catholics from France. It is a quaint place with a garden, clean efficient rooms and the price included breakfast. I would highly recommend it.

Sea of Galilee

Bob and me on the boat "Faith" on the Sea of Galilee. We had a wonderful time. Our group of nine were the only ones on the boat. It is much larger than I imagined. It was very calm but I can imagine that storms could be quite severe.

Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee were spiritual places for all of us. It was quiet and we could imagine Jesus walking and talking with people. There wasn't the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem or the Old City.

Sea of Galilee

Bob on the boat "Faith" on the Sea of Galilee.

Tiberias

Bob & me standing in the shade at the Sea of Galilee.

Golani Junction

Mickey Yaron holding his son, Roi and Bob standing in front of one of the Israeli military vehicles.

Golani Junction

On Independence Day, April 20 we traveled to Tiberias. On our way we stopped at McDonald's at Golani Junction. The nearby army base had set up a military display on the parking lot across from the McDonald's. Young soldiers manned the displays and talked with visitors. Even though there was a holiday air, there was no question that the soldiers were on alert and the weapons were loaded. We have so much to be thankful for in America.

Herod's Palace

The remains of Herod's palace are on the stair-stepped end of the mountain atop Masada

The Dead Sea

Here is another picture of the Israeli flag but from a higher place on Masada. The Dead Sea is in the background in the middle. Companies are now "farming" the Dead Sea. They put up dams, let the water evaporate and then harvest the rich minerals including the salt. Afterward, they take down the dams and move them to another section and allow the section they just harvested to fill with water again. Ahava Products are probably the most well know products made from this process.

The Dead Sea

This is a view from the top of Masada. The blue strip in the middle is the Dead Sea and the hazy mountains in the back is the country Jordan.

Lot's Wife at the Dead Sea

Although there is a natural rock formation that legend has as Lot's Wife, this is a rock statue erected to represent her.

Masada

After following signs to Masada, Dana and I arrived at this park which is on the backside of Masada. You can see the ramp the Romans constructed to breach Masada. There isn't any way to get to the top of Masada this way other than hiking the ramp. So, we had to drive back one hour to get to the front and the cable car entrance of Masada.

The darker blue in the middle on the left is the Dead Sea.

Publish Post

Bedouin women

These women had just been dropped off by the bus. I guess they had been to town to buy supplies. As you can see there isn't a house or settlement in sight. People do a lot of walking in Israel whether in the cities or in the country.

Gas Prices

We're still not sure how much we paid for gas which is probably a good thing because if we had known we would have felt bad! We used the 6.75 shekels per liter brand. One dollar is equal to 3.73 shekels. Sorry, it just turns into higher math for me. I'm guessing somewhere around $6 a gallon which I actually feel good about because I think it was about $10 when we were there before.

Trash Collecting in the Old City

Life goes on! This guy was driving by and when I lifted my camera, he stopped and smiled. Do you think he's been asked for his picture before? This is how trash is collected in the Old City. These small tractors pulling carts pick up the bagged trash. This tractor is perfect because the streets are so narrow. When it goes down the street everyone has to move to one side.

A Typical Vendor

This is an example of a vendor in the Old City in Jerusalem. As you can see they offer several things and lots of them offer the same thing, which is why "bargaining" or "haggling" is the rule of the day. If they don't have what you want "their cousin" down the street does. Or, they make a phone call on their cell phones and give you a new price.

Some people love the game of bargaining but for me it is very stressful.

Bread Vendor

Entering the Jaffa Gate the first thing you encounter is the bread vendor. Fresh bread in oval loaves out in the open on a cart. You wouldn't see it in Chattanooga and if you did people probably wouldn't buy it but it seems to be the normal in Israel.