Sea of Galilee to Akko

Time to head north for a bit of the New Testament sites. We headed north towards Tiberius and found that we’d arrived on their “Labor Day” (the last weekend before school starts) and it seemed that all of Israel was at the Sea of Galilee. All the hotels were booked and the town was jammed. We got out of Tiberius quickly and checked out a guesthouse at the Kibbutz near Tagbha. What an experience- screaming kids, blaring music and available rooms- for $156 a night. We quickly left and decided that sightseeing was the only thing in our future around Galilee.

Tabgha is the site of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish as well as the site of the Sermon on the Mount. The church on the mount was quite beautiful

(although the sign at the entrance was a bit strange: “No food or drinks, no shorts, no guns”.

Capernaum was the site of a number of miracles of Jesus and was the home of Jesus’ first converts (Peter and Andrew). The ruins of a church mark what was believed to have been St Peter’s house where Jesus stayed. The sites required quite a bit of imagination and faith.

We headed off to Akko to try to find a place to spend the night. We found a run down Russian hotel on Purple Beach for $75 (some rooms with working toilets, some with working A/C..) Dinner however was lovely….at Galileo restaurant (owned by Israelis, run by Palestinians) and located right on the old city walls with the Mediterranean lapping at the walls of the restaurant.