Walking Where Jesus Walked

Time in Israel would not really be complete without a trip to see where Jesus walked on water and where the many things that happened in the Bible transpired. To see these things it means heading north to the Sea of Galilee.

There are loads of 'Jesus boats' on the Sea of Galilee

We get an easy bus ride to the beautiful coast location in the north of Israel and arrive at Haifa. Our apartment for the night is brand new and we are the first people to ever stay in it, a nice change from our usual standard of accommodation. Haifa’s biggest drawcard away from the beaches is the Baha’I gardens and shrine. We go for a walk on sundown and see it lit in the fading sunlight and later illuminated in the darkness. Running for a kilometre up the entire height of the hill are 19 terraced gardens that are absolutely stunning, over 12,000 types of plants are immaculately maintained by a dedicated staff.

The gardens are the centre of the Baha’i faith, we hadn’t heard of Baha’i before but in a nutshell BBaha’I teaches that great prophets have appeared throughout history to reveal universal truths from as far back as Moses up until the founder of the faith Baha’u’llah. His shrine is the highlight of the gardens capped with 11,790 gold covered tiles. It is stunning.

In the morning we went to the top of the mountain on the funicular but just missed the tour of the gardens so we had to guide ourselves. The view from the top looking down the hill is spectacular.

For some reason you cannot walk through the gardens, probably because the entire site is sacred. As such you need to walk around the outside of the gardens to access the various tiers. From the top you need to walk a long windy road to get to the middle tier. We arrived with only 5 minutes to take in what we could before closing time. 

The gardens are incredibly beautiful, comparable to the best botanical gardens in the world. They are laid out so well and showcase the amazing array of plants.

We make our way out and around the side again descending the hill to the bottom of the gardens. Again the access is limited to a small part and we get only a glimpse of the temple and its beauty.

The main road leading up the gardens is lined with restaurants and cafes. We find a place that has seriously delicious food. We see around us Israelis tucking into massive piles of salad, hummus and rice dishes. We have very good food, the fattoush was unbelievable and we will learn to make it when we get home.

All around Haifa we find Australian flora, bottlebrushes, wattle and eucalypts. Makes for a nice familiar feeling. In the afternoon we get back to the bus station and head off towards Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee.

Sea of Galilee Area

Tiberias is the largest city on the Sea of Galilee or as it is called in the modern time, Lake Tiberias. It’s a great base to get out and see all the biblical sites in the surrounding region but the city itself is not much of an attraction. 

We spend an evening doing our research and planning out our time here and it is clear that we will need a car to get around and see everything. Another wrong side of the road experience to look forward to.  Getting around is really easy with great roads, and brilliant signage to all the main sights in 3 languages, Arabic, Hebrew and English making a GPS unnecessary (this is great because we were totally unaided).

Our little Fiat Panda (on the right) is dwarfed by the coach

We set out early the next day to go to Zfat. High up in the mountains of Israel Zfat is a thriving artist colony, spiritual retreat and charming old town. Our tiny Fiat winds its way up the hillside and we make our way into town and promptly get lost. A friendly local lady points us in the right direction and shortly thereafter we are lost again. This in a tiny town that our guidebook assures us is impossible to get lost in.

Eventually we find the artists area and browse through galleries of contemporary, modern and other sorts of art. There is jewellery and tapestries, statues and metalwork all contained in small galleries lining the narrow cobbled streets of the old centre. 

There are some synagogues that are meant to be of note but we could only find one, the narrow streets are like mazes and are not well signed. Inside is a beautifully decorated hall style synagogue with a bright and warm vibe to it. This humble synagogue has all the chairs lining the walls so that no one sees anyone else’s back. No photos allowed though.

On the way out of town we stop at a local place and get the most delicious, fresh and cheap falafel sandwiches. It really is the best value in Israel.

We descend the mountain and leave Zfat behind and cruise in Polly the Panda over to the Mount of Beatitudes. The chapel is closed but the gardens are beautiful. It is here that Jesus gave his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ which can be read in Matthew, chapters 5-7.

Church at the Mt of Beatitudes

Down the road and right on the water is Capernaum, the town of Jesus and centre of his ministry. We saw ruins of the original town including the synagogue. There is a new spaceship looking church built over ruins of the old original church there. Inside it’s a round style and it’s open to anyone to use. You must use the provided gowns and hats though. There are lots of pilgrimage groups coming through constantly with them gathering all over the site to listen to explanations or heads bowed in prayer.

This is believed to be Peters house where Jesus lived for some time

Here we started a trend for the rest of the day. We bought ice poles because it was so hot, we continued doing this at every stop for the rest of the day.

Nearby is Tabgha, there are two important sites here. The first we went to was the Primacy of Peter, where Jesus appeared to Peter after his resurrection. There is a church built around the rock that Jesus himself is meant to have stood upon when we appeared. 

The other is the Church of Multiplication which was a little tricky to find and we chased our tails a bit but found it eventually. This church has some beautiful 5^th century mosaics depicting Jesus multiplying the loaves of bread and the fish to feed the 5000. 

Leaving this area we drove further south to the Jordan river where they currently baptise people, even though the actual site is in Jordan not Israel. We couldn’t help but think the whole experience seems commercialised. You come in, get a white robe, a priest or minister dunks you in the (stinky) river after a few words and voila. NEXT! I’m sure some people come with a genuine devoutness but it doesn’t seem to be a requirement. The river itself could’ve been any in Australia for all the gum trees around it. You could introduce koalas in Israel and they would thrive.

This felt like a little slice of home

Dinner that night was at really local place, typical meal of stuffed vegetables and salads, super cheap and good. We met some guides who said we should head up the Golan Heights and out towards Syria to have a look from the top of the highest mountain in Israel. Whilst tempting and sounding amazing we did not have time to go exploring in the region. It will have to wait til Syria sorts itself out and we visit there.

 

After a good sleep we went to Nazareth, the birthplace and home town of Jesus. On arrival we sought breakfast and had the best shakshuka we’ve had but it took ages to come, whilst waiting though we watched as swathes of tourists groups and pilgrims came to the church next door and departed. We’re grateful for doing it ourselves, it gives the flexibility to do what we want, when we want and avoid being herded through everywhere in a gaggle of white sneakers and matching group hats.

The small church of Saint Gabriel is an Orthodox Church housing the only natural spring in Nazareth. According to the gospel of James this is where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her about the coming of Jesus.

Lots of people come to drink from this well, as it is believed to be Mary's water source

Down the road is the largest church in the Middle East, the Basilica of the Annunciation. It’s very modern as it was opened in 1960’s. It is built on what is believed to be Marys Cave where it is believed Mary lived. Again hordes of tourists and pilgrims coming through. There is some really cool artwork donated by various nations at the founding of the church including a mosaic from Australia. The artwork is centred on the theme of the mother and child given the churches position on the former home of Mary.

The house where Mary lived apparently

Loads of beautiful mosaics including this gift from Japan

Australias mosaic gift

On our way back to Tiberias we took the scenic drive up a mountain to a lookout tower for a 360 degrees look around. We sneak through a broken fence around the base to climb the tower and get the best view. Whilst up there 2 busses of children arrive and they all scramble like crazy to get to the top first blocking us on the stairs until the teachers control them. They are frantic to get up and it’s quite amusing to watch. It further confirms our belief that a key component of any teachers job is to heard cats.

We get back to the lake and spend a lazy hour at the ‘beach’ of the Sea of Galilee. Both of us went for a dip but it was pretty cold so instead we sat in the shallows and chilled out having the place nearly to ourselves. It is a pretty incredible place just to sit and reflect on where you are.

A final scenic drive up to ‘Switzerland’ for a view over the lake and city. Really serene and nice lookout point to take it all in from.

That night we went to the mall to try and find some more appropriate Middle East clothing (cool, covering and modest). We succeeded and had Chinese for dinner, it was passable but there are days when we long for the sort of quality ethnic food we can get in Australia.

In the morning we went for a walk to the lakefront at 9am to find some breakfast and pretty much nothing was open. Life starts late in Tiberias which sounds good to us but we were still hungry. Beside the water we met an Aussie couple whose son was competing at international cross country. Just chatting to them about getting around and their experiences in cities we had been to made us realise how open and unfussed we are by some challenges of travel and how we’re difficult to culture shock at this point. 

Australias top 5 boy and girl runners!

Border crossing from Shaikh Hussein Bridge Israel to Jordan (information current March 2014)

Please note this information is solely talking about the Shaikh Hussein Bridge border crossing, closest border to Amman if you don’t want to go through the west bank. Each border from Israel to Jordan is different and needs to be researched accordingly. 

We really researched the heck out of this. Hearing all sorts of stories about needing the right money, having to get visa’s and there being so many steps it really turned out not being a big deal, but you need to be organised. Here’s the steps from Tiberias but this would also be the same for any other place in Israel. Firstly make sure you bring with you at least 100 Jordanian Dinar, 100 US Dollars and about 80 shekels to cover a taxi and anything small in duty free.

Go to the central bus station and get a bus to Ben She’a. In the morning there’s plenty and they are frequent. Cost is around 14 shekels (from Tiberias), allow around 1 hour travel time from here.

From Ben She’a get a taxi to the border. You can haggle with them or go by the meter, he asked us for 60 shekels and we opted for the meter and paid 58. Others we spoke to negotiated to 40 shekels but depends entirely on the driver and where you are going from in Ben She’a. The drive is about 10-15 minutes.

At the Israeli border it’s a little confusing. You need to pay the exit tax before you can pass through to passport control. Exit tax is either 100 Shekels or 30 US Dollars. We paid in dollars and received change in Jordanian money. Walk through the turnstile and proceed to passport control. They will stamp a separate piece of paper with the exit stamp, so no need to worry about an Israeli stamp on your passport. Ensure you still have the piece of identity paper you are given when you arrive in Israel, you will need this to depart. Pick up any small items you need and shed any shekels you have remaining in the duty free zone, this is your last chance to use them.

Outside of the duty free is the shuttle which takes you to the Jordan side. It is not so much a shuttle as tour bus you just hitch a ride on. There is a covered area to wait in until you get on. When you get on you must show your exit stamp paper to Israeli security. If there are not enough seats you will be standing with bags on whilst others sit. You need to tip the driver when you board, I paid about 3 Jordanian Dinar for the two of us.

It’s about a 5-10 minute ride to the Jordanian side of the border where you can head straight into the building on the left. It says leave you luggage outside but I think this is just for the massive tour groups as we were waved in with our backpacks on.

There is an exchange office in there but no ATMs, the rates are not terrible but certainly not good. You will first need to buy a Jordanian visa if you are staying more than three days. The price is either 40 Jordanian or 60 US dollars per person. You only need a visa if you are staying for more than 3 days (but check this for your country). 

Once you have your visa applied to your passport you can go to the passport control window. They will check you out, take your picture and stamp your visa. Now you can head out through the barriers where the vehicles go, you will need to show you passport on the way out so don’t put it away just yet.

Once outside the barriers there is a taxi place about 200 meters away. They have fixed price fares to all over Jordan. We originally planned to go to a nearby city and take a bus but after looking at time/money/easy equation we decided to get a taxi to Amman. This cost 44 Jordanian to West Amman. East Amman was 38 Dinar, I was out of currency at this stage so they took us on our word and dropped me at an ATM half way there. The ride to Amman took almost 3 hours but traffic was bad so should be ~2 hours usually.

All up very easy if you have the right money on hand, just a little pricey with the entry and exit taxes. FYI there is no exit tax from Jordan as it is covered in your entry tax.

Our ride to Amman was very different to just over the border in Israel but we’ll write about that next blog.

Lessons Learnt

• You need to take some of the sites with a grain of salt, where things happened is often the ‘traditional’ or ‘believed’ site.
• Having a guide book when travelling solo is fairly critical to enjoying and understanding the sites around Israel. The information on site is often scare or none at all.
• Neither of us were impressed with the pilgrim tours, they push them through so quickly it doesn’t seem well paced.
• If you are going to the Sea of Galilee you really need to have your own transport to get around to the key sites. There is heaps to see, but many spots have no public transport option.
• Make the 12 o’clock tour in English at the Baha’i gardens to make the most of the place. Seeing it from the open tiers doesn’t do it justice. Also ensure you do the middle garden before 1pm which is closing time.

Parting Thoughts

If gardens are not your thing then you could skip Haifa all together and spend the time in Tel Aviv instead. The Galilee region offers such a massive amount of history crammed into a smaller region that is easily accessible by car. We feel like we covered it pretty well and maybe one more day would’ve been good to go up the Golan Heights on the other side of the lake. 

Israel is such a dense country. For such small amount of area there is so much crammed in that even though you can day trip from anywhere you really should take the time to go out to other areas and get deep into it. We have really enjoyed Israel, parts of it have reminded us a lot of home and others are so completely foreign that we wanted to immerse ourselves in it and learn all we could. There is lots to happen on the geo-political front in Israel and peace is hopefully on the horizon soon.

Simon and Amy xoxo