Falling in love with Israel
Ok... so I may of only been here 2 days, but it's safe to say I'm falling in love with this country; a land of sheer beauty, biblical history and some of the best food I've eaten on this planet to date!
We started super early on our first jam packed day. Little did I know how many places we would visit! After a morning meeting and prayers on the roof of our hotel overlooking Haifa and the Mediterranean we made a very brief stop to the bakers for a quick (and i mean lightning fast) pastry and drink... before we knew it our bus was awaiting with our to be driver for the day!
The heat instantly made you quench for thirst, it actually reached 40C, far hotter than usual for the region according to the locals, who even said we were "crazy people" for going out exploring in this heat! Speeding along the highway we suddenly turned off and all a sudden all you could place your eyes on was the immense beauty of the sapphire Medditerean sea glistening in the sun behind the dusty ancient walls! We were in Caesarea!
We were greeted with the biggest smile ever from our guide for the day Eve, she saw us off the bus and very quickly got into Tour mode! Suddenly we were off! Exploring the ancient city that King Herod established those hundreds and hundreds of years earlier! At the time this place would of been one of the most remarkable constructions on earth! This place was so beautiful that I thought I'd stepped into the Tardis and gone back in time! We kept stopping for photos, repeatedly being told off by Eve for taking to much time... but she had a great day planned for us! I don't blame her! There was one really incredible moment here as I stood in the foundations of the old prison cell where Paul himself would of been imprisoned!
Eve our guide asked me to demonstrate how Caesareans hundreds of years ago would take a poo; when I said I worked as a demonstrator in England, this isn't quite what I meant! (See photo below!)
Dreams do come true...
After an amazing morning we were back on the road, relieved by the ice cold aircon blowing directly in my face! We drove across many miles of stunning landscape, banana farms and desert and after peaking a mountain there it was; a place I've only ever dreamt of seeing with my own eyes, a land which I heard many stories of growing up in Sunday School as a kid - the Sea of Galilee! We stopped at St Peters Chapel. This church floor was from the year 5ad - making the remains one of the oldest church's on Earth. A newer beautiful church now stands over (as seen below). We got there, it was a peaceful place, a very sacred place. There was lots of tourist inside, staring in awe at the incredible alabaster windows and beautiful stone floor. In this moment I believed for something more, I waited till I was the last person in the chapel, I just shut my eyes and waited. The presence of God was tangible and so sweet in this place... I didn't want to leave... but the bus did! So off we left to visit the Sea of Galilee for the first time.
We quickly popped to a neighbouring site, another very holy location. This time we were all silenced in amazement. We passed through beautiful gardens past a small chapel and stood on the shore where as it says in the Bible Jesus himself would of stood speaking to the fisherman to drop the nets one last time! Pulling thousands of fish into their boats. (John 21). I slowly walked down to the shore, sun bearing down so hot and placed my hands in warm crystal clear waters of the Galilee!
Dancing Jewish style
After eating a scrumptious fresh fish caught in the Galilee in one of the local restaurants, we headed out. It was a celebration holiday in the Muslim calendar, many families were out with BBQs and with big smiles on their faces, all the the kids laughing, running and jumping off the rocks into the Galilee waters, an incredible sight! Jumping back into our bus we headed for our boat. This turned out to be a moment I know I shall cherish for a lifetime!
The lovely Eve took us to the boat where she yelled at the captain israeli style to get us a good deal, to my humour 5 minutes later she was somehow in charge of the trip!
We were sailing with a group of American tourist who all turned out to be christians too, their Pastor read the story of the storm on the lake and how Jesus commanded the winds to calm and then water became becalmed. The funniest moment was as he told of the strong winds... suddenly a strong wind hit our boat too, making the whole bible story feel so alive in those moments! God is good!
Eve grabbed the microphone and said "we're to dance Israeli style! Come on everybody hold hands in a big circle". So here we found ourselves hand in hand learning to dance, one foot in, one foot out, whilst dancing clockwise in a circle (I tripped over my own feet more than once). Suddenly the music started thumping out of what seemed to be a sound system from the 80s! We began the dance, getting faster and faster then out of no where we all rushed into the center like the Hokey Pokey! This all happened whilst the boat rocked side to side in the brisk wind, out in the middle of the Galilee, a truly crazy moment, that I'll remember forever!
Jumping in the Jordan
Back safely on land we drove to the Mount of Beatitudes and whilst standing there overlooking Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee we opened the bible and actually read the Beatitudes in the same place Jesus would of taught them!
We then drove to the River Jordan, passing through the city of Tiberius. The basptism area is the best place to see the Jordan up close. They were due to shut within half an hour so we legged it down to the river, a place of true natural beauty. Thousands of fish, including 2 huge cat fish swam around our feet, the smaller fish even gave us a free fish pedicure which was a surreal experience in itself. All a sudden I felt the urge to jump in... so I did! The water was warm yet so refreshing, the bigger fish also took the opportunity to nibble at my hairy legs by this point!
'In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven; "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased"' Mark 1: 9-11
This is where my 1st blog ends! More stories to follow soon! Thank you for reading, follow me on Instagram to see lots more photos @drakeysjourneys
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