Biking the Sea of Galilee

One of the things we were most excited about when we were planning our trip was a bike ride around the Sea of Galilee. We had read about people doing it online and there was supposed to be a 35 mile trail all the way around. We thought that would be pretty doable and an intimate way to see the sea where Christ spent so much of his ministry.

We found a place that would rent us bikes and so we picked them up early in the morning. It started off pretty nice for about the first mile, but the rest of the trip was actually pretty miserable. It was hot, much hillier than the guides said, and the trail was either poorly marked or not bike-able. So we ended up spending most of our time on the road where wee couldn't even see the sea.

We biked about 2/3 of the way, stopping here and there to see the sites, but then we just couldn't do any more. So we started just alternating about a mile of walking, then a mile of biking, then walking again, and biking, and so on. This was a little scary at some parts because we went by a few beaches that had armed guards, we went through the Golan Heights area which is supposed to be pretty dangerous, and there were areas that were fenced off because there were land mines still on the ground.

We made it to about the last 2 miles and someone pulled over and offered to drive us the rest of the way. Although we really wanted to take him up on the offer, we ended up turning him down so we could say we finished it. We did get back, and it is something I can confidently say we will never do it again. We also wouldn't recommend it to anyone. We did drive our car around the next day to all the sites that we tried to see the first day and so at least we didn't feel like we missed anything.

Here is what we saw:

First was just a view of the sea and the trail.



Then we saw the ruins of Magdala, where Mary Magdalene was from.




Then the Mount of Beatitudes where Christ gave the sermon on the mount and fed the thousands from just two fish and five loaves of bread. We had our own fish, pitas, and other snacks when we stopped.










Then on to the ruins of Capernaum. Christ spent a lot of time here teaching and performing miracles. This is probably close by to where he called Peter to be an apostle when he was fishing. It was fun to imagine Christ walking between the buildings.










Then we saw the cliffs where the swine ran off into the sea after being possessed by the devils when Christ cast them out of the man.




Last was the river Jordan. Christ probably wasn't baptized at this exact spot, but they now have it set up where people can come and be baptized as well. It was very commercialized, but still fun to see.






Here a few other things we saw along the way, including lots of mango and banana trees, the Golan Heights area, and the mine fields.










Right after we returned our bikes we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up before dinner. However, when we got back the electricity in our room way out. Although it was not a good time for a hassle, they did put us up in a hotel that was nicer for our remaining nights. After the hotel switch we went out for some Saint Peter's fish. It is a type of tilapia that can only be found in the Sea of Galilee and it may have been the fish that Peter and the other apostles caught at the time of Christ. The fish was good, but the salad that they served with it was even better. It was a Lebanese salad with five or six different vegetable dishes to eat on pitas.