Valentine’s Day

We are staying at a Kibbutzim hotel on the East side of Galilee. We enjoy having our own private room and it even has a small fridge and sitting area. We are in room 222 on the far end of the hotel cottages. Here are a few pictures from our walk this morning to breakfast.

We had a very full day today starting with the delicious breakfast at the hotel restaurant. It was a history lesson much of today as we started off learning the history behind the ownership of the Golan Heights. We drove up the road and was about to look at the area by the Syrian border, but we were completely fogged in. On top of that fact was that Israel had executed an airstrike against Damascus in the middle of the night. We heard the Jets and the Apache helicopters. It actually woke us both up. The second two pictures here are of old Syrian bunkers left behind when Israel annexed the Golan Heights.

So we went down the mountain and drove to Caesarea Philippi. We learned all about the alters to the god, pan and then went on to see the palace of Hered Agrippa located there. The cave was pretty impressive.

Then we went to visit the Tel Dan and reviewed the Old Testament history of when the 10 northern tribes separated and set up their own worship. We saw the site where the golden calf would have been standing and we could also see over into the border of Lebanon. I’m also including a picture of Pastor John and Pastor Brian who led our devotionals at different locations and on the bus.

Then it was time for our Saints Peter’s fish dinner. Of course I had chicken. But I think you will find the pictures quite impressive of those who ate fish.
we really enjoyed the variety of appetizers and bread at this stop.

Our first stop after lunch was to see in ancient fisherman‘s boat. This had been preserved and again dated back before the time of Christ. It is amazing to see how they dug it out of the sand and preserved it. On the way out of this museum we saw some interesting bike art that I thought we could do with some of Wynn‘s old bikes.

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the town of Capernaum. This is where Jesus did a lot of his public ministry and we saw the home of Peter’s mother-in-law where Jesus probably stayed. We also saw the synagogue that was built there by a centurion. The picture you see of Wynn and I sitting on the steps is taken where the stones were the same as when Jesus was there. I love when we read the passages right from the scripture that have to do with the places that we are visiting and the sites that we are seeing.

We did a lot of walking today over some terrain that was pretty slippery and rocky. I was glad I had my hiking stick along with me. We saw some beautiful sites where the Jordan River was rushing. Tomorrow we will be at a quieter location of the Jordan.

We finished the day with dinner back at the kibbutz dining room. And then we will be heading back to our room to recharge for tomorrow. No sunset pictures today as it was too cloudy to see the sun. I couldn’t believe how high the waves were and the whitecaps on the sea of Galilee. So thankful that we got to have our sunset cruise yesterday. We didn’t see many boats out today. Until tomorrow…