One of the “dangers” of coming to The Holy Land is having all of those nice little Jesus movies that are in our heads shredded by the modern day.  But this area is so beautiful.  The hills, the vineyards, the olive trees, the rocky ground, the fertile ground.  My fellow travelers, if they have noticed me at all, might think I’m the world’s most accomplished gazer.  I’ve thought so many times in recent days, it’s easy for me to picture Jesus thinking when he was ready to start his ministry, I know where I’m going to hang.  We’ve already seen so much, and I am so appreciative of the opportunity, but I could spend the whole ten days within a couple of miles of Capernaum and come back next year for another ten.  It becomes a where do I start, and I hope I can do it just a little justice.  I guess really, I already started at the Mount of the Beatitudes.

Then next I’ll go  here.  This is our group, and that’s Giovanni regaling us with his gentle wisdom.  Even standing back from him I can hear him in my ear.  He has a single channel mike and we all have little receivers around our necks with an ear piece.  It really adds to the experience I think.  There are so many tour groups all over the place, and in such close proximity, and the technology removes the necessity for them to shout to be heard.

No where was that more in evidence than when we were in the Chapel that commemorates the site of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.  There was a small group of Russian Orthodox Nuns gathered in front of the alter singing a cappella.  And Giovanni was in my ear reading the story from The Gospel in a soft voice.  It was the most beautiful moment.  Ya just can’t make this up.

You can’t tell that well from this picture, but this church is built up on pylons right over the archeological ruins of Peter’s house.  Below is another view from the side.  I took this picture while I was standing inside the ruins of the synagogue where Jesus preached a number of times. 

And speaking of the synagogue ruins, here are a number of shots of those. The new synagogue is elsewhere on the site.   

The man himself.  Well, not that Man, this man.  You are Peter, and on this Rock I will build my Church.

It was warm, and so hazy that day on the Sea of Galilee, that you can’t tell that the water is in the background of this photo.  All of these pictures are taken right near the shore.  Peter, and Andrew his brother, made their living fishing, so it just makes perfect sense that they would live on the water.

Here to the right, these ruins would have been Peter’s neighbors.  And one could speculate that this would have been an important man of Capernaum because these foundations are right next to the synagogue.

And just above, a well in an area just up the shore from Capernaum called the Seven Springs.  And below, shore lunch rock.

You’ll have to indulge me just that little moment of irreverence.  If I don’t have one occasionally my eye starts to twitch.

In all seriousness, after the Resurrection, not knowing what else to do, some of the Apostles had gone back to their fishing.  One day when they were coming back in, Jesus cooked them some breakfast.  This chapel commemorates and protects this site.  The Gospels tell this story a lot nicer than me.  You should read ’em.

I’ll close this post by sharing a moment with you that I had with my closest friend, and fishing buddy, Tim.  We were standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, right outside this chapel, and we remarked to each other how cool it was that we were experiencing this place together.  And while I’m on that subject, if I haven’t shared this already, I’m on this trip with a number of very good, close friends.  They’re like extra frosting on the world’s best carrot cake. 🙂