Israel trip, Day 4

Another packed day - up early for our trip north. Sad to leave Jerusalem - so much we didn't get to see and do, but onward! 


Drove through the Jordan Valley - I was super impressed with all the farming - dates, bananas, tomatoes, wine grapes and more, on a huge scale. 


 



We stopped at a nice little rest area, where we bought coffees and lemonades and frantically used the WiFi while we had the chance.  Alana posed for this photo:


 



Most of the trip was a journey through history! Stopped in Beit Shean (Scythopolis), an ancient city destroyed by an earthquake in 739 AD (CE) and just excavated in the 1980s; the site is managed by the Ministry of Tourism.


 



Stopped at Yardenit, a baptism site at the mouth of the Jordan river:

 



Then to Capernaum, a city at the north end of the Kinneret where Jesus first preached - gorgeous church there, built in the 1960s, and wonderful Byzantine-era synagogue:


 



Then we drove to our hotel in Tiberias, on the western shore of the Kinneret:

 



Our hotel was across the street from a mineral spa and entry is free to hotel guests, so we went and had a soak before dinner. Heaven! Huge group of American students there, finishing up their 10 day Birthright trip. We had dinner in the hotel tonight (the only dinner included in our tour).