Church Day

Friday, December 27

7 am. Last night it thundered so loudly that it woke me up. And that says something - I don't know if that has ever happened to me before. It sounded as if a lightning bolt had struck right next to our bed. My first real storm since I've been on the road. We have an early breakfast and then set off for Nazareth in the rain. Unfortunately, Hanni accidentally left her fanny pack with camera and travel documents there on Christmas, which we better not leave behind. We also take this second Nazareth visit as an opportunity to visit two special churches there that we haven't seen before.

The first church is the Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent, which is said to be one of the most beautiful churches in Nazareth. It is attached to a Salesian school and is located on the mountain where Jesus is said to have spent his youth. We can locate the church from our parking lot, but then we realize that it is surrounded by an extensive high wall, partly including barbed wire. So we walk along the wall, looking for an entrance, and after a while we find an opening through which we enter the interior. The area here is deserted and somehow abandoned. The gatehouse has obviously not been inhabited for a long time. A bit strange considering that we are on our way to one of the most famous churches in Nazareth.

After another walk (the grounds are really quite large), we find ourselves in front of a large building that is obviously the Salesian school. We only discover the church when we continue walking along the school. But that doesn't help us either - on the one hand, we are at the back of the church, and on the other hand, there is also a wall on the inside of the grounds. Including barbed wire. How is that possible? We have already made a complete round around the church, but there doesn't seem to be an entrance anywhere. And there is also no one else here to ask. All of this seems really strange to us. But we have tried everything, and besides, we don't have forever today - so we turn around and make our way back.

... when someone finally comes towards us. A group of tourists approaches us with a tour guide who stops in front of the stairs of the school. So we ask there and learn that you can enter the church through the school building. We probably wouldn't have come up with that idea ourselves. Okay then: we go down to the door that was described to us, and indeed: it is open. So we walk through a long, dark school corridor, which looks a bit creepy when empty, and find ourselves at the end of the corridor in front of a large wooden door through which we enter the interior of the church.

And it is really a special church. Above the altar there is a huge statue of Mary, which is illuminated by the colorful church windows above it in blue light. We take a look around as the large wooden door opens again, and a man enters, some kind of custodian, as we realize. He turns on a few lights and joins us. Of course, we want to know why it was almost impossible for us to find the entrance. Security measures, he answers. We had almost suspected that. The main entrance door is only open when there are masses here, he tells us. On all other days, only the hidden side entrance through the school is open. Protection against vandalism from the Muslim side. I cannot pass judgment on how real these fears are and how necessary the extreme caution is. But it is definitely crazy. When places of worship resemble a maximum security prison, something is definitely going wrong somewhere.

We go back to the car and drive back to the City Center, from where we walk to the AirBnB apartment and fortunately get Hanni's fanny pack back with everything in it. Al-Hamdulillah. We go back to the car, through Nazareth's streets, which are a mix of dirty and deserted. On the way, we get an overpriced snack (yes, absolute tourist prices prevail here in Nazareth), and then we make our way to Mount Tabor in the pouring rain.

According to tradition, the Transfiguration of Christ took place on Mount Tabor, which is why the Transfiguration Basilica is located there. Normally, you also have a very nice view of the surrounding plain from the island mountain, but for now, we are driving through dense fog. And that doesn't change until we arrive at the summit parking lot. On the contrary: when we get out of the car and look for our way to the front of the church through an avenue, it starts pouring. By the time we reach the church at the end of the path, I'm soaked from head to toe.

However, after taking the first step into the church, I realize that the shower was worth it. The Transfiguration Basilica is rightly called the most beautiful church in Israel. The golden interior of the small basilica dome makes it hard to look away. It is truly breathtakingly beautiful.

At some point, we tear ourselves away and make our way back to the car - with the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee, there is still one last church on our itinerary for today. The church, famous for its mosaic floors, stands at the place where Jesus is said to have multiplied five loaves and two fish for the five thousand. And the old mosaic floor inside is really pretty to look at.

We take a 5-minute walk to the Sea of Galilee. The weather has since improved a bit, the cloud cover over the lake is partially breaking up, and occasionally even making room for a rainbow. A truly beautiful place. We collect a few stones from the beach, then it's back home, where we get rid of our still wet clothes, sit in front of the cozy warm heater, and then prepare ourselves a delicious dinner. Enough for today.