Due to an illness affecting one of the members of our group, Grace stayed at the hotel with them during the day.
We first went to Mount Tabor to view the
Jezreel Valley (also known as the Valley of Armageddon) and to see the
Church of the Transfiguration (
video description) where Jesus was transformed and spoke with Moses and Elijah (see Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). Due to the last few hundred meters to the top of the Mount Tabor to the church consisting of a narrow winding road involving numerous switch backs, the tour buses had to at the base of the mountain and transfer their passengers to smaller 10 passenger vans. This
link shows an aerial view of the route up to the top of the mountain as does this screenshot. The other compound shown in the picture below is St Elias Greek Orthodox Church, a little above and to the left of the Church of the Transfiguration.
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| Aerial view of Mt. Tabor showing Church of Transfiguration, and St Elias Greek Orthodox Church (a little above and to the left of the Church of the Transfiguration |
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| Telephoto view of St. Elias Greek Orthodox Church from the waiting area for the shuttles at the foot of the mountain. |
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| View of the front of the Church of the Transfiguration. |
Due to the large number of tourists, there was about a 30 minute wait for the shuttles. There were pilgrims from African countries where the women wore bright colored skirts, blouses and wraps, and head wraps and the men wore elaborate long shirts that descended to mid-thigh and a hat almost like a fez. There were also other pilgrims from Asia and Eastern Europe.
After reaching the Church at the summit, we went to an observation deck overlooking the vast, mostly flat, Jezreel Valley. The view was breathtaking permitting you to see the area for many miles around you.
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| View from observation deck at the Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor |
Following this we were ushered into the Grotto beneath the church for Mass celebrated by Fr. John. It was a beautiful celebration of the Eucharist illuminated by beautiful mosaics on both sides of the altar and behind the altar. Lots of golden ceramic tiles were used in the archway over the beautiful stained glass window featuring two peacocks symbolizing immortality (see this
link for a better description of its symbolism).
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| Fr. John, and members of our group in the Grotto beneath main altar at Church of the Transfiguration |
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| Left side of Grotto |
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| Right side of grotto |
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| View of the interior of the church featuring the main altar and the grotto beneath. |
This church, as well as a number of other churches in the Holy Land were designed by Italian architect
Antonio_Barluzzi. The church has two side altars, as well as two very small chapels in the twin towers at the front of the church dedicated to Moses and Elijah.
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| Chapel of Moses |
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| Chapel of Elijah |
The grounds of the Church were very well landscaped and incorporated ruins of earlier churches that had been located on the grounds by archaeologists. The last couple of hundred meters of road up to the church featured palm trees lining both sides of the narrow road.
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Some of the ground of the church with a statue of St. Paul VI off to the side and
a tower built in the style of the crusaders in the background. |
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| View of the ruins of a Byzatine era church on the ground of the Church of the Transfiguration |
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| View of the driveway away from the Church |
Following our visit to the Church of the Transfiguration and our descent to back to our tour bus in the shuttles, we went to Nazareth to see the Church of the Annunciation (also called the Basilica
of the Annunciation), where the Angel Gabriel announced Jesus' birth to Mary. At the Church we saw the grotto with the entrance to a cave where Mary's home was with her parents. Upstairs we viewed the main church. There we saw numerous mosaics depicting the Annunciation from all over the world. The Canadian mosaic was disappointing in comparison to other countries' mosaics. The church overall had many beautiful features such as its main doors which featured reliefs featured a number of scenes from the Bible. Time and space does not permit showing you pictures of all these at this time. This is a link to a video discussing the Annunciation and the Church of the Annunciation.
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| Outside the front of the Church of the Annunciation |
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| Grotto beneath main church showing pilgrims lining up to see the entrance to the cave. |
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| Inside of the gates showing a grotto within the grotto with steps leading to the cave (the home of Mary's parents) behind it. |
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| Mosaic from the much earlier Byzantine Church. |
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| View inside the Church of the Annunciation |
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| Closer view of the main altar and painting behind it |
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| View of Mosaics from France (left) and Canada (right) |
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| Grotto and excavation beneath Church of St. Joseph |
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| Excavation showing an ancient mosaic covered basin with steps - possibly an baptismal font or ritual bath |
Following this we had felafels or chicken shawarma in pita bread at Honey Shawarma.
After lunch, we left Nazareth and went to the Jordan River at Yardenit, near the Sea of Galilee at Kibbutz Kvutzat Kinneret. It was well setup for pilgrims who wished to be baptized. It was interesting to note the number and size of the fish in the River. We didn't get baptized, but at the river's edge we renewed our baptismal promises. The Jordan River's level has risen recently as seen by the submerged handrails.
(Aside: According to Wikipedia the Israeli Ministry of Tourism established Yardenit in 1981 as a alternative to Al-Maghtas which is considered as the actual location of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist. Thinking about it a little, in John 1:19 it mentions "the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem" coming to visit John to question who he was. Yardenit is a much further distance away from Jerusalem than Al-Maghtas. Of course, I could be completely wrong.)
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| Entrance to Yardenit |
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| View of Yardenit Baptismal Site on the Jordan River |
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| Another view of the baptismal area. |
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| A couple of pilgrims from our group testing the waters of the Jordan |
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| Our pilgrims looking at the varied types and sizes of fish in the Jordan River. The catfish were huge! |
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| Pilgrims assembling before baptism |
One of the baptisms that took place while we were at Yardenit
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| Some of the flowers blooming at Yardenit |
A short drive from Yardenit was a store at
Tamar Bakfar, Moshava Kinneret (go near the bottom of the webpage in Hebrew to find the English description) specializing in dates as well as many other products such as wines, olive oils, and honey. One area of the store looked similar in some respects to a health food store where you could purchase spices, and other items in bulk. A moshava is a rural Jewish settlement where land and property are privately owned. This is contrast to a kibbutz where the property is communally owned.
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| The outside of the store |
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| Some of the date trees outside the store. |
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| One of the date trees outside the store. |
After our visit to the store we then went to a chocolate store called "
The Chocolate Farm" at Kibbutz Degania Beit. Following a visit to the chocolate store we returned to our hotel in Tiberias.
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| Sign outside the Galita Chocolate Farm Store |
After Yardenit, we traveled to back to our hotel, the
Restal Hotel, in Tiberias.
