Our first breakfast at the Ron Beach was excellent, and we all set out ready to enjoy the better Galilean weather. However, today gave us a new insight into the life of Jesus. It wasn’t always sunny!! We had a fine trip to Cana where we saw the church celebrating the miracle turning the water into wine. We also went below the church to see the foundations of the earlier church which was, like most of the churches in the Holy Land, destroyed by the Byzantines.
As we travelled to the church our driver, Rabea, revealed that he had come originally from Cana and been married in the Greek Orthodox Church there last August. So while we were visiting the church, he popped home to see his mum, and brought his wedding DVD for us to see!
From Cana, we drove on to Nazareth, where our first stop was Mary’s well, the sight of the spring in Nazareth which would surely have been from where Mary fetched water, probably with the infant Jesus. Some of us had a sip of the water, and admired the glorious frescoes, some of which were very familiar, like the one of the Holy Trinity, or of the visitors coming to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre.
After this we walked to the synagogue church, the site of the synagogue where Jesus read from Isaiah in Luke 4. It was on the Byzantine design and very plain in comparison with the previous one, but very lovely too.
We were now having to put up umbrellas in between visits, our next one being to the church of the Annunciation, where we had our reading from Luke 1 and sang ‘Tell out my soul’, but quietly, which was hard!
We then grabbed a very quick coffee, and walked through the colourful bazaar to the bus, which took us to Nazareth village, a reconstruction of a village in Jesus’ time built on the site of a farm. First, we were taken round an indoor display to set the scene, then we went outside. There were people there in biblical dress, working, such as the shepherd, the watchman, the weaver and the carpenter. This we found very helpful as it enabled us to see what village life must really have been like for Jesus and his contemporaries.
Following this visit, we went to St Margaret’s Convent where we enjoyed a lunch of salad, beef patties and vegetables, and delicious fresh dates.
The afternoon was set aside to visit Mount Tabor, and here we had a truly biblical experience, as the cloud descended, the mist enveloped us, and we saw nothing of the magnificent views. But we all enjoyed the beautiful church where we heard the story of the Transfiguration and sang ‘Shine Jesus shine’.
On the journey back, the sky cleared and we saw the top of Mount Tabor very clearly! The return journey was enlivened by more of the video of Rabea’s wedding, then a lovely hot chocolate at the hotel to warm us up.
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