Man, getting up at 2am is rough. Whether for a baby, work, flight…anything it just plain sucks. However, it does mean better traffic! Especially in Cairo. 2-3am seems to be the time of day when people actually start going to bed and businesses close down for the night. We boarded our 4:30am flight and flew 2 hours to Athens. Then we had to wait a few hours in the airport before taking another 2-hour flight to Tel Aviv, Israel.
Our first destination while in Israel was in Nazareth. Which is about 1.5 hours from the airport by car. Unfortunately, there are no car services that will take you for less than $300 AUD so the bus it was. So a train from the airport to the city, and walk from the city to the bus stop which was currently closed for maintenance. Asking for assistance at the help desk to be told our bus was on the street right now. We ran for the bus with all our luggage and we didn’t have the app working to be able to pay yet but he let us on and said not to worry about it, we really appreciated that and it saved us $35 AUD.
The bus trip took about 2 hours and by this point, we were spent. It was about 3pm in the afternoon and we had been up for over 12 hours after multiple planes, taxis, trains, and bus trips we were done. We had to walk a little bit to our apartment which was on the second floor with no lift but this is what you call travel life.
It was nice to be in better accommodation though. Luxor had great accommodation. Very similar to what you would have in any capital city in Australia. Cairo was rated 2.5 stars and we chose it because it was in the right budget. It wasn’t a hostel but we weren’t paying hundreds a night for something fancy. There really wasn’t much in the middle but boy oh boy. It was something else. Considering we last showered there Friday after the marathon and then flew to Luxor over the weekend and returned Monday and the water still hadn’t drained away to be in a newly renovated little apartment was great.
We were only going to be in Nazareth for 2 nights so we tried to head out and see some things but it was getting close to 5pm and everything was shut so we walked up the street to “Mary’s Well” before getting dinner. Two places in Nazareth claim to be the well Mary was at when she was visited by an Angel. So while we don’t know exactly where it happened a really great historian who covers Israel’s history has always said “If it’s not here, it’s near” and we felt that.
On the way back to our apartment we found a baked potato restaurant. Honestly, I don’t know why we don’t have a drive-through, takeaway baked potato franchise here in Aus. He pulled out massive potatoes (with his hands, steaming hot from the oven mind you), mashed the inside with some white sauce to kind of make it mashed potato and then put whatever toppings you would like on top. It was awesome. What was not awesome was the lack of prices and being told that 2x potatoes were costing us over $50 AUD. We knew that Israel was a more expensive country as per the accommodation but wasn’t expecting so with the food. Goodness! It was a hard week having to live on takeout and no actual grocery stores.
We saved half for breakfast the next morning as we would be heading out early again and tried watching a movie before crashing for the day. The time zone was the same from one country to another which was good to not be dealing with more time changes. We were excited going to bed though because in the morning….we were spending the day along the Sea of Galilee.
Wednesday morning, we headed for the bus, we had to take two buses out to Tiberias where we could rent a car. Nazareth didn’t have any car places and the closest would have meant a very short day due to opening hours. So 90mins plus on a bus again. (Now reminding you. I hate travelling, buses make me motion sick. It’s much worse when pregnant. I was over the travelling part of our holiday).
Anyway….When coming to Israel I was hoping that I would have some wonderful experiences. I was hoping I would feel close to God but I also didn’t want to be putting pressure on all the places we were visiting to be some kind of miracle moment. I didn’t want to be disappointed with the experience and so focused on trying to enjoy being in these spots rather than focusing on feeling something. On the bus out to Tiberias, I had different songs popping through my head that spoke about these places and stories of Jesus. I enjoyed looking up the words and playing the songs in my head as we looked out at the countryside. At one point Nathanael turned to me and said this is exactly what I pictured it would look like. The countryside really is green rolling hills full of big boulders and rocks as the pictures show.
We arrived in Tiberias which is the centre town before heading up the Sea of Galilee. We had reserved a car to hire and after walking 1.5km more than we needed to we found it. She asked us for our ID….not our license as we had, but our passport AND our custom entry notice. We didn’t have them. I don’t like to take my passports out with us unless we absolutely need them. We weren’t told we needed them, the info pack only said license. I just started bawling.
We were over 1.5 hours from our passports, and we couldn’t go back to get them. She wouldn’t even entertain the idea of the photos I had of them. She apparently was the manager and even with our pleas of “We are leaving for Jerusalem tomorrow morning and already have a tour tomorrow afternoon that we can’t reschedule for any other time so today is our only day to come and see the Sea of Galilee” she said she couldn’t do anything.
Out walked bawling, angry, cranky, devastated Sarah…and while it takes me a while to process emotions like that I also have that pre-spoken about nature to not give up. So onto Google, it was to find another rental place and if I had to plead with every single person until I got a car I would. We walked down the street and after not being able to locate one place came to Avis and walked inside. I basically started crying telling them my story. Nathanael was looking at me and laughing at how over the top I was with my emotions but I didn’t overcome everything to get this close and not go.
Anyway, whether the manager was really nice or my tears were too much for everyone and they wanted me out…we got a car. Double the price but we got a car at 10am. We had to be back by 4pm so we had 6 hours! Thankfully everything across the Sea of Galilee is within a 30-minute drive so we could get to all those places it would just be managing our time there so we could see it all.
It was nerve-wracking leaving as Nathanael was driving on the opposite side of the road for the first time ever and with a $1000+ excess with any accidents that part of the day until we returned the car was long. We were doing it though. We had a car and we were off. Madgala was our first stop which was about 10-15mins away. Basically, this is a place they believed Jesus taught and it was empty. Again due to the war, we were the only people there on this complex.
We walked around and saw the broken but excavated synagogue where Jesus possibly taught. It was ridiculously tiny, no wonder people were constantly climbing roofs to be able to listen. We saw different types of buildings and ways of living and it was great to see the history of the marketplaces, ritual baths and more.
On the same complex which actually has a hotel built next to it where you can stay, there was a church. Something I really liked about the church was all the small worship rooms and their murals. Beautiful artwork of some of the stories of Jesus in the area and we really enjoyed seeing each one. In the main area where worship is held there was a massive boat on the stage and behind it out the windows is a view of the Sea of Galilee. What a sight to have church at!
Again, being the only ones here it was quiet and peaceful. Just before leaving, we walked to the water’s edge to enjoy the Sea of Galilee and just soaked in the atmosphere before heading to our next stop. We would have liked to have gone next to see a boat that was 2000+ years old to see the size and type of boat in real life Jesus would have used but unfortunately, it was closed due to the war.
Next up and only a few minutes down the road was Tabgha. This is where Jesus fed the multitudes. There was only one other small group that were leaving as we entered so again we had the complex and church all to ourselves to explore. You can tell in these areas how sacred they are by the way they treat them and the way they are requested to be observed. It was also lovely because there was barely any noise as there were no boats etc on the actual sea and being in the countryside barely any cars passing by.
Only a minute up the road was the Church of the Primacy. This is where Peter was anointed and asked to “Feed my sheep”. Being once again alone we got to explore the gardens and the small church that was built on apparently ‘The Rock’. Basically, what they did in Israel when they discovered something of importance was they built a chapel on top/around it with it being in the centre as a focal point.
This is where we were able to touch the actual sea and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and great weather in complete silence. (Outside of my constant chatter I mean). As we headed to the car we saw a sign for a waterfall. Now thinking back to our Lake Como days in Italy when we trekked for a long while to find a ‘waterfall’ only to find a dribble out of the fountain in the wall, we thought this could be different. Nope. It wasn’t a waterfall. We didn’t even get to see if and in fact, I think they were classing the waterfall as a pipe that drained into the sea. I did trip over and nearly fell down multiple stairs to that got the heart racing.
Another couple of minutes’ drive had us arriving at Capernaum (The City of Jesus). This place had a few groups but was still incredibly quiet we were told compared to pre-war. This is the place where Jesus called 5 of his apostles. Where he performed miracles and mostly where he taught. This place was special. Walking around, picturing different events that occurred here. Before we left Nathanael asked if we could just sit and soak it all in. Take a moment to ponder and reflect. As we sat there together it was a wonderful feeling and I will forever be grateful I got to experience it.
It was around 1pm at this time and we took a 15-minute drive up to the Mount of Beatitudes to see the place where the Sermon on the Mount was claimed. Upon arrival at the closed gates which I had read you needed to ring the bell so much until the nuns gave in and opened the gates we saw that it wasn’t meant to be open until 2pm. There weren’t any real shops or restaurants we had passed so we took a 15-minute drive into a town to find some lunch.
Heading back to ring the bell for the nuns as online said it was closed due to the war. Nathanael took one look at me and I knew. This is not something he would do. Any sort of possible awkward social situation he is out. If I want to do it I have to do it myself. So off I went and rang the bell 3-4 times before they answered and we were let in. Happy days I say!
This was a lovely place to visit. It was so beautiful and peaceful. There was a school group that came about halfway through otherwise we were pretty much the only ones there again. We walked around the gardens read the signs with the different ‘beatitudes’ on them and explored the church.
This is where however I’m fairly confident that a nun ripped us off for money to enter. Honestly, you wouldn’t think it but considering the rest of the day had been no entry fee and we had to pay $30 AUD to enter a tinnnnny chapel when no sign said anything about the entry fee and usually places of religious origin were not charged I was a bit stunned. Hope she did something good with our money.
We would have liked to try and go and see the River Jordan Baptism Site that they had available but it said it was closed due to the war and we would run out of time to get there and back before 4pm came. As it was after navigating the same one-way streets a few times to get to a petrol station we only arrived back at Avis at 3:50pm to return the car.
I felt so grateful that we were able to experience all that and hire a car. It was a miracle for sure that we found somewhere that was willing and we were still able to see everything we wanted without being too rushed. We were planning on staying in Tiberias for dinner but we were tired and it was still a 1.5-hour trip home, or so we thought.
Now begins that story of another miracle that happened while in Israel. You see at some point after Nathanael’s half marathon he developed some kind of tailbone injury. It started getting worse over the weekend and throughout our travel to Israel. Nathanael who is not a man to complain EVER suddenly found himself unable to sit without immense pain and struggle. Yeah, how do you think that went on our 13-hour travel day the day before and our day of driving the car and 3hours+ in a bus.
This meant each time he had to stand it would take him a little bit to be able to walk and even then very slowly. This was so unlike him. For me to be faster and more physically able. What a change of roles!
This meant that as we were trying to figure out which bus to get home we got off one and I could see our other one coming at the bus stop ahead of us. As I started trying to run to flag it down Nathanael was trailing so far I knew we wouldn’t make it. This meant a 30-minute wait on the side of a highway in the cold early evening. Which when you are tired, hungry and fatigued seems impossible but I got through it. Haha.
We got back to our apartment and decided to try and find a convenience store for dinner. We had a microwave etc at the apartment and rather than another AUD 50 on potatoes we opted for two-minute noodles and some snacks for breakfast in the morning. What a great day! A big day…but just amazing!
Plenty more to share, keep reading here for Part Two.
Love Sarah Kay, xx
