Israel/Jordan Day 6: "Sailing" the "Sea" of Galilee

We tried to work off breakfast by a loop (always a loop, never an out and back) in the nearby Arbel National Park and Nature Reserve.

Mount Arbel (Hebrew: הר ארבל, Har Arbel) is a mountain in The Lower Galilee near Tiberias in Israel, with high cliffs, views of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights, trails to a cave-fortress, and ruins of an ancient synagogue. Mount Arbel sits across from Mount Nitai; their cliffs were created as a result of the Jordan Rift Valley and the geological faults that produced the valleys.

Eric drove us to the nearby city of Tiberius, a City by the "Sea", but as Eric described, the twenty minute stroll up and down the "boardwalk" revealed it to be more of a tired Niagara Falls.

Eric booked us a short “Sail” on the “Sea” of Galilee.  The area was famous or where Jesus supposedly walked on water (likely during a time of drought) and where he multiplied bread or fish or something... anyway, the religious groups were all over this boat ride.  For us, it was nice to get out on the water, but the Sea in smaller than lake Simcoe and the Sail was non existent.  

We de-boated (is there a deplane equivalent for boats?) and took a look at the museum on our kibbutz and the story of the 2000 year old boat.  Found only recently because of pretty severe drop in water levels of the "sea", the story of the boat and how they recovered and preserved it is pretty cool.

We had a late lunch… we couldn't resist the call of the shawarma...

After lunch, we headed back up to the mountains to visit a pretty interesting "olive oil-based everything" store and spoke with the very opinionated but really interesting owner of the place.  He knew more about American politics than I think most Americans, and had hard set views on where the world was headed with unfettered immigration like "what was happening in Germany and other European countries".  Reflecting on that later that night with Beth, Kim and Alex, I think their perspective of immigration is really "refugees" (ie a large, quick influx of a body of people that can destabilize, maybe only temporarily, a country).  We, in Canada, see it as an absolutely necessary part of our growth as a country.  A big difference - with strategic immigration, we are choosing the best and brightest and most able from around the world.  With a refugee situation, it can be quite the opposite.  Every viewpoint from within Israel must always be filtered through the lens of "security" - and rightly so I think.

The olive oil salesman had us part with some well earned Shekels, and we were on our way home, with a short stop to pose with some tanks.

More cards tonight... I can't recall the score, but I'm pretty sure Alex and I won big time.