We continued along the shores of the Sea of Galilee to Mount Beatitudes. It’s near Capernaum and is believed to be the site of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.” Is it the exact location? From all that I saw and heard, it’s near Capernaum. It’s a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, so at a minimum, it’s “in the neighborhood.” I think it’s one of those things we just must accept on faith.

Upon arriving at Mount Beatitudes, Noa, our guide, sat us down and we heard the opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount. You can never hear too much about blessings. Afterwards, we walked the gardens and looked at the displays of Jesus’ miracle stories, many of which evidently occurred right in this same area.

The first photo is the Church of the Beatitudes. The interior is octagonal, and each side represents a beatitude.

Our group gladly listened to the opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount, including one local.

The miracle display of the ‘loaves and the fishes’ was my favorite display. However, after studying the display carefully, I believe that it should be rephrased as the miracle of the “pita bread and fishes.” See for yourself.

Since we are currently talking about fish and since we were standing on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, I’ll continue with some more about fish. Our guide said that the Sea of Galilee contains 27 different types of fish, though not all are sought by fisherman. We went to lunch in Tiberias right after Mount Beatitudes. We ate at the Galei Gil Restaurant, overlooking the Sea. I ordered the grilled Saint Peter’s fish which you can see in the photo below. It was really tilapia.

At an earlier restaurant stop, Vicky had ordered the ‘Jesus fish’ for lunch. You can see it in the below photo. It was also tilapia, but I like the references. Jesus and Peter were fishermen and that suits me just fine.