Galilee #2

One of the very best things about living in Jerusalem at the BYU Center is the chance to go and live at the Ein Gev resort on the Sea of Galilee each semester. Fall and Winter semesters our kids are in school, so we can only manage to go for a long weekend each time. But no matter how long it is, there is something wonderful about that place. It is peaceful, the kids love the beach and the playground (and the students), and it's just quiet. There's no city traffic, and time moves slowly because there's nowhere to go (unless, of course, you go on field trips, which I generally don't do very often with my little kids). April was a fun time to go, even though there were a few drizzles and a little wind. All in all it was a fantastic getaway.

Linda's schoolmates each took a turn bringing home "Barnaby Bear" for a weekend and photographing all the fun things they did with him. Here is Linda, Barnaby, and a  bunch of flowers they collected around the playscape.

The kids really love playing at the exercise playground.

Joe 

Isaac and Amanda

Abby

Abby and Linda, flanking Emily and Amanda Judd, out exploring the Ein Gev grounds with Barnaby.

One of the girls in the Jerusalem branch, Sophie Bitner, got baptized at Yardenit (the Jordan River just south of Tiberias, at the south end of the Sea of Galilee) while we were all there for the weekend. Here are the kids wading in the river after the baptism.

Ivan, Mary, Amanda, Elizabeth, Linda

Isaac

The church in Tiberias is too small to acommodate all the students at once, so they have two sacrament meetings. Our family split up to go to church--girls and boys--so we wouldn't have to take Joe (he's the only one making noise, and there's nowhere to escape to in that little building). Here are the girls outside the meetinghouse (in the bright sun).

Linda and Barnaby Bear, smelling the flowers.

Linda and Abby both had to have pictures with flowers in their hair.

Abby with her buddy John. He's left on a mission to the Baltic States by now. Do you think she'll wait for him? He's hoping so.

The students stay in Galilee for ten full days, the second half of which is chock full of field trips to the north and the Golan. Our family is planning to be there for the whole ten days during the Summer semester, but my kids can't handle four straight full days of field trips. So this time (the April trip), I took the kids up for the weekend, then hired a friend to come stay with the kids for the rest of the time so I could go back and be with Ed and do some of the field trips. It was exciting to see the north part of Israel and the occupied Golan--so green and lush that time of year. It was also great to be with Ed and without kid-responsibilites for a few days.

Tel Dan: The northernmost city of ancient Israel.

Can you believe all this water? 

Here's a fig tree overhanging the stream.

This is the path from the visitor's center to the tel (archaological site). A little slippery!

The site of the ancient temple, with a reproduction of the large four-horned altar from the Divided Kingdom period. 

The hill in the distance is Lebanon.

But just to the right of the view of Lebanon, you can also see Syria. 

This is the ancient city gate that Abraham walked through when he visited the city of Dan.

Forgive me for including a boring picture of a tree. But it's a pistachio tree! Isn't it beautiful?

Caesarea Philipi

Matthew 16:15-19   He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The modern site is called Banias, but it's the place where Christ gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom.

Of course, there's also the remains of a pagan temple at the site.

Nimrod's Fortress: At the foothills of Mt. Hermon is Nimrod's Fortress, a crusader-era castle that for many years was thought to have been built by Christian crusaders. Further archaeological evidence, however, revealed that it was in fact an Arab fortress, built by Al-Aziz Uthman, nephew of Saladin. Westerners assumed for years that the construction was too advanced for Arab civilization, until they were proved embarrassingly wrong.

View of the fortress from the main road.

Looking from one end of the hilltop to the other, the fortress stretches the length of it.

I'm so lucky to get to visit so many wonderful places with such a wonderful man.

Here is a massive Arabic inscription which was originally the upper part of a wall. 

Translation of the inscription

A day just for me:
I stayed at Ein Gev one day all alone, instead of going on the field trip. I had a paper to write, and I wanted a day without talking to anyone. The time went slow, the weather was beautiful, and I just moved quietly from bed, to table, to couch, to chair, to beach, and back around again. I wish I could have had two more days just like that.

View from my room.

View from the porch.

Mediterranean Field Trip: The students take a field trip home from Galilee along the Valley of Megiddo, to Muhraqa, the mountaintop where Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume the altar and the priests of Baal, then along to Haifa. 

I learned that 'discalced' means 'barefoot.'

This site had one of the prettiest chapels I have seen in all of the Holy Land. The colors and design were calm and peaceful and full of light.

The monks had created some beautiful grounds around the chapel, including this arena for an outdoor service.

A herd of goats wandered into the grounds and foraged for food among the trees. I think these two were brothers.

I didn't know goats could climb trees. Apparently hunger makes you do amazing things.

Haifa: I'm not sure why we take the students into Haifa, except maybe to say we've been there. We make a stop at the top of the Baha'i Temple grounds, which we aren't allowed inside but are beautiful, but otherwise the reasoning is to visit the LDS gravesites. Apparently there were some German members of the church in the mid-1800s that died and were buried in Haifa.

The Baha'i Temple grounds stretch from where I am standing to the gold-domed building, and a little beyond.

The grounds were exquisitely manicured, and striking in the contrasting colors.

Not one of the LDS graves, but a cool marker nonetheless.

Here are some of the students resting before getting back on the bus to our last stop.

Caesarea, not to be confused with Caesarea Philipi from above. This one is on the coast near Haifa, built by Herod the Great. It is an amazing site, but for some reason I didn't get a lot of pictures here, except of Ed and I.

Out behind us is the remnants of Herod's palace. Directly below the railing are some beautiful mosaics. Glad I got this cute picture of Ed and I, but I wish I had also taken a picture of the mosaics.

The old aqueduct

Another good one. A nice end to a wonderful few days.