Haifa, Israel

The ship traveled overnight a short distance up the coast to Haifa for a different opportunity in Israel. We met up with Mickey for the "Northern Christian Tour". We headed out a bit before 8 am. She and the driver had driven the 2 hours from Jeruselem that morning. Our first stop was Nazereth, the boyhood home of Jesus. The Basilica of Annunciation was a beautiful church built in the place where the angel Gabriel was said to have told Mary about the upcoming birth. The basilica was consecrated by the Pope in 1964. Countries from all over the world sent beautiful mosaics which were on a wall outside as well as inside the sanctuary. In the middle of the sanitary was a lower area which surrounded ruins. Some 2000+ year old stairs were said to be from Mary's house. It was the first ruins we saw from the actual time of Jesus. There were also ruins outside the basilica covered by a roof  to protect them. It was a beautiful place. The bus picked us up and took us a short distance where we were actually given time to shop! Mickey also picked up some snacks for us, baclava, it was delicious.  

We left Nazereth and headed to the Sea of Galilee. On the way we stopped at a beautiful small church refered to as a Latin Church. We next stopped at the Jordan River. The place where Jesus' miracle took place was a lot further down river but in a place that is not safe so tourists were always taken to this location. There were schools of fish swimming by on the surface as well as huge catfish close to the shore. There was a large area set up to be baptized in the river. I think my parents did that 40 years ago. The shop was huge with a lot of nice items. Most of us went for the Dead Sea products. We would not get to visit the Dead Sea so this was the next best thing. 

We next stopped at one of the original kibbutz. They produced dates and had a large shop full of date products. They had about 10 different varieties of dates with samples of each one. The date spread with walnuts was excellent. They also had a lot of chocolate. It was made in Germany but very good quality for a very good price. We left there and headed to lunch. As it was Easter break, the roads were packed. Our driver decided to go all the way around the lake rather than sit waiting in traffic for a long time. That was an extra treat. All along the shore were camp grounds that were packed with people. The far side of the lake was the Golan Heights which we unfortunately know about because of the conflicts there. In some areas there were fences with signs saying Danger - Mines - Keep Out. Very sad. It would be a beautiful place to hike. 

We finally reached our "lovely seaside restaurant". It was actually just anothe tourist restaurant next to a crowded campground. Not quite what I had pictured. There was an interesting salad buffet and 4 choices of main dishes. I chose the baked St Peter's fish, from the nearby lake (Sea of Galilee). Mel had the same fish deep fried. Not the best fish I have had but it was tastey. After eating I went outside to take pictures and stick my toes in the dirty water. The shore was very rocky so not a great place to swim. 

We started heading back to Haifa. On the way we stopped at Capernaum, the ancient city of Jesus. It was said that the 4 apostles lived there, Matther, Mark, Luks and John. There was a modern octagon shaped building built over what is believed to be Paul's house where Jesus stayed while he was creating miracles in the area. There were ruins of an entire town including a beautiful synagogue. Back on the bus Mickey said we would now go back to the ship. I asked what happened to Jesus' Boat, another stop in our itinerary. She whispered to me that there were complaints from the back of the bus that they wanted to just go back. I said I wanted to stop. There was one woman in our group who complained about everything. I was not going to let her change our tour. 

Jesus boat is of course not his actual boat but it is from his time. It was found in the Sea of Galilee in the 80's when the lake level was very low. They covered it with plumber's foam and took it out of the lake. It was put into a pool of water until they could preserve it properly and build a museum to display it. There was a short film showing how they had recovered it. The boat itself was barely the hull, made from over 20 different types of wood! There was a nice museum store where people were grabbing Israeli Military caps for $1!  I think most people enjoyed the stop although a couple of people did not want to pay the entrance fee. Amazing to come this far and miss something because of $6!

Now we headed back to the ship. We were a bit ahead of schedule so Mickey said she had a surprise for us that was not in the itinerary. We ended up stopping at the Elvis American Diner. There was a bronze statue of Elvis outside, with pictures of him covering every surface inside. It was cute, made to look like a diner from the 50's, all white with red trim and neon lights. We drove thru the city of Haifa to see the headquarters of the B'hai faith. They had a beautiful temple there with gardens going all the way up the hill. We stopped at the top for pictures, it was a beautiful view of the city with our ship looking tiny in the harbor below. We were back at the ship by about 4 with Mickey giving each of us a big hug. She was an excellent guide. It had been 2 wonderful days in Israel.