Friday, May 3, 2008 - Tiberias

So we left Beit Shean and headed for Tiberias, the city next to the Sea of Galilee. We drove along the Jordan River and the Jordanian Mountains most of the way. We went to the hostel which was very close to the Sea, met the manager Meir, who was great and picked up an Aussie girl now living in London, named Karen and we went to the coast to get a bite to eat. We chose a regular fish restaurant, because they say it's the best fish in Israel, and I'm glad I didn't order it. Yep, you could have guessed, it's the entire fish, head and all, pretty much just thrown on a grill and seasoned. I was harassed for being so American, and I was still glad I didn't get it. Well we were also just in time to watch Israel's basketball team play in the European Final Four, and they won. It's a really big deal here in Israel. Next they play Moscow for the title. We went back to the Hostel and was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty nice, it had everything I needed and it was clean. I roomed with two Mormon guys, had some good conversations with them.

This is Tiberias, named after the Roman emporer Tiberius. Couple of facts about this place is that it was built in 20AD by Herod Antipas and it's the burial place of a very famous Jewish scholar named Maimonides, more famous to Jews than Christians. However this city is really beautiful, seated right next to the Sea of Galilee gives it a beach feel, and I like that. Also if you drive up from the coast you get a spectacular view of the entire Sea of Galilee.

Just like this one! However this is on the East side of the Sea, closer to Jordan, but I really like this photo. Now remember, this is the place where Jesus recruited 4 of the apostles, Simon, Andrew, John and James, He also fed the 5000, walked on water, and calmed the sea all at this place. Amazing! Oh, and he gave the Sermon on the Mount here, also, could have been right where this pic was taken.

From this pic you wouldn't think it's changed much, maybe the boats haven't, but the city is certainly different, with a few remains from ancient times, not many. I'm going to make a new blog for our trip on this same day to the East side of the Sea, we went to two places called Susita, which had more of the ruins and En Gev a kibbutz that attracts the tourists.






But here is a pic of the town at night, right where our hostel was located, pretty lively!