Morning at the monastery, Mount Tabor and back to Jerusalem

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

There are two churches on the  grounds of the Franciscan monastery where we are staying. This morning, after breakfast, Joanne  and I walked down to see them. We had to go through a large metal gate that slides across when you press the button and request that they open the gate - not very quickly. We walked down a tree- lined dirt road. At the end, when we came to the Church of the Loaves and Fishes. There was a locked gate again, but this was a small gate. Someone said that they had seen Brother Mark jump over the gate. We decided that, in that case, we could jump the gate, too. It was nice inside and a little cooler.  I lit a candle for Martha's sister. (1 sheckle - about 25 cents)

The church is right by the Sea of Galilee. In the following photo, I am standing on the side of the church there's a boat like the one we sailed on yesterday. They also have a gift shop. You can buy Holy Land pot holders. Lol. 

After that church, we walked down the road to the Church of Peter's Primacy. It's nice, too. As we were walking back, I was starting to get dizzy from the heat. We sat down a little and drank water. When we got back to the street, there was a gift shop and public rest room ($1 to use it!). I really needed to use the rest room. I also put water on my face and neck. That definitely helped. Then, when I came out, Joanne pointed out that they had fresh orange juice. We both had a cup. Alain carries little packets of rehydration salts - some flavored. He puts them in every bottle of water he drinks. I think I need to get those for my next trip. I have rehydration salts, but they're big packets - for a gallon of water, harder to use. We walked back to our room in the guest house. I took off my shirt and wet my face, neck and chest and let them air dry. Then we packed up to check out. We left our bags in the lobby and all went to the Meditation Room. Brother Mark celebrated Eucharist with us. One of the priests in our group, Mary, tells gospel readings by heart. She tells them with great expression and makes them become fascinating stories. It's nice. Jon Clodfelter led the prayers. 

Then we put our bags back on the bus and headed to the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. It was slightly cooler there because it's higher up and there's a little breeze. We had to get off our bus and get into little vans to take us up the mountain to the church. Each van holds about 12, so it took several vans to take our group. The cathedral is Franciscan. It was built on the ruins of a crusader church. There are windows where you can see the ruins below. You can also look out over the valley. 

And of course there's a gift shop but only for pilgrims. 

We got back to the college at around 5:30. It felt like we were coming home after 3 days away. While we were away, we had turned in our keys and the staff changed sheets and gave our rooms a good cleaning. (Normally, they come in every day to clean and they bring new towels everyb2 or 3 days.)

We had a speaker after tonight: Dr Mustafa Abu Sway. He's a world renowned scholar of Islamic philosophy.