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Monday 15th April
Overnight we have travelled to Haifa in Israel. Here we travelled by coach to the Sea of Galilee to see the places that are mentioned in the Bible. Our first stop was at the Mount of the Beatitudes which is the likely place that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. The view down to the sea of Galilee was a bit hazy. We visited the church that is built on this site. We then went down to Tabgha and the Church of Multiplication which is built right next to the water. This small church commemorates the feeding of the 5 thousand. After this we travelled round the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum a place that Jesus spent a lot of time in. We saw the ruins of the house that Peter lived in and the place that Jesus stayed when he was in Capernaum. Our guide told us that this was the one place that was definitely identified. The were lots of ruins there that dated from biblical times including the foundations of the synagogue - a later synagogue was built on these foundations. We continued around the Sea of Gaililee passing the Golan Heights on the east side and went to Yardent which is on the River Jordan and a possible site of Jesus' baptism. The photo of us was taken here by the River Jordan - our guide warned us that everyone thinks that the river will be much bigger. The Jordan is really quite small and flows into the Sea of Galilee at one end out out the other.
After lunch at a local hotel we travelled on to Nazareth. Today Nazareth is a sizeable city but the remains of the village of 2000 years ago is under the monastery and the two churches next to it. The main church is the Church of the Annunciation constructed on the site of the place that Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel. The church is on several levels - at the lower level are remains dating back to the time of Mary. Next to this church is another one that is dedicated to Joseph, under the church are the remains of areas for washing and collecting water dating back to biblical times.
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