Issrael Day 8 - Nazareth

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Before departing Haifa, we take the Mount Carmel Cable Carfor the view and to visit the Stella Maris Monastery. We walk back along the beach, no humans – it’s off season but it’s heaving with cats, they appear to live among the rocks.



Then onwards, stopping for lunch at Tel Megiddo (aka Armageddon), to check out the venue where the world is prophesied to end. A strange irony; it’s not where Google Maps says it is. A conspiracy theory; this is a deliberate and cunning ploy by Google to prevent the end of civilisation.



We arrive at today’s destination, Nazareth - Jesus’s manor. The hotel, Villa Nazarath, is immaculate. It is in a converted school adjoning the Greek Orthodox Church of the Anunciation which is built over a spring where the Greeks believe Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel. There are a number of springs in Nazareth, each has a church on top, just in case this is where Gabriel put in an appearance.



We work our way down the hill, until we reach the star attraction; The Basilica of the Annunciation. It’s modern, built in the 1960s, but it is one of the most stunning buildings I have ever seen. The stained glass is beautiful and it’s adorned, inside and out with paintings and mosaics of the Virgin Mary from Christian communities around the world. The USA’s contribution particularly draws the eye.



We enter the Mary of Nazareth International Centre and head for the top, where there’s a chapel and roof garden with unparallelled views over the Basilica and the city.



Back up the hill via the White Mosque. Nazareth is predominantly Arab and the walls in this area are adorned with pro Palestinian grafitti. We find a restaurant. We are hungry, which results in the old man over ordering - it’s a megamezze.

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