River Jordan

Today has been a leisurely day and it was needed as we do not seem to have stopped for a minute before today.   That is not a criticism as I know it would not have been possible to have visited so many interesting places nor to have met so many inspiring people.

As everyone was in the same hotel last night, it was decided that we would have mass in one of their conference rooms.  It was a special mass for the intentions of the pilgrims.  We all put pieces of paper with our personal intentions on to the altar.  The Bishop was the main celebrant with the other 4 chaplains.  After the mass, he told us that the clergy had been inspired by us pilgrims and that we had enhanced their pilgrimage.  He was supposed to have gone home after a couple of days, so has been trapped here with us because of the ash from the volcano.  I think he is hoping to get back as he is supposed to be at a conference.   We are hoping that we will still be able to get away on Thursday.

We went to see Zaccharias’s tree.  Our first thought was that surely it could not be the same tree that he climbed to see Jesus, as that would mean it was well over 2000 years old, but as you can see they have shown that it is.  Next comment was that it did not look like a sycamore tree but apparently it is a different variety from the one we know.  Looking down the road I tried to imagine Jesus walking along the road towards us.

We visited Elijah’s Spring

the Mount of Temptation 

and ruins of the Old City of Jericho.

Whilst we were having lunch, a man came in with a yobel horn and started blowing it.  I can quite imagine it blowing the walls of Jericho down as it nearly burst my eardrums!

Then we passed from Palestine into Israel and followed the river Jordan as far as Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee.  Whereas the landscape had been arid with little greenery, this latter part was more green and agricultural.

Tonight , as we are at the sea of Galilee, we were delighted that there was fish available for dinner.  When we asked what it was we were disappointed to find that it was cod which had certainly not  come out of the local water!