Israel Day 11 - The Valleys Area

Today was full of amazing views and taking in the sights! We started off the morning at Mount Arbel to take in the view of the entire Galilee area. I may have mentioned I don't enjoy standing on the edges of cliffs so I got GREAT pictures from the well-worn path. Enjoy

Next, we got to explore the city of Sepphoris, which was the capital of Galilee in Jesus' day. It's likely that this is where Joseph worked as a stonemason (the Greek writings of the NT describe Joseph as a craftsman, so he probably worked with stone in either mosaic laying or carving. There's just not a lot of wood here, so the chances that Joseph was a wood carpenter are slim). Sepphoris is about an hour walk from Nazareth and even shorter on a donkey, so it's appropriate to conclude that Jesus' family lived in the small town of Nazareth and worked in Sepphoris. We were able to see a secret symbol in Christianity (shown below) that Christians would draw in the sand to let people know it was a safe place for Christians. We also got to see a mosaic floor showroom! This is where people could choose what mosaic they'd like to purchase so it showcased many popular patterns and showed how the mosaics were created! It's important to remind myself that the people who lived in these cities were just like me - they wanted their homes to be beautiful and provide work for their community! We can only assume what other stores contained because they didn't have products that could survive centuries. At least we know what one of them was for!

A variation of the ichthys secret symbol displayed on a Roman sidewalk

Floor from the mosaic showroom

Each square or diamond is a separate pattern to choose from

This shows how mosaics were laid:

1) very coarse layer with larger rocks and plaster

2) course layer with uneven stones and plaster

3) fine layer of plaster

4) very fine and sticky layer of plaster used to draw the design

5) colored stones are laid in a "paint-by-number" method

We finished the day at the Mount of Precipice, which again had a gorgeous view of the surrounding area. We were able to see Nazareth on one side and the Valley of Armageddon on the other!

Nazareth from afar

Valley of Armageddon on the right and Mount Hermon, the traditional site of the transfiguration, on the left in background

Last full day is tomorrow! We leave the Sea of Galilee and head towards Tel-Aviv, making several stops along the way. We head home early on Thursday morning!