Galilee & Tiberias

Galilee & Tiberias the north of Israel includes six distinct geographical areas. Relatively high rainfall, fast flowing rivers and streams produce an abundance of plant life and beautiful scenery.

The Golan Heights and Mount Hermon: Mount Hermon is the most northerly point in the country and, at 2,200 meters, the highest. The Golan Heights, bordering Syria north of the Sea of Galilee and east of the River Jordan, are full of canyons and basalt rock – proof of long ago volcanic eruptions. The Galilee has a common border with Lebanon. Rainfall and mountain over 1,000 meters high combine to create several beautiful nature reserves. The region is also home to a variety of ethnic groups – Druze, Circassians, Christian Arabs, Muslims, among other.

Tiberias is located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, it's a favorite health and holiday resort as well as a pilgrimage destination. The city lies on a mountain slope, beautifully looking over the Golan Heights at the other side of the lake. Tiberias is 2,000 years old, constructed by Herod Antipas around the year 20. The city was dedicated to the Roman Caesar Tiberius, and is mentioned only in passing in the Gospels: "Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks." [John 6:23]. Excavations carried out on a mountain slope across from Tiberias uncovered an 8th-century Christian church. Below this well-preserved site archeologists also dug up foundations - and a mosaic floor - from a church built 200 years earlier and destroyed in the earthquake of 749. Christians refer many episodes to the Sea of Galilee, such as the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Walking on the Waters. Near Tiberias, where the Jordan River leaves the Sea of Galilee, is the Yardenit, the site where Christians claim that Jesus was baptized.