All posts filed under: Excursions

Short reports about our excursions.

Pilgrimage to Bethlehem in Galilee

Last Sunday, December 16th, we, Juliana, Iula, Erica, Helen and myself, made a pilgrimage to Bethlehem of Galilee. After a deep study on the subject: Is not Bethlehem of Galilee mentioned several times in the Bible?  The town was part of Zebulun region, as described in Joshua:19,15. We wanted to see what happened with this ancient city. Are there any Christian traces which could enable us to perhaps think that it is the Bethlehem where Jesus was born? So we really felt like pioners exploring something very unusual. It was a very real emotion when we approached the place and saw the sign: בית לחם הגלילית. It was not a dream, it has existed until now. When we arrived, we discovered the Israeli Jewish village (a moshav), an agriculture village. No one was around. A house was indicated as office. We entered and a man gave us a history of the moshav and its activities, but nothing on the past. By chance we met an elder woman, Sara and she told us, “My husband (Yaron) knows …

Admiring spectacular Beauty!

“Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13) On our last day, the 7th day of our Galilee Trail, we went up to Banias (Philip Caesarea) via Safed. On our first stop in Safed, we had Shmuel (Samuel) who voluntarily gave us a free tour around the village. We were so lucky and he was really our “angel” of the day. Shlomo was so friendly and also entertaining that he made sure we visited the Art Candle Shop and the local Safed cheese shop. We bought some beautiful art candles and some local cheese as well. As Safed had been known as an important spiritual center in history during the medieval time, this mystical city on a mountaintop became the home for the Kabbalah. Many important works were written here including the Shulchan Aruch (“the Code of Jewish Law.”). Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz was one of the Kabbalists, composer of the …

One day around the Lake of Galilee

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” Mt 4, 23 We had the most amazing experience in following the footprints of Jesus around the Lake of Galilee. We visited seven places in one day: Capernaum – House of Peter and the White Synagogue; Domus Galilaeae – International Center run by the Catholic organisation Neocatechumenal Way; Korazin – one of the cities condemned by Jesus; Bethsaida – place where Jesus healed the blind man; Kursi – identified by tradition as a place of the Miracle of swine; Mount of Beatitudes and Yardenit – the place believed by some traditions to be the actual site where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. The highlight moment of the day was to climb the up the hill to visit the Church of Beatitudes, early in the morning and we had our breakfast there. We could see the sunrise and the sun’s reflection in the lake during our way up. …

Zippori National Park

Our first visit was to the “International Center of Mary of Nazareth” administered by the community of Chemin Neuf. Then we left Nazareth, heading for the Zippori National Park. “Why is it called Zippori? Because it is perched on top of the mountain like a bird,” (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah, 6a) The day was very hot so we decided to spend more time visiting this fascinating place and not to walk down to Cana, which could have taken us 3 – 4 hours. We noticed a guide just beginning with a small group and when we approached he said that he was a volunteer guide and the group was Hebrew speaking but that he could give us a summary in English. Within half an hour the rest of the group had abandoned him and he was left with only us! He spent at least another hour with us after that. We called him our angel – he was wonderful! And what an amazing city this must have been, just a few kilometers from Jesus’ home town. …

Galilee and its surroundings

We were in the town of the Holy Family for three days. Nazareth facilitated us to get in touch in a deeper way with the hidden life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This great experience led us reflect in the childhood and adulthood of Jesus; and it made us think about what happened after 30 years of Jesus’s life in Nazareth. We knew the ministerial life of Jesus’ in Galilee written in the Bible but now after we visited the places we could see his life and mission closer than ever. On Monday 19th we continued our journey, we went to mass to the Annunciation Church. After it we had our breakfast and then we left Nazareth to go to Tabgha. Naim The first place we visited was Naim the place where Jesus brought the widow’s son back to life. (Lk 7,11-15). Here we only could see the little Church from outside because it was closed. Mount Tabor The spectacular view going up to Mount Tabor made us contemplated a glint of the majestic event …

Our First day in Akko and Haifa

In the evening of September 15th, the day before we were leaving to Galilee, our Jerusalem communities got together to celebrate a special mass for Sister Darlene who was celebrating her 50th Jubilee in her religious life. After the mass presided by our NDS brother Carlos we enjoyed a delicious dinner. We asked the Lord bless Sister Darlene for all her journey in Sion On September 16th we started our first trip to Akko and Haifa, Sister Darlene and Jilvaneide joined us this beautiful experience. We left around 9:00 a.m. to visit these wonderful places. Acre, also known as Akko, is one of the oldest cities in the world. Also, Acre changed hands several times during the Crusades. During biblical times the city was under Canaanite control and during the Roman period it was a very important harbor and trade city although it was overshadowed by Caesarea. However, Acre took on a more dominant position as the major port in the region. We had opportunity to visit the Templars’ Tunnel and St. John’s Church in …

Galilee 2016

Nazareth was our home for three days, the reference place from where we left to visit some towns as Sephoris, Cana, Tiberias, Naim and Magdala. So, we arrived in the Sisters of Nazareth house on September 16th after 5 pm. We were looking forward to have a shower because that day had been very hot on our tour via Akko and Haifa. We had our marvellous supper and thanksgiving and a very recovered sleep. On the 17th, we got up very early in order to go to Mass at 6:30 in the Basilica of Annunciation – in front of the Grotto of the Annunciation – followed by our breakfast in order to visit the Chemin Neuf centre. We enjoyed very much the technology of this centre in the explanation of the Salvation History through of very ancient caves below the house and surprising audio-visual shows. On Sunday, after our breakfast, we went to St. Joseph´s church to participate an Arabic Mass. Sr. Juliana explained us the homily after Mass helped by Sr. Darlene. Then Sr. …