Capernum and Lunch

I most wanted to see Capernum in the Holyland.  I can't even really fully explain why. I wanted to see where Peter was from.  I wanted to see the place Jesus made as home base.  And for some reason that I don't fully understand, to me, seeing Capernum made it real, all of it.  I could have spent days there, not that there was so much to see, but just because I felt something there.

So, that Friday morning we headed down the Mount of the Beatitudes to Capernum.  Capernum was no small fishing village.  Our guide told us that at the time of Christ the city was big for the day.  It seems like I remember that there were something like 20 synagogues.  I may have that number wrong, but anyway, Capernum wasn't a little one donkey town as I might have imagined.

Piles of rocks that were once houses, that is what it is today.

Modern walkways over the rocks and the digging for we pilgrims to walk on as we tired to take it in.

But, first we had Mass.  This shot is looking down into Peter's house from inside the church built over it.  Throughout the pilgrimage it seems that I remember rushing to get to the places where we were scheduled to have Mass. Luckily we brought our own priests, so Mass never started without us.

Still trying to picture Peter's house.  I could see the crosses carved on the wall, but I couldn't photograph them  Too much glass between us.

The glass didn't enclose the house below like a greenhouse.  It just protected it from us.

That was the best shot I got looking into Peter's house and still I can't see much.

At each corner were antheriums.

At the Mass at Capernum the homily was on friendship.  Jesus was with his friends there.  My friend L was in her last days, but I was not able to find my voice to bring her name up for prayer intentions at that Mass.

Walking below the church and looking at the outside wall of Peter's house.

Just a couple of houses away from Peter's house was a synagogue.  The dark stones on the bottom are thought to be from 2000 years ago.  The building on top, while still ancient, was newer than the time of Christ.

Another view of the synagogue.

The old rocks of the really ancient synagogue.

The newer pillars.  People were inserting prayer intentions in the wall like they do at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Front view of the synagogue in Capernum.

This was not Peter's house, but houses like his. Our guide said that the reason the couple was betrothed for a year was so the man could haul stones down to the family house and build a room.

And the piles of rocks that once were houses went on and on. Capernum was a big place.  We were not permitted to go out there among all the houses.

This is a picture from the synagogue looking toward the church above Peter's house where we had Mass.

If only I could read this, it explains the synagogue.

Looking out at the city of Capernum.

Standing below the church where Peter's house was.

Somebody who was there.

 Looking out to the Sea of Galilee. Capernum was right on the lake.  Peter was a fisherman after all.

A better view of the lake.

And I took lots of pictures of the Sea of Galilee and stared at it lots and lots.  I hear inside my head, Jesus was there on a boat, walking on the water, fishing, sleeping....

And next they took us for a special lunch.  It was Friday, so we had fish.

Along with the fish were the usual sides, Hummus, corn, and salady things.

But the main course was tilapia which lives in the Sea of Galilee.  We were served a whole fish.  It is called Peter's fish.  The guide told us that is because tilapia are known to hold rocks or anything in their mouths.  When the tax was owed and Jesus told Peter to pay it and the fish had a coin it its mouth, it was tilapia.  So we had a whole bony fish and the ever present fries.  Fries were everywhere in the Holyland. They put them inside the pita bread with falafel which seemed odd.  But, maybe that is the way they thought we did it.

And after lunch we still had places to go.  The kibbutz around the Sea of Galilee had fruit trees planted.