Afternoon of Monday, June 3
We ate at an elegant restaurant on the southeastern side of the sea that is part of a cultural and social center called Bet Gabriel. In 1994 King Hussein and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the peace accord at this lovely place. Art galleries, aquariums in the restaurant, and outside dining overlooking carmine red bougainvillea growing beside the sea add to the ambience.
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| Group at lunch, Bet Gabriel |
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| One of several aquariums at the restaurant. |
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| View of the Sea of Galilee from the restaurant. |
The set meal included the standard first course, 
items of humus and different vegetables with pita bread. Beef could be ordered instead of St. Peter’s fish, which some of our group chose to do, and the fish could come with the head or without! Since we had eaten fish fixed a variety of ways in China, Lyle and I chose “with the head.” A large side of yummy rice accompanied it. Someone asked me to take a photo of the fish before it was eaten, but I used her camera and find I don’t have one as it was served, but found an image on Wikipedia. St. Peter’s fish is tilapia.
items of humus and different vegetables with pita bread. Beef could be ordered instead of St. Peter’s fish, which some of our group chose to do, and the fish could come with the head or without! Since we had eaten fish fixed a variety of ways in China, Lyle and I chose “with the head.” A large side of yummy rice accompanied it. Someone asked me to take a photo of the fish before it was eaten, but I used her camera and find I don’t have one as it was served, but found an image on Wikipedia. St. Peter’s fish is tilapia. 
I do have, however, one from my husband’s after eating. It looked like a cartoon cat had swallowed the flesh off and pulled the remaining bones out of its mouth!
Near the restaurant is a baptismal site called Yardenit where, if you so choose, you can be baptized in the Jordan River. This is not where Jesus was baptized, but a place to remember the event. By now we had come almost full circle around the Sea of Galilee as Yardenit is located where the Sea empties into the Jordan River at its southern end. A stone throw’s away south of Yardenit is Degania Alef, the first kibbutz (a communal settlement) in Israel, established in 1910.
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| Pilgrims entering water for baptism. |
Yossi added some bonus places today not on the original itinerary. These included the Kinneret Farm that processes dates and spices, the Kinneret Kibbutz cemetery, and Caprice, the headquarters in Tiberias for polishing diamonds. The farm, only five minutes from the baptismal site, sells locally made products and allows customers to sample different kinds of dates that grow throughout Israel. It also sells mixes for teas or infusions, spices to add to rice and other dishes, date honey, and many other items. I purchased some hyssop that was used in preparing the chicken we ate when we enjoyed “Abraham's” hospitality. The Farm has a webpage, translated into English, where you can order products online.
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| I got the Marakesh rice seasonings along with some hyssop. |
A short distance from the farm is Kinneret Kibbutz Cemetery which borders directly on the Sea of Galilee. We had been here in 2009, and its lovely setting and stories of famous Israelis touched our hearts. I snapped some of my favorite photos from Israel at this cemetery, where Israeli students come on field trips. The photo below is of an older Israeli student singing for the younger children (just below this one) on one of those field trips, and I think this is my very favorite photo from our 2009 tour.
The grave that captured our attention both in 2009 and this time is that of Rachel Bluwstein, a Hebrew poet known only by her first name and who immigrated to Israel in 1909. The photo of her grave in 2009 shows the Israeli custom of placing stones, instead of flowers, on the grave marker.
Beside the grave of Rachel is a bench for visitors, and linking the bench to the grave is a metal box inserted in the stone where copies of her poems are available for visitors to read. Yossi had brought translations into English of some of her poems that we read while contemplating the beauty around us and the beauty of her words. You can read four of her poems translated into English on the Palestine-Israel Journal website.
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| Yossi and Diane Peterson read Rachel's poems. |
Another favorite photo, taken on this tour here at the cemetery, is this view of the Sea of Galilee.
A few minutes from the cemetery brought us full circle around the Sea as we returned to Tiberias. Since we had some “extra” time, Yossi took us to Caprice, a diamond processing factory and showroom at Tiberias. Did you know that Israel cuts, polishes, and sets over 65 percent of the world’s diamonds? Special technology allows them to cut diamonds with 58 facets, more than anyone else. The World Wide Web still amazes me. Almost every place we visited has a webpage! You can read more about the Caprice diamond showroom online.
We made it back to our hotel in good time to rest a bit before another fantastic evening meal and fellowship with our fellow travelers. Our tours wouldn’t be the same without the great people who go with us and the uplifting sharing we do as we break bread together.
Tomorrow was my favorite day. Join me as we visit Nazareth and climb aboard a boat for a short ride on the Sea of Galilee.
