Today we had two goals: go on a boat in the Sea of Galilee, and eat St. Peter’s fish at a dockside restaurant. We succeeded!
First off, Bradley and I went seeking a grocery store, and to check out the docks and decide on a boat trip. This was before everyone else was up, but it was still pretty oppressively hot and humid.
(Funny story from Masada: Hebs was very uncomfortable in the heat, and complained a bit. Several times he said, “How are you not hot?!” Finally I answered, “I AM HOT. I’m just not concentrating on it!”) I’m trying to make that my philosophy right now.
Bradley at the 1800-era watch tower. That’s 1800 AD, not BC. It’s amazing how much it looks like the ancient stuff. We’re keeping watch!Whilst walking around looking for groceries, we came across this curious abandoned, falling-down mosque. Coincidentally, as we were wandering around it, wondering, a man riding a bike stopped and asked, in broken English, if we wanted to know about the building. We did! It turns out that he is an architect for the Israel Antiquities Authority, and he is literally working on how to conserve this 18th C. AD mosque. It is the Zidani Mosque, built in 1743, damaged in the large earthquake in 1837 (~ 7.0M), flying buttresses added thereafter, abandoned after the 1948-49 war, and now being conserved (so it won’t fall in the next big quake).The different colored stones that make the stripes are called something that sounded like “ah-BLAHK”. They are common in antique mosques, but not usually younger ones like this.Flying buttress to hold up the dome.I stuck my camera through the barred windows.Apparently, the powers that apportion money to antiquities conservation aren’t super interested in conserving mosques, but a recent court case is forcing them to work on this one. Our architect friend is very excited to work on this building–he doesn’t approve of the way many Israelis ignore the Muslim antiquities in their area.The Sea of GalileeLunch at Big Ben’s Irish Pub on the Promenade Em ordered Sprite, which came in a nifty glass bottle.New experiences! 🙂The delicious dips that came with our appetizer pita bread. My favorite was mixing the pale brown stuff with the red stuff. I have no earthly idea what any of it was, but I don’t actually care. It was delicious. Gee was pleased by the GIANT bowl of fries that they ordered. And there is fry sauce EVERYWHERE in Israel. It cracks us up, but we love it.I ordered the St. Peter’s Fish–a native type of tilapia. The name of the fish comes from the fish that held the Roman coin, that Peter caught to pay the temple tax for Christ. It is served fried, with skin and head and tail and fins and all. I loved it. …and maybe had a little too much fun with the fish head. Fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads…Okay, way too much fun with the fish head. Stop playing with your food, Keryn. (Hello, Fish-Head Em)We made every kid try at least one bite of St. Peter’s fish. Em had more than one bite, she thought it was good. It really was, especially with lemon and salt. Gee ate the (almost) whole thing. With a little help from their thieving siblings.It was a marvelous experience, being in Israel, in an Irish bar named Big Ben, listening to American jazz music by Louie Armstrong, with a placemat telling me “Bon Appetit!” So eclectic, so fun, so delicious! We then rented a patio boat for what we thought was two hours, but turned out to be thirty minutes, and we could only take it out 300 meters. For 100 dollars. Huh. Still, for Eva and Gee in particular, that was plenty long enough. And we were alone! Just us, on the boat.Hebs on the boat.Em, LaDonna, (can’t see Yummy), Eva, Zee, Gee.My marvelous family, on the Sea of Galilee! I loved being alone with them. We read scriptures, sang “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me” and (of COURSE) “Master the Tempest is Raging (we sang it twice, we were having so much fun), and I bore testimony of how the Lord is always there to rescue us.SingingSingingSinging.Having a great time!Look! I’m driving on the Sea of Galilee!And so is Zee!And Gee, driving!And Hebs, driving!Me and my GeeYum and Grandma EvaCute Em and LaDonna.It was hot. Turns out, being below sea level in a desert is HOTSo we refreshed with ice cream and soda.Zee, checking his messages. Like a teenager of his time. 🙂 Seriously, though, I don’t know how we would make it through without this guy. He is constantly helping everyone, whether it’s playing games with the other kids, guiding Grandma Eva, moving things around, being flexible, looking things up…I don’t think this trip would be as smooth without my Zee.Zee and I took a walk after sundown today, just to explore and enjoy the breeze off the lake. We really liked the look of this building–the stairs, the style, the murals, the swoop. Good architecture!We also tried to get to this isolated pier that other people were on. It was a sketchy walk to get to it, and then it was pretty much falling into the bay. So we turned back–the dark stuff behind Zee’s shoulder is parts of the lake showing through the broken concrete.Me! At the Sea of Galilee lake-level gauge. The party boat–this huge, well-lit, loud music, extremely crowded boat docked as we were walking around the promenade. No thanks, but it was pretty to look at.Awesome St Andrew’s Church offices and maybe vicarage? (Do you even call it a vicarage? Who knows?)
