Blogs from Tiberias, North District, Israel, Middle East - page 5

Wednesday night I got the chills and did not feel so good. I ended up having a fever and chills all day and couldnt function on thursday. I didnt go to volunteering because I was so sick and couldnt be around 2 2 1/2 year olds. My body ached and I didnt know what to do. I just decided suck it up you will feel better and mom will take care of me. My entire family is in Israel (minus my dad :-( ). This is going to be out of control. Thursday 1/15 I am meeting my great uncle at the airport who has never been to Israel his entire life. I was thinking about getting to BG way before he lands make a sign so he could get the typical greet when arriving in ... read more

It was another warm and sunny day as our group arrived in Haifa. Israel’s largest port. Another busy port, we docked across from several very modern looking Israel navy vessels at the base of the hills that make up Haifa. Our guide was there to meet us promptly at 8:00 AM, and it looked as though we would be off to a quick start. However, our bus could not leave the port area because someone had not paid some kind of exit fee, or some such kind of bureaucratic nonsense—a delay of about 45 minutes. When we did get underway we drove inland to the Sea of Galilee passing farms, orchards with olives being harvested and through historical sites where the Crusaders lost a major battle. Israel in experiencing a major drought and things looked very ... read more

The Sea of Galilee is not a large lake. From most places on the shore, you can see all the way around it. But during our visit we observed a sudden storm descend on the lake, whipping the placid water into angry whitecaps. We imagined a storm so sudden and violent that it could swamp a small fishing boat. It was on such an occasion that Jesus commanded the wind to be quiet. Another time he walked across the surface of the water to reach his disciples. They were headed for the village of Geneseret, so our boat is floating about where this miracle occurred. To the left is Migdal, former home of Mary Magdalene. There are a couple of tricks to being able to walk on water. One is to allow the temperature of the ... read more

We were hot and grumpy when we arrived in Poryia. I took a dip in the pool and it was wonderful. It was very windy which was just about the most refreshing feeling after the heat of downtown Tiberius. Tiberius was very busy, we had a light meal of israeli salad, babaganush, kabobs, french fries and hummus. We met up once again with our new friends Frank and Maryann from Victor BC Canada who were staying here at Birdsong as well. They had already been to the sites here, one being to the Galilee boat exhibit and the hill of the beatitudes. After a light supper of sandwiches and tea we hit the sack in a cool and breezy room surrounded by immense sliding screen doors. I slept through the night comfortably. As the name ... read more

Crossing the border from Jordan into Israel, again proved a frustrating experience, but after another long interrogation we finally made it outside and rejoined Dvir, our Israeli guide with whom we would spend the remainder of our time in the country. As we had lost several hours due to the delayed border crossing, we immediately left for Beth She-An an ancient Roman city built in the Byzantine era, though the area has been occupied for the last 5,000 years. This is where we had our first introduction to the concept of "Tels" - a tel is a large mound or hill of significant archaeological importance because there are several "layers" of civilizations built one on top of the other. Israel is dotted with hundreds of these tels due to it's long history of civilization, but unfortunately ... read more