Nazareth, Cana and the Sea of Galilee

Day 2 started off bright and early and hot in Nazareth. Nazareth, located in the centre of very large hills, or small mountains. Our bus just climbed and climbed to get there....
This picture is in the Church of Ascension. They claim that this is Mary's kitchen (behind the big alter of course). Her wall oven looks to be about the same size as mine. Probably heated up just as fast as well.... Joseph's house is just around the corner, where she would have moved when they got married. So, they were neighbours if this is truly their houses. The church claims that this is where Mary was met by the angel Gabrielle as well, but how do they know that? Outside, there are Muslims banners over the square. Our guide, Eli, tells us that the Muslims want to build a mosque right in front of the church and it has caused quite the controversy.

Next is Joseph's house. We were told that Joseph must have been quite a wealthy man as he had his own carpentry shop and an indoor, private bath. His house was also located above a spring so they didn't have to leave to get fresh water. At first, it didn't sound right to me, but then, what did they do with all of that loot that the wise men brought them? Hmmm..... I am still skeptical... But it was somebody's bathtub....

Here is present day Nazareth. 

On to Cana - I now know that Jesus and family would have had quite a long walk downhill to get to Cana where the synagogue was. They have dug up the remains of the synagogue.... 

Above is the reception area, and if they are right, this is where Jesus would have turned water into wine. And we thought our church pews were hard?

These were some jugs that were also unearthed.

When we got off the bus, tradition is that you are offered wine in Cana. Well.......OK!!!

It was an 18 year old vintage called King David. Quite nice. Then, of course, you could buy a bottle if you wanted. Our guide allocates less than 60 seconds for stopping so I don't dare to even go to the washroom for fear of the bus leaving. Oh well, when it's this hot, you don't have to go anyhow.

From Cana we went to the Sea of Galilee for a boat ride on a fishing boat made to look like a 1st century one.

 We sailed around for about an hour and learned some Jewish dancing... I am a natural.
Lots of New Testament moments to think about while sailing and looking at the shores. Several apostles were recruited from these beaches, Jesus walked on these waters and calmed the wind, across the lake is where he healed a demon possessed man and the demon went into the pigs which ran into the sea, the loaves and the fishes happened close to here and many others.... It wasn't a very big body of water to be called a sea. I was wondering how the apostles got into trouble so fast out there, but when we headed back to the hotel, the guide told us that the sea East wind still bellows through there and kicks up the lake causing quite a "tempest" (to use Kent's word) so not to go swimming after 4PM. And sure enough, later today the wind kicked up and it became quite a tempest out there. By the way Kent, no one on the tour knew what I was talking about when I used that word.

A little on the current day...

These are how the Israelis grow bananas, in tents. It keeps the bugs off and they can control the tempterature with the different types of mesh and colours.

They grow other crops this way as well.
Everything is irrigated here.. It has to be as most of it is desert if not watered. The water is piped in everywhere, even on to the patches of grass and flowers at street corners.

Where they grow produce, they irrigate by so many drops a minute and have it calculated for efficiency and growing power very precisely. It is all computerized and the technology is bought by other countries.

DId you know that Israel has the happiest milking cows? Apparently, Israelis wanted to perfect the art of milking, therefore they computerized that as well. Each cow has a chip in each ear. One chip, when the cow is brought in to be milked, reads out the cow's blood pressure, blood sugar, temp, etc. So that it can be cared for exactly as needed to ensure maximum milk. The other chip goes a step further and monitors mood indicators, so that if the cow appears to be depressed, it actually gets to have a brushing and a massage before it goes back out to pasture. And when it goes back out to pasture, it is put with different cows to improve its moooooood. Apparently it works, as they have the highest milk per cow of anywhere in the world.

Orthodox Jewish marriage, until recently, was the first time you met your spouse. Apparently now the couple is allowed to have three dates before they are allowed to decide whether they are going to get married or not. Before, they didn't have the choice. But only three dates and all in very public settings.

Tomorrow we are going to the Mount of Beatitudes and then on to Jerusalem. Did you know that this is a double Jubilee year in 2017? And the feast of Trumpets is right around the corner on Sept 22nd.....