A little bit of luxury

I am writing this sat on my balcony of the Ron Beach Hotel, Tiberius, overlooking the
Sea of Galilee. The heat of the sun has dropped just a little; the air is warm with just a faint breeze. Whilst waiting for the MS Word programme to load I flicked through the music stored on my laptop – Chris de Burgh – Love Songs, first track ‘Here is Your Paradise’ seemed to fit the bill. Over by the pool the last few families are finishing up their playing before going in for dinner. I wish my family was here. They would love it so much. The track changes – ‘Missing you’. Yep- that about sums it up. This is the most wonderful land – but it would be so much better with them here. We have to come back here together!

A wooden pleasure boat is running along the lake in front of me. On the far side the lake the Golan Heights are part obscured in the heat haze. Earlier as we swam, amongst the little fishes (Peter’s?), the haze cleared for a few moments and the colours in the hills glowed.

Swimming is delightful. The pool is on the warm side and got a tad crowded (with all of us lot in). The sea was cooler, wonderfully not salty or chlorinated. It has a gravel beach and a cordoned off area in which to swim. The plan is to get up early and swim before Morning Prayer which is at 7 a.m.

(Later)
The hotel is air conditioned the bedrooms especially well. It is necessary as being below sea level the temperatures are in the high forties. Even this evening walking into town the air was still and extremely warm. The town is a real seaside resort which would make Blackpool look classy. A group of us walked up to have a look, found an Internet cafe and wandered back to chat and play silly games.

The rest of the day has been a bit of a blur for me. A late night last night (blogging) and a very early start this morning, plus the heat left me with little enthusiasm for yet more stones and a nagging headache.

Our main objective was to travel north but with some stops on the way. First we went to Caesarea Maritima , Herod the Great fantastic building project to build a complete new city for himself on the coast. We saw a huge theatre, a amphitheatre, his seaside swimming pool and what remains of the harbour for which he (or his underlings) developed concrete which would harden underwater! We also saw a may well be the hall in which Paul was tried before Aggripa (Acts 25:23).

Next we moved a little up the coast to see part of the huge Aqueduct which Herod built to supply water to his city. While we were there we grabbed the opportunity to have a quick paddle in the sea. Being more used to the chilly waters off Devon and Cornwall it felt really lovely and a little strange to paddle in warm water. Unfortunately and to the amusement of those taking photos from the safety of the beach I had not accounted for the waves! Ah well in these temperatures you soon dry.

Sadly we could not stay on the beach. All too soon we where chivvied onto the bus and off we went to Mount Carmel, the probable site where Elijah battled and prevailed against the prophets of Ba’al. Mercifully breezy the views from here would have been great although they were obscured by the ever present haze.

The next stop was Megiddo, an important trading fort over many centuries and for some the real or symbolic Armageddon referred to in the Book of Revelation. Despite stopping for lunch by this stage I was really not able to take in any more. Everyone seemed to be struggling and eventually we admitted defeat and headed for Tiberius and the hotel.

Hopefully with a good night’s sleep and plenty of fluids tomorrow will be a more manageable day. Thank goodness for the air conditioning and the sea!