We are still in the Galilee region but have continued east from Nazareth. As we moved east, the hills got greener, and I particularly noticed all the olive groves. We soon came to the Sea of Galilee (aka Lake Kinneret). I will include two stops in this post. The first will be at Kibbutz Genosar and the second will be at Yardenit.

The “Man in the Galilee” Museum is located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Kibbutz Genosar. The main feature of this museum is the “Jesus boat.” It was found in the mud of the Sea by two brothers who were amateur archeologists. It was during a drought in 1986 and they found this boat on the northwest shore. This ancient galilee boat is 2,000 years old and survived all that time buried in the mud of the Sea of Galilee. There is no evidence that the boat belonged to Jesus or his apostles but hey, we’re talking about tourism here.

Below is the Sea of Galilee at the site of the “Man in the Galilee” Museum.

The next photo is the “Jesus boat”. It is 27 feet long by 7.5 feet wide by 4.3 feet high. The boat dates to the time of Jesus. My take was that you would have to really “believe” to go out into the Sea in that boat.

The museum also had mosaics, the Magdala Stone, and many other artifacts on display.

The Yardenit baptismal site is on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee, close to Tiberias, and directly on the Jordan River. Yardenit is famous for being the site at which Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. This site attracts over a half a million visitors a year.

The photo below is at Yardenit. Thousands of visitors here every year undergo a baptism ceremony where they believe that their sins will be washed away. Our guide assured us that the Jordan River has long been considered to be holy and healing waters. You can see that they have multiple baptism areas available.

In the last photo, Vicky is baptizing her toes as it was far cheaper. This is also a good look at the Jordan River plus a small glimpse of wildlife.