Megiddo, Nazareth

Looking from Tel Megiddo across the valley you see Nazareth up on that hill.  I was surprised to see it so high up that hill since there was the beautiful valley below.  Our guide told us that every single tree that you see in Israel was planted.  They are trying to restore the land.

Also from Megiddo you could see Mt Tabor where the Transfiguration is said to have occurred. Our plan was to go up Mt Tabor, but since it was winter they closed early and we had somewhere else to be first.  There is some sort of monastery on the top of Mt Tabor.

So, Nazareth on the hill on the left and Mt Tabor, the hill on the right.  Jesus' neighborhood.  I think about the small village I am from in Illinois and the neighboring towns that I am so familiar with and imagine Jesus in His neighborhood.

The bus park is below us the hills across the way.  I have a good lens on that camera.  You can see the crops at the kibbutz.  We saw bananas being raised, date palms, and various small crops.  Israel is 95% self supporting for food.

The little patches of water are fish farms. Again, Nazareth is on the hill on the left, Mt Tabor in the middle.  This view is from Megiddo, the crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa.

We climbed up Megiddo.  The archaeologists have been busy.

They were not working the day we were there. It was winter and it had rain.

And after lunch we loaded up on the bus and headed over to Nazareth where we were scheduled to have Mass. These days, I am told, most of the residents of Nazareth are not Christian or Jewish.  They practice Islam. Nazareth is an Israeli city, not occupied territory.  We had to park down a bit from the church.  Then we hurried up to the church our guide thought we were headed, but it turned out to be St. Joseph's house.  So, we went back down the hill a short distance to the Church of the Annunciation.

Where we had Mass.  It felt like we had Mass in Jesus' house.

I don't remember the particulars about the church.  It wasn't that old, but it was very beautiful.

When we looked down from where we were for Mass there was this pit.  Climbing down the stairs, we could see the grotto on the Annunciation.  Mary's house.

When we were there, there was no one else.  Lucky to be there on a winter afternoon.

Looking back at the rest of the church.

I climbed down to the grotto.  The Latin words on the altar say--The Word was made flesh here.

Here.  Our priest said that sometimes they had been able to say Mass down there in Mary's Grotto.

The outside of the church was striking.

Beauty on beauty.

And looking up at that dome I took a picture of from inside.

And we loaded up the bus and headed out.  I caught a picture of Mt. Tabor as we left Nazareth.

And although we didn't stop, we drove through Cana.  There seemed to be several stores selling wine.

On the road toward the Sea of Galilee.

But, first, we had to drop two of our number at the hospital.  One lady had broken her wrist.  They did a traditional plaster cast which was heavy, but when she got home, the doctor said it was set correctly.  The other lady was severely car/ bus sick.  She got some IV fluids.  Both were able to rejoin us that evening or the next day.

A scene along the road. And just over the hill is the Sea of Galilee.

Our guide told us that it is about 40 miles from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee. The storms brew up on the Sea of Galilee because moisture from the Mediterranean Sea comes up this valley. So, this is the neighborhood that Jesus grew up in.  This was home.