Day 2: Galilee

We started our very busy day off with Mass at 9am in an outdoor chapel in Tabgha, the location of Jesus' appearance to his disciples after his resurrection, forgiving Peter for his denial and asking three times, "Do you love me? Feed my sheep." Steps lead up to a church with a rock, on which tradition tells us Jesus cooked breakfast for his disciples. We also saw the rock on which Jesus performed his miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes and spent some time wading our feet in the Sea of Galilee.

After Tabgha, we visited Capernaum, Peter's home and Jesus' home base for his adult ministry, the site of multiple healings by Jesus and a synagogue built on top of the one from Jesus' time, in the same style as the original.

Later we went to Kursi, the cliff where Jesus performed the miracle of the swine, sending demons from a man into pigs and down into the Sea of Galilee.

Following Kursi, we had lunch at St. Peter's Restaurant for some fish from the Sea of Galilee. We stuffed ourselves full of fish, chicken, kebabs, bread, veggies, potatoes, dates and Turkish coffee.

Full from lunch, we drove up to the Mount of Beatitudes to spend some time in reflection, meditation and confession, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

We ended the day in a kibbutz seeing an ancient boat from the time of Jesus (with a pretty impressive story of discovery and preservation) and then a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, with a PERFECT breeze out on the water. Some even fell asleep just like Jesus out on the water!

An hour in traffic brought us back to the Sisters for soup, chicken shawarma, potatoes, veggies and cookies for dinner. A few sat outside following listening to a local Nazareth wedding and watched fireworks from the wedding to close the night. Others spent their time trying to figure out how to use the multiple knobs in their shower to get hot water instead of freezing. All in all, it was a wonderful day and we are hopeful to get over our jet lag tomorrow!