Day 15

A change of pace today as we started at 10 and headed to an amazing exhibit of a 2000 year old boat, known as the ‘Jesus Boat’ (you can read more at www.jesusboat.com). It was a boat found over 20 years ago in the mud on the shoreline of Lake Galilee, and, following a painstaking excavation, is now on display. The archeologists used literally tons of chemicals and consulted experts from all over the world to ensure they could remove and restore the boat. Incredible! From there we got into a real boat for a cruise over to the other side of the lake, called variously Lake Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, Lake Tiberias, Lake Gennesaret amongst others. The boat operators have a cute tradition of raising the national flag of their guests and playing their national anthem. All 33 of us stood and sang enthusiastically! We also sang a number of hymns, as we’ve done in various churches along the way. From the other side of the lake we rejoined the bus which took us to the ruins of the town of Korazin, one of the three towns (Capernaum and Bethsaida were the others) that Jesus cursed due to their indifference. Heed the warning! The ruins were interesting as was the wildlife. A large colony of rock hyraxes live at this place. They’re also known as rock rabbits, but we prefer to call them ROUSs. Those who have seen ‘The Princess Bride’ will know the reference! After this a number of us, including Nick and Dad, made a trip into the town of Tiberias, probably the least interesting town we’ve seen on our entire trip.