This is the first full day in Israel and we took a tour around the Sea of Galilee today. First we went to the Hippos Dig site on the east side and got a small orientation about what were doing tomorrow. There are going to be three main dig areas and we'll start that process tomorrow at 4:00 AM, or roughly 8:00 PM for those of you back in the states.
The next stop was Kursi National Park. This was the site commemorating the casting of the demons into the swine. There is no absolute evidence that it happened here but this has historically been recognized as the site.
Then we continued on to Capernaum on the north side of the sea. We toured the sites where Jesus grew up and saw a few of the old synagogues in the town. There was also the excavated site of Peter's house and there was a church built over the site with a glass floor to see the house itself.
After Capernaum we continued on our way around the sea and stopped at Tebgha. This site commemorated the first feeding of the five thousand. The Byzantine Church in the picture was built over an older church.
The last site of the day was the Beatitudes commemorating the site of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. There was a church built at the site and there were mosaics build depicting each of the lessons taught by Jesus.
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