Where Jesus Walked - Day 2

Waking up with a view over the Sea of Galilee was amazing. My father and I walked around the hotel while we were patiently waiting for the rest of the group so we could have breakfast.

We headed out from Tiberias to Nazareth. Our first stop was at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. This church is build over what is believed to be the well where the women of Nazareth would have come to get water. The spot is outside the walls of the ancient town of Nazareth and about a ten minute walk from the village center.

painting over the well of the Annunciation

I say village because George explained that the Nazareth that Jesus grew up in only would have had around 200 residents.
From here we walked through the streets of modern day Nazareth, a predominantly Muslim city with 80,000 people living there. Our final destination on our walk was the Basilica of the Annunciation. The current building was constructed during the 1950's and 1960's over the ancient church which was constructed around the 4th century.

 This is a minor basilica that is run by the Franciscans. We were blessed to be able to celebrate mass here and then tour the grounds a bit. The lowest level is where the grotto of Mary is found. This is believed to be the cave/house where Mary grew up.

The 4th century church was built around this, and parts of its floor, columns and walls are still visible.

The main floor is where we celebrated mass. There were beautiful paintings and mosaics all over.
Outside there are mosaics of Mary from different countries, so Mary is represented differently in all of them.

Ireland

Back on the bus we made an unscheduled stop at Mount Precipice. This is where it is believed the people of Nazareth tried to push Jesus off a cliff after they rejected him being the Messiah.

On the bus driving back toward Tiberias we stopped at Cana. Still a small town, but bigger than it was 2000 years ago. The town is still famous for its wine. At the Church of the Wedding Feast those that were married in our group got to renew their wedding vows. They also blessed those of us that are single.

Underneath the church there are ruins of buildings, so they are fairly certain this is the spot where they would have had the wedding feast. And this wasn't just a day long feast, this would have been a three day event. Two centuries ago, when they had a party, they had a party.

Back to Tiberias and a huge dinner.

Peace all

The Holy Land, where Jesus Walked - Day 1

I was very blessed to be able to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land recently. It was an amazing experience and I'm excited to be able to share those experiences here.

Day 1

We touched down in Israel around 4:00 in the afternoon Israeli time. I'd never flown into another country before, so going through customs and having my passport checked was a new experience. The first tell tale sign we were in Israel came while we were waiting for our group to gather. Along an eastern wall a group of Jewish men gathered. Dressed in mostly black with their payot (curled sideburns essentially) hanging down, each prayed on their own, facing Jerusalem. Being in Tel Aviv, they all faced east.  I appreciated this because it helped me get my bearings.
We loaded onto our bus and met our guide, George. He is a native to Jerusalem, with multiple college degrees and an incredible memory.
Our first stop was in Ramlah, a town south east of Tel Aviv. We celebrated mass at the Church of Joseph and Nicodemus. Named after Joseph of Arimathea who asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and Nicodemus who we hear about three separate times in John's Gospel.  Both it is believed came from this area of Israel. Two Franciscan friars and two Franciscan nuns live at and take care of the Church. One of them shared with us that during the Crusade times, it was this church that the pilgrims would start out at.

From Ramlah, we headed north to Tiberias. It took us almost two hours and it was dark, but we were definitely in a foreign country. Arriving at our hotel in Tiberias we immediately went in and had our first taste of what our meals were going to be like during our pilgrimage. Lots of pita bread, humus and other dips, fish and of course, wine.