-Beit She'an. About 5,000 years of settlement - even at one time the Egyptians up on the hill. One of the cities, and capital, of the Decapolis, the ten cities of Samaria that were centers of Greco-Roman culture. A great archaeological site.
-One of the best preserved Roman amphitheatres.
-Much of the city was destroyed by the earthquake of 749 AD, which destroyed so much around the area.
-Heather and I on the tel (hill).
-The Egyptian remains on the hill.
-At the fields outside of Belvoir.
-Belvoir was closed, but the spectacular view was worth the drive up.
-We stayed in Tiberius and then went to the Yigal Alon Center to see the Ancient Galilee Boat. They found this in a dry spell about 20 years back. It dates to the time of Jesus and might have been like the boats that Peter and Andrew would have used for fishing.
-Bethsaida in Jordan Park.
-A fortified city early on, later known as Bethsaida, "House of the Fisherman." Peter, Andrew and Phillip came from here and Jesus performed the feeding of the multitudes and the healing of the blind man from the shores. Very peaceful.
-Kursi was, according to tradition, where the miracle of the swine happened, which was always a funny one to me.
The 5th century AD church and mosaics.
-Susita. Up in the hills on the west side. We went past the farm and military vehicles only sign, since everyone does it apparently. It was worth it. 
-One of my favorite signs.
-Flowers were a-bloomin'!
-It looked like Scotland a bit. Then we saw this and knew it was Israel.
-Tom and the leftover military bunker. It was used as a border defense from Syria during the Six Day War.
-Used from the 3rd BC to the 7th AD centuries, this was also part of the Decapolis. The same earthquake flattened this community, too.
-Heather and Tom amongst the ruins.
-The view from the north side.
-Going down the path.
-Then eating falafels after a long day of hiking and ruins!
-The following week I went on a bus tour to the Galilee. Here's the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
-The interior, where there are ruins, said to be the home of Mary and where Gabriel appeared to hear to annouce she was pregnant. 
-Depictions of Mary from different countries lined the walls. This one is from the United States.
-Japan.
-Canada.
-The largest church in the Middle East.
Next door is St. Joseph's Church where it is said Joseph's carpentry shop was.
-Looking back to Nazareth and Cana.
-At Capernaum, this is said to be St. Peter's House (my favorite apostle).
-Capernaum is where Jesus had his most influential ministry and his home base. This is where he preached at the synogogue, healed the sick and recruited some of his disciples.
-St. Peter.
-And what is known as St. Peter's fish. What I had for lunch on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
-The Sea of Galilee. It was beautiful, but smaller than I imagined. What do you expect from a Great Lakes' girl though?
-Date palms.
-At Tabgha, we stopped at the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes.
-This is the rock on which Jesus was said to lay the five loaves and two fishes upon.
-Magdel, the ruins of the city where Mary Magdalene was from. It was bizarre to see an amusement park just next to it.
-Yardenit is along the Jordan River. The site where Jesus was said to be baptized by John is near the Dead Sea and off limits to many people. So they created this site so people could be baptized or reaffirmed in the Jordan. I took the plunge.
-The Jordan River. This is the only place I saw that it looked like this. The Sea of Galilee (or Kinneret), the Dead Sea and the Jordan River are all losing water due to using the water for people and irrigation and climate change. 
-One last look at the Sea near sunset.
-Mt. Tabor - the site of the Transfiguation. We didn't go to the top, but saw it from the road.
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