Today we visited sites that were mainly along the Galilee shore.

We started out our day with a worship service at the hotel and then took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Here I am at the tiller of the boat. The boats that we were on are replicas of a first century boat that was found along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The boats are also battery operated, so they are very quiet. It feels that you are only being pushed along by the wind. Here Lili and Emily are riding on the prow of the boat.

We really enjoyed our boat ride, especially the time that we sang together as a group.

We then traveled north to Magdala and visited the first century synagogue that was found there.

This post is simply an overview of our day, but if you want to learn more you can click on Magdala to visit a previous post that I wrote about the site.

We then went to Kibbutz Ginossar to visit the Vigal Allon Museum and view a boat from the Roman Period that had been found in 1986.

We watched a film about the preservation of the boat and also heard a little more about the way boats were constructed and utilized on the Sea of Galilee at that time.

The boats that we rode on earlier in the day are replicas of this boat.

After viewing the boat we traveled further along the shore to Tagba which is the traditional spot where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed the 5,000. As for most ‘traditional sites’ there is some interesting history behind why this is the place.

It was then time for lunch at St. Peter’s Restaurant. I chose to have the St. Peter’s fish. Doesn’t this fish look delicious?

The fish was delicious. It was a bit difficult to eat, but would have been much easier with a pair of chopsticks. However, I was soon able to reduce the fish to a pile of bones and fins.

After lunch we visited Capernaum and saw the traditional site of the house where Peter’s mother-in-law lived. We also visited the synagogue there.

The next stop was the site of the Sermon on the Mount. As at many places, it is marked with a large church.

We then visited the site where Jesus met his disciples and instructed them to let down their nets on the other side. Of course there is a small church to commemorate the spot where Jesus cooked the fish for them.

Our last stop of the day, before returning to the hotel, was a baptism site on the Jordan River. The traditional spot is near Jericho, but this site receives a lot more visitors. I will say that if you really wanted to be baptized in the Jordan River, this would be the place as there is much more water here.

It was interesting watching the group of people here. You would expect them to be immersed in the Jordan, however these were all having water poured over their heads instead.

Another group was practicing self immersion and were basically just enjoying the cool waters of the Jordan River.

It was a very long day, but a rewarding one as we visited some of the sites associated with the ministry of Jesus.

Steven