Final Views of Galilee

Here are some other shots from the Galilee area of Israel. From here we headed south to Jerusalem.

This first shot is looking across the Sea of Galilee from the kibbutz where we stayed to Tiberias, the largest city of the area.

This is Yardenit - a traditional site of the baptism of Jesus. There are big tour groups of people who travel to Israel with their pastors so that they can be baptized here in the Jordan River. When we walked in an employee asked, "Are you here to be baptized today?" and you can rent a locker, towel, and jumpsuit. Most people believe that Jesus was actually baptized on the Jordan near Jerico quite a ways south from here, but this was clearly something special for the two groups we saw.

The next photo is a cave below the Church of the Be-attitudes, where the fourth photo was taken. This is the traditional location of the Sermon on the Mount, and as you can see, the Church offers great views of the sea. There are some who believe the sermon would have been delivered from a cave just like this one (you can see someone sitting and probably reading the Sermon on the Mount in the cave). The acoustics of the cave are such that voices can travel a long distance if a large crowd was interested in what was being taught.

The last photo is the Church of Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. Tabor is a high mountain just west of the lake and is the traditional location of Jesus' transfiguration. The church built here is very nice even if some of the events of this location are questioned. Tabor is mentioned in the scriptures at least a dozen times.