The Jesus Trail--Part Five

This final day of hiking was to be fairly easy in terms of distance and terrain.  I was very thankful for this, as the effects of tossing and turning each night began to add up.  Again, Becca decided she probably shouldn't walk this day, but rather take a bus ahead of us into Capernaum.  Gathering our things, we paid for the room and were on our way, leaving Becca behind.  We decided since we were so far away from the trail, we would take a bus to Migdal to pick up from where we should have left off.  When we arrived to Migdal and exited the bus, we walked across the street because Koichi wanted to make sure we started in the right direction.  There was a large tour bus to our left, and I saw a woman stand up from her seat to come near the windshield; she then proceeded to take our picture.  Several pictures in fact.  I am not sure why she did this, but it made me laugh.  I spotted a trail marker, and we were set.

Not long into the hike, my shoulders started telling me how much they hated the backpack.  I walked most of the trail with the straps off the tops of my shoulders again, but unfortunately it wasn't much help.  Beside the pain in my shoulders, I noticed a pain developing in my right side; I ignored it.  It was sunny again, but the forecast spoke of a chance of rain; we were looking forward to it.  The Sea of Galilee was always to our right (east), while we walked several hundred feet to the west of the main road.  Most of the trail was gravel, and we were surrounded by brush and tall grass to our left, while passing many orchards on our right.  We saw a lot of banana trees, some in large greenhouses.  We had to walk up a couple of steep inclines, slipping here and there on loose rock and dirt.  Though I was fortunate to not have any blisters, my feet periodically felt they were on fire, especially this day.

This picture is from the day before, but I forgot to add it.  I liked the brand on the cow (I circled it), the letter lamed (Hebrew "L")

Our trail took us across the main road, and it was after crossing this road that we finally felt rain drops.  A large cloud had covered us, and a perfect rain began to fall; it was light, but enough to cool us down.    It lasted a few minutes, and before long we came to another road.  I had stopped to put my camera in my backpack to shield it from the water, when I heard Amanda say "there's Becca!"  When I caught up to her and Koichi at the road, I looked to the right and there, about to get in a car, was Becca.  The car drove her to us and she got out; I was so confused--what on earth was she doing on a random road, and how did we end up at the same place at the same time?  She had taken a bus to the Capernaum Junction, then she started walking and got a little lost; that's when the car passed her and offered to give her a ride to a church, but then she heard us yelling her name.  She was back on the trail once again, joining us for the final leg.

The closer we got to Capernaum, the more my side hurt.  We came to a church.  At this point I had to stop, as I was now unable to take deep breaths.  The pain was now in my lower back, and was spreading to my left side.  I noticed that pushing on the area relieved the pain, so Becca tried to rub it out, but after a few minutes I realized it only made it worse.  I was having a muscle spasm, so I took some ibuprofen and sat on the sidewalk with my back pressed firmly against the stone wall behind me.  After about twenty minutes, I was able to breathe again and the spasms stopped, though the area was sore to the touch for a few days after.  During this time, Koichi had gone one way to walk around, and Amanda had gone another.  When they returned, we got up and continued our journey.

We came to an area that is another possible location for the Mount of Beatitudes, right across from the Galilee.  A church was sitting up there somewhere, and Koichi wanted to check it out.  The rest of us opted to stay behind and hang out around the water.  I finally was able to photograph a lizard (my zoom lens has been out of commission due to it rolling out of my hand on the Temple Mount, making this feat near impossible as they are extremely fast).  I then made my way down to the water, and watched some Orthodox Jews wade in their black and white outfits.  Afterward I walked back up to the area Becca was relaxing in, and decided to go for a walk.  Eventually I stopped and stared off into the distance for several minutes, watching boats pass, the waves, and listened to the wind while I leaned against a fence.  When I returned to our rest area, Koichi still hadn't returned, so I once again used my backpack for a pillow and made myself comfy on the concrete sidewalk, drinking in more sun.  Shortly after, Koichi returned and my nap was interrupted.  Onward we went.

Part of the hill that could be the Mount of the Beatitudes

Sea of Galilee

When we saw the sign for Capernaum, Amanda and I had the same idea: we practically ran to it and hugged it.

Ok, this is post-hug (and no pun intended)

Not much further down the road was a restaurant on the Galilee that advertised "St. Peter's Fish" (tilapia); we were famished, so we stopped.  I know this will come as a huge surprise, but I ordered a red meat kabob.  I think it was beef, but I'm still not sure; it was good nonetheless.  Koichi and Becca had the fish (I sampled some and it was good).  And the view was fantastic:

St. Peter's Fish

Not long after leaving the restaurant, we reached our destination:

This area was completely enclosed, which was not what I was expecting. And we had to pay 3 shekels to get in (less than a dollar).  Oh, and I had to put on pants to avoid being scandalous.  Once inside, I noticed various excavations, some ongoing.  There is a large statue of Peter, with the famous verse from Matthew 16:18 where Jesus tells Peter "on this rock I will build My church."  I must interject here and say that many times I have heard that Jesus meant that He would build His church on Peter, since Peter is "petros" in the Greek, but "petros" means a detached rock or stone; however the "rock" Jesus said He would build His church on is "petra", meaning a mass of connected rock; thus Peter is a small piece of the larger rock=Jesus.  His church is built on Himself.

Remains of what they believe to be Peter's house

Ruins next to "Peter's" house

Within Capernaum is a synagogue called "White Synagogue", built mostly of white stone, and is one of the oldest in the world, possibly being built sometime during the 4th century.  Beneath it lies another foundation, possibly the synagogue mentioned in the New Testament from the 1st century.

"White Synagogue"

After walking around alone for a little while, I made my way to the shore of the Galilee, where I sat for a long time (if I had my way, I'd still be sitting there).  I made it.  The end of my 40+ mile journey brought me here.  It was very windy, causing the waves to crash against the rocks at my feet; I enjoyed the intermittent spray of water which contrasted with the hot sun.

Once exiting the gate that leads into this ancient area, I immediately took off my pants so my legs could breathe once again. *Update: It was brought to my attention (after much laughter) that it sounds like I stripped in the parking lot...I had shorts on under the pants.  Ok, moving right along* We were told there were no taxis in the area to take us to the bus stop, so we had to walk about 2-3 miles back in the direction we had just come from.  We sat there for about twenty minutes or so, but no bus.  We decided to walk even further to the Kfar Junction.  While sitting there, a  cold front began to move in, bringing a little more rain with the cooler air while large thunderheads lingered in the distance.  A faint rainbow emerged, stretching across what could be the Mount of Beatitudes:

Thunderheads building behind Church of the Beatitudes

After waiting over thirty minutes, we saw our bus.  For whatever reason, he wouldn't stop, but instead waved us off, letting us know we were out of luck.  At this point we had few options left.  Koichi tried hitchhiking, but people only waved back.  Finally a taxi came up the hill, so we waved him down.  He offered to take us into Tiberias for the same price as a bus ticket, so we piled in.  We made it to the central bus station in time to catch the next bus to Jerusalem.

I confess this trip created a hiking monster out of me.  I have already researched hiking backpacks, boots, socks, you name it.  I'm rearing and ready to go on another one, though I am sure I am the only one who felt this way that day.

Shalom, from the shores of Galilee in Capernaum