Sorry, I’ve been a little behind on my blog entries, I think I’m going to make two this weekend with this being the first. With the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict our trip to Jerusalem was postponed until the end of the month so last week we traveled to the Sea of Galilee. We were going to take a trip to Caesara today but it was canceled since it’s in the Gaza Strip rocket range. We’re pretty safe here in Akko since we are so far north, we are just outside of the attack range. Haifa, which has reported being targeted can be seen across the bay from us, but that seems to be the limit of attacks. 

 Our trip last week composed of several different sites, first there was Zippori, then to a Tabgha where Jesus performed the miracle of multiplying bread and fish and the Church of the Primacy of Peter on the Sea of Galilee, next we went to Capernaum famous for being the location of one of Jesus’ healing miracles as well as being condemned by Jesus for not following his teachings, then finally to Chorazin which is an infamous town for also being supposedly condemned. Galilee is full of history and stories from the bible, the Roman and Byzantine Periods, as well as the Crusades. We spent most of the day exploring the sites and taking pictures. We even got to stick our feet in the Sea of Galilee which is where Jesus was reported to have walked on water and during our visit in Zippori we accidentally walked into a bar-mitzvah in ancient synagogue.

In short it was an interesting trip. Religious people from all over the world take pilgrimages to the region each year. Many of the signs giving directions to each site we’re written in dozens of languages and while we were eating lunch by the Sea of Galilee and a group of Spanish speaking priest were reading passages out loud in small sitting area.

The next day we received our first official tour of Akko’s Old City. We were escorted through Crusader Tunnels, ancient buildings, busy Middle Eastern market places and through small alleyways and streets. All while learning the history of the city as it has existed here on the shore of the Levant for around 5000 years.

But what’s even more interesting about Akko in my opinion is that the city is mixed with people of all three major religions. While there was a protest earlier this week against the Israeli State, it remained peaceful. However we’re staying constantly updated about the conflicts that are happening in the south and we’ve gone over what we should do in case anything happens. So until next time!