In POTUS's footsteps

For some reason, our travels lately have either had a world leader following in our footsteps (Sarkozy in Egypt) or us following in a world leader's footsteps (President Bush in the Galilee).  

I can only say that it was very fortunate our schedule found us headed to the Galilee one day behind POTUS.  As you might guess, his visit entirely shut down the roads in the area (for about 3 hours).

Our first full day in the Galilee led us first to a lovely little church right on the Sea.  Church of St. Peter's Primacy -- where Jesus supposedly appeared to his disciples for the third time after rising from the dead.

It was a beautiful setting and the church itself was populated mostly with Korean Christians, some of whom were weeping as they prayed.

Outside, we saw nuns having a jolly photosession with a rather rotund Franciscan.

After that, we tried in vain to locate the famed Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes.  We ran into a young Korean couple trying to do the same.  We determined that it must have been behind a locked gate that was labeled something entirely different.

So, we ventured on to Capernaum -- a site on the president's itinerary.  It was inhabited from 150 BC to 750 AD.  The ruins of a synagogue where Jesus might have taught is located there.

After that, it was time for a little break, so we drove up into the hills of the Golan Heights and made a stop off at Katrin's Golan Heights Winery.  We enjoyed tasting a few wines and bought some to take home, as well.

We had worked up an appetite tasting all those wines, so we headed to the cute hillside town of Rosh Pina for a bite at Lehem Erez -- a chain of bread shops/restaurants.  After strolling around the town a little, we headed back toward Tabgha (where Pilgerhaus is located).  Near Tabgha, we stopped at the Church of the Beatitudes -- located on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  The Church there is modern and new, but the views of the sea and the Golan Heights on far side of the sea are really spectacular at sunset. Sweedle and I settled down with cups of tea from the kiosk and enjoyed the view.

Then, we headed back to Pilgerhaus. Before entering the gate, we made one last-ditch effort to find the Church of the Multiplication. We had a key from Pilgerhaus that supposedly got us into a private gate to the church. So, we tried it and it worked, but the gate seemed to head to the Fransican monastery and not the church. Anyway, we walked aimlessly down the road on the other side of the gate. Then we came to a complex of buildings. We could see what appeared to be the church, but we couldn't actually find a way in. We circled around the buildings, clearly walking where no man had walked anytime recently as it was all overgrown. Then, we wandered past what looked like living quarters and then a dog started barking. It was after this that we stumbled upon the entrance, but by that point, one of the monks had come out to see what the barking was about. We apologized and explained how we got there and the young German monk very kindly led us into the church. It was absolutely stunning. Out of respect, I didn't take any photos, but they still had their nativity set up, with very tall real trees around it and twinkling white lights. Also, the church has some of the most amazing mosaics I have ever seen in Israel. It was well worth the effort!

And for my koi-loving readers, they even had a koi pond!