Update as of Sunday Oct 8- Sivan's family is safe but in their "shelter room" at their Kibutz. (I am at least 2/3 days behind due to the internet.)
Sivan met us at the appropriate time in a new port which in itself was worth serious points. On his suggestion, we skipped a world heritage site and went directly to Nazareth, to continue our Christian focused trip. We saw the basilica of the annunciation, which was built around Mary’s house. We went to Cana to see the church built around the first miracle AND we had wine there. From there, it was to the sea of Galilee to the village of Capernaum. This is where Jesus began his ministries, where he recruited his apostles and preformed many miracles. This by far was the most impressive stop, as one could visualize all that one has read about in the gospels.
We had lunch in Tiberias, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, where I had “St Peter’s fish”. Sivan drives like my grandmother, at least 15mph below the speed limit. He chose to have carrot juice today, much less crunching. We had time to go to the Jordan river to a site where many come to be baptized. Most likely it’s not where John the Baptist was, but one could picture it well.
Driving back to the ship he had us all do the alphabet game. One starts with A from a sign or truck and then no one else can use that source. Finding our alphabet amongst Hebrew and Arabic is quite the challenge. Paul didn’t get past “A”. I won by getting all the way to a “Q”.
Katie
2023-10-08
Stay safe 🙏🏼