Day 4

Today  did laundry before  breakfast  of amazing foods once again.  I had an egg, almond - flavored quiche, fruit and coffee.  Yummy!
After breakfast we headed to Nazareth .  As we were driving I couldn't  help  but  wonder  if  we  were anywhere near the family home of Said  Ailabouni.  I  tried to picture  him growing up and playing  in the streets and in the  alleys of this busy town.  We went to the Church  of  the  Annunciation  and  I  was  surprised  by  the  beautiful  scenes of Mary  from  all  over  the  world.  The ability  to  go below ground level and  see the excavations  down to the 1st  century  was amazing.  Tradition says Mary talked to the angel Gabriel  there. It was cold and icy as we left this church  and  went next door to St. Joseph's  church and again it was built over the traditional  site  of  Joseph's  home and workshop.
From there we went  to  Sepphoris  where it was likely  that both  Joseph  and  Jesus  worked. It is an archaeological  site  that is being  uncovered  and  I  took a lot of photos  of  the mosaics in this city of Roman  origin.  There are paving stones with game boards etched in the stone  and  the  ruts from the chariots.  There was also a citadel where we climbed to the top  and  you could  see for miles  in all 4 directions.  The citadel  was  the school  until the Arabs were forced to leave.
Back  to  Nazareth  and  we toured Nazareth  Village, a reenactment  of 1st  century  life.  Maria was our guide, Joseph  was the carpenter and Hannah the weaver  in this town.  We were all given an oil  lamp to remember  out experience  by.
Lunch was quite  an  experience  as we crashed  Adan's  "sweet" birthday  party at her father's  pizza place.  We were allowed to take Adan's  picture  and as a thank you we sang happy birthday  to  her!
Beit Shearim  was our next stop.  It is a necropolis  where Rabbi Yahuda  al-Nasi   (the prince ) was buried in the chalk caves.  Rabbi was known for editing  the Mishna, the foundational  text  for  rabbinic  Judaism.
Finally  back to Nof Ginosar  Hotel/kibbutz  for dinner.  Absolutely  yummy salads entrees and desserts.  I ate a variety of salads, goose  and  the  desserts  were out of  this world.