Tiberias 🥖🐟 - Seeking Good Intentions

Popular fish restaurant on the Sea of Galilee

Tiberias has been the hot spot- literally and figuratively for a loooong time. Known for their love of luxury- the Romans settled in Tiberias because of the naturally occurring hot springs. The city is named after the Roman Emperor Tiberius in 20 CE.

Local celebrity, Jesus Christ, is thought to have performed several of the miracles mentioned in the Bible in the area around Tiberias. This makes it a popular destination for religious tourists. There are many places of worship, built along the water and on the cliffs around the bend from the City of Tiberias.

Sea of Galilee

Dock in the downtown area of the waterfront. Although I spent time in Tiberias swimming,(and normally would take a picture) I couldn’t stomach it. The shoreline looked more like the fringes of a garbage dump than a place u would want to swim.

Local Wanderings

I lived in Tiberias for about 3 weeks and spent most of my time swimming, planning my next trip, or hanging out with other tourists. I did take a few little walks into the hills and here are a few pictures from those wanderings.

The Sea of Galilee was larger than I was expecting as you can see in this picture it is somewhat of an oval.

From this picture, you can see the Caves that dot the high cliffs around Lake Galilee

Roman Ruins

Archeological digs bring to light Tiberias during Roman times. Photographed below is a 2,000-year-old Roman Amphitheater. I found this article, Celebrating 2,000 Years, Tiberias’ History Is Buried Under Garbage that answers many of the questions I had about the sights and echos many of my thoughts.

This area looked like a local hangout for kids with trash and the red paint validated on the left stone wall Still thought that it was a cool spot

View of the water from behind the remains of this stone wall

Night life

Below is the most exciting thing that happened in Tiberias at ‘night’ (dusk). Tiberias in the 70’s and 80’s was THE place for Israelis to go on vacation. The city was booming and lots of hostels and resorts were created along the waterfront of lake Galilee. These days, many Israelis going internationally to cheaper countries. Additionally, locals say Orthodox Jews gradually moved to Tiberias, making it more conservative over time killing the resort/nightlife energy the city once had. These days there is only one bar in all of Tiberias and heard it leaves lots to be desired. The hotels, resorts, general infrastructure from the 80s are a sad blast from the past, and the whole city has yet to move past its heyday. Today, it is more of a one-night breeze through for tourists either on their way up to the Golan or down towards the Dead Sea/Red Sea. With Israel’s rapidly growing population Tiberias may become modernized and could pull in more tourists. Tiberias might just rise up among Israels cities and walk on water again.

You can see the purple, pink and blue sky of the sunset through these storm clouds. The downtown area is on the lakefront and this photo captures the residential area which climbs this hill

Tabgha Church of the Multiplication

This modern church was built on the foundation of two churches and is dedicated to the story of the loaves and the fishes. According to the story, Jesus took 5 loaves and two fish and looked up to heaven-blessing them. he gave them to the Disciples who distributed the food to the crowd. Not only did everyone eat (supposedly over 5,000 people) there was extras! So everyone got a little take-away. I’ll say what everyone is thinking… Oprah stole Jesus’s handbook. It is also in this area that Jesus walked on water. A Roman Catholic Church, The Church of the Beatitudes, is located where it is believed that Jesus gave his “Sermon on the Mount”.

I’m not normally one for churches but I had a positive experience here. The simple stone architecture, with plenty of natural light, and a modern feel is completely opposite of most churches in holy spots. The staff was extremely nice and nonjudgemental allowing me to take in the space at my own pace.

Arched hallways of the perfectly square church interior courtyard

The inner courtyard of the modern church

Capharnaum – The Town Of Jesus

Below are the remains of the Synagogue that was built during the Byzantine period. These ruins are what is left of the first meeting place for the first Christians. This was all authenticated by vandalism left by the disciples. A octagon place of worship was built over the house of Peter, and a spaceship looking octagon church now is suspended over the remains. As you can tell, a lot of historical remodeling here but at its core- many believe this to be one of the holiest sites in the world.

despite fantastic lighting, tour groups were my true enemy leading me to nab only a few unobscured photos

The tiled floor within Capernaum was made to look like what scholars believe the tile floors looked like in the first church dedicated to Christianity.

There are many olive trees like this one around the lake and in the local area with the olives near the end of their growing season- nearly ready for harvest

A Changed Perspective

On one of my last days in Tiberias, I walked around the lake and could see the city from around the bend. I think it would surprise most people how underdeveloped the lake of Galilee is and how much of the local area is agricultural. Although it was a foggy day you can sorta see the city of Tiberias (the white strip on the mid-right side) in the distance. I thought this dock was ominous with so many shades of blue at play.

To A- who was a great local guide and encouraged me to explore and see the local area. A and S- Glad we were all processing everything together. L- “I don’t know, I just clean the bathrooms” 1 Shekel Falafel guy- I broke ur soul with my gluten problem and for that, I will live in guilt forever.