Jan. 18, 2016 a very busy day- Visits to Mt. of Beatitudes Church, Capernaum, Church of the Holy Apostles, Church & Monastery of The Apostles & boat ride on the Sea of Galilee

We are still adjusting to the time difference and jet lag so we had gone to bed at 10pm and woke up at 5:30am. We were to meet for breakfast at 7 and be ready to go on the bus by 8am. We went to the dining room for breakfast at 6:30 and found some of our group already eating.

We got our things together after breakfast and got on the bus for our first stop at the Catholic Church of the Beatitudes located near Tabgha on a small mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Beatitudes

http://www.seetheholyland.net/mount-of-beatitudes/

Our guide and His Eminence Nikitas explained to us on the ride to the church it is where Jesus preached the Beatitudes to give the people hope.

As we walked up to the Church we saw beautiful gardens and placards with all the eight beatitudes. On the plaza and steps facing the Church were beautiful mosaics.

Due to fact we were early and off season our group was the only one there along with some few tourists/pilgrims.

The interior of the Church was very nice.

From here we saw a beautiful view of the sun peeking through the clouds onto the Sea of Galilee.

It's now around 9am and we have an appt. at 9:30 to take a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. We arrived at the Yigal Allon museum to take a view of the Jesus boat and then to the pier to board the boat. The boat on display was covered with poly foam to preserve it.

Model of Jesus boat

We had a private boat ride that started out by the crew raising the American Flag and then playing a tape of the American and Greek National Anthems as we started sailing.  Our guide Yiannis had a surprise for us-  he plugged his iphone into the ship's PA system and starting playing Greek Music!!

Raising the American Flag

Once the music starting playing as we started our cruise on the Sea of Galilee some of the group jumped up and started dancing and soon almost everyone was dancing on the boat.

I think that the dancing gave us all a relief from the stress of the trip and gave us a carefree air that we all needed.

 Me watching the dancing

My wife Sophia watching the dancing

The boat ride was about one hour long. After it was over we disembarked and headed to the museum- some went to the gift shop and others to the cafe for refreshments.  The next stop was going to be Capernaum.

Jan. 17, 2016 Ron Beach Hotel in Tiberius

When we all got off the bus our guide gathered us together to assign our rooms and give the keys out and told us dinner was at 7 pm.

There was some daylight left and we took a look at the hotel and grounds and found that is was a nice place and very quiet since it was off season. Most of the guests were pilgrims like us.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Tiberias,+Israel/Ron+Beach+Hotel,+Tiberias,+Israel/@32.7953129,35.3991239,11.01z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x151c3e4505b6d063:0xf6f4a023d4faf69f!2m2!1d35.530973!2d32.795859!1m5!1m1!1s0x151c3e47abdd4b0b:0x406ff73a236acb7f!2m2!1d35.5408051!2d32.7961714


Our room was on the first floor with a patio door out to the pool and since the weather was very mild we did not use the patio.

sample room view

Room was clean and good sized- adequate for the next 3 nights of our stay during the pilgrimage.

Hotel exterior

 Mohammed our friendly driver

 I saw the rainbow in the morning before breakfast.

lobby gift shop on right

The food was very good here and the service good. Breakfast service was excellent- Matre d' always checking with guests if all ok and great coffee service. Coffee was good and served frequently at breakfast.

Only some of the entrees were labeled at dinner and not many at breakfast. Always had to ask waiter what the pastries and cheeses were. Getting used to no breakfast meats and no dairy at dinner.

We were advised to bring 10's and 20's on trip for meals and incidentals. The front desk was accomodating in giving 1's and 5's when we changed $20 bills.

All in all the stay here was very pleasant. I imagine this is a great place to stay in the summer.

Jan. 17, 2016 Tel Aviv start of our pilgrimage. Visited Jaffa, St. George Church in Lodd/Lydda; Caesarea, Haifa, Acco and overnight in Tiberias

I had seen photos of the hotel (Grand Beach) on the hotel website and was disappointed to see it live. The lobby was rather stark and the only staff on hand was a desk clerk.

There was only one elevator and no porter to carry the bags to the room even though the tour included portage. Same with leaving the next day- we just carried our bags down ourselves rather than try and wait and find a porter.

We were warned on the bus that our hotels were kosher when it came to meals. Dairy in the AM and no meat and vice versa for dinner. So at breakfast we could have milk, cheese, egg dishes and baked goods but no sausage or other breakfast meats.

The breakfast buffet was fine- different types of eggs, fish, baked goods and fruit along with juice, tea and coffee. The problem here as well as the other hotel buffets for breakfast and dinner is that there was not label/sign above or near the entrees with the name of the food ie there were meats and casseroles but no name to state beef stew, baked veal etc. The breads were not labeled either- could be cinnamon bread or something else. Very frustrating- hesitant to pick something I did not like and the food went to waste. I ended up just taking small samples and if it tasted good I went back for a regular portion.
All the food in all the hotels was good overall.

Anyway after our breakfast we picked out our bags and the porter loaded them on the bus and away we went.

First stop was a short distance away in Jaffa at the Church of St. Michael. Jaffa was where St. Peter had a vision of the animals and in this Church is an icon depicting St. Peter and the sheet overhead.

The bus let us off in a large square and we went down stairs in a narrow alley to reach the two entrances of the Church.

The vision was accompanied by a voice commanding him to kill and eat animals as they are clean because they were made by God and thus freeing people from the Kosher law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%27s_vision_of_a_sheet_with_animals

This Church had burned down and was rebuilt. It was covered with beautiful hand painted icons and one of the icons depicted St. Peter and the sheet.
The video here shows a good interior view of the Church including the icon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwXoJ4k8T5M

The parish priest had just finished a liturgy when we arrived and greeted us and showed us the St. Peter icon which was next to a door by the Altar. We were able to take time and see all the icons and the Church before we had to move on to the bus and the next stop.

We arrived in Lodd, Lydia  in Palestine at the Church of St. George to venerate the tomb of St. George.  We spent an hour here at the Church and going to the basement where we saw the tomb of St. George as well as  a piece of the chains that were used to bind him when he was being tortured.

We also saw the relics of St. George and were able to venerate them.

https://orthodoxword.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/the-tomb-of-the-holy-great-martyr-george-from-lodd-lydda/

We also met the parish priest who welcomed us to the Church.

The Church was built onto the side of a Mosque.

It is now 9:40 am and we are now on the bus going to Caesarea to visit an ancient Roman  amphitheater.

Today Caesarea is a city with upper class expensive homes and golf courses. The ancient city was a bustling port and Christian center until the Mamluks destroyed it in the 13th century.


The amphitheater and aqueduct are now part of the Caesarea National Park. After we entered the park we went to a small theater to view a movie about the history of Caesarea.

Afterwards we visited the amphitheater and then to a stone stand that had a replica of Pontius Pilate's stamp on it.

From here we walked on the beach until we reached the aqueduct and then headed towards the exit.

The original wall and arch of the Crusader's fortress and castle.

Aqueduct view from the bus

We are now on the bus driving to Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee. On the way we will stop in Haifa for photos and at Acco.


At 2pm we stopped at a local cafe in the middle of nowhere for lunch which consisted of either a chicken schnitzel on pita or falafel, salad and a soft drink.  At 3 we boarded the bus for the next stop.

In Haifa we stopped at a scenic overlook of  the Bahai World Center. We were able to stay here for  about 30 mins and to walk down some of the stairs to get closer photos of the gardens and the view of the harbor. It was really impressive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_World_Centre

View of the bottom from the bus

At 3:35 we were back on the bus heading to Akko (Acre), an important city in ancient times. We stopped at a promenade by the sea and those who wanted could get off to stretch their legs or get a coffee or soda.

Problem was the cafe did  not take dollars and fortunately our guide Yiannis showed up and convinced the baristas to sell us coffee and let us pay in dollars.
The coffee was $.50 and is in a small cup like Turkish and Greek coffee but with an added spice. If one wants sugar it is added after the coffee is brewed.
 After a short break here we all got on the bus for our destination, Tiberius on the Sea of  Galilee. It was approx. a drive of about 1 1/2 hrs from Akko to Tiberius.

We drove through the small town of Tiberius to arrive at the Ron Beach Hotel on the Sea of Galilee around 6pm.