JesusLand

I was invited up north for the last 2 days by my friend Steve, who I met here. Steve is currently studying medicine at Sakler, a joint program with Tel Aviv U. and Albert Einstein med school in NY. Steve and his Sakler pals were planning to go hiking/camping for 5 days in the north, and I joined them for 2 nights and a full day. I arrived late Sunday night and saw my friend Shai, who lives in Tveria (Tiberias for you Anglos). Early the next morning Shai dropped off with the group and we started our hike. Our hike was to the Meshushim Pool (shown above) which is north of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee for you Anglos). The hike started on the shore of the sea (lake in reality) and we walked up the Meshushim river for about 2 hours until you get to the pool, where you can swim in. I took the photo on a little bridge crossing the river. From the bridge you walk down to the pool, you can see one of the girls in our group, Erica, in the top right corner. You can also see how packed it was with kids and families. The reason for this is because there are two ways to get to the pool. The long way, which we did, or the short way, where you drive your car (with your screaming kids) to the lip of the canyon, and then hike down 10 minutes instead of two and a half hours.
We spent that night at a campsite on the shore, on a place called Amnon Beach (yes, Amnon, for those who know). You can see in the photo that the sun was setting, this is looking across the lake toward the South West. You can see that the Kinneret (Lake Jesus for Coco) is not that big. Professional Bikers loop the entire thing in a full day, so I've heard. Then, this morning I came back to Tel Aviv with two of the group. The remaining people stayed up for another 2 days to hike/kayak/relax.
You can see in the map above where I was. The greenish/grey X is where we hiked, the pink X is where we camped on the beach (click on the map to expand it). Besides the scenery/nature of the North, this area is also a huge Christian tourist destination durring the summer breaks, as Jesus lived the majority of his life in this region, and performed most of his mericles here. The entire area is littered with archeological sites from all three monotheistic religions.
This is where I think Coco will get Jerusalem Syndrome if he comes to visit me.