Tiberias 2011

Tiberias is a city located on the Sea of Galilee. It took us just over an hour by bus from Haifa to reach the city, pretty much travelling due east. We were greeted by an unusual, or so we were told, heat wave – temperatures supposedly about 35C. That and an interesting McDonald’s sign at the station.

A bit of history about Tiberias – it is one of the four holy cities of Judaism, a pilgrimage site for Christians as Jesus is said to have performed miracles in the area, a holiday spot for the ultraorthodox and there are hot springs nearby which are excellent to cure what ails you. I’d also like to add that it is quite touristy and could use some updating to its buildings, but that seems to be status quo for Israel.

We only spent 2 nights here with a decision as to what tour we might like to try. There was the ‘Holy Land Sailing Tour’, the ‘Faith Boat Tour’ or the ‘self-directed bike tour from hell’ (which is what we chose). The bike ride is described in the guide book as relatively hill free and do-able in 4 to 5 hours on local rental bikes. That would be a miracle.

Now for the reality check – it took us 7.5 hours (including a 1 hour break for lunch) on bicycles that needed a bit of a tune-up (we could only use ½ of the gears and the bikes did not glide on any downhill) and there were quite a few hills – so much so that a .001 incline became a struggle. We saw 20 year olds experiencing the same trials and tribulations so in case you were wondering, none of this was age related.

It was recommended to tackle our ride around the lake in a clockwise direction. Wise advice since all the hills are in the first half with the second half being very flat. I should also mention that we were blessed with cooler weather (20C, instead of sweltering heat) and cloud cover so we didn’t have an additional degree of difficulty which is melting under a hot sun.

Much of the first half of the ride is along a two lane highway with a shoulder large enough for the bikes with the Sea of Galilee usually in sight on our right. We must have ridden for about 2 hours when we reached the Church of the Primacy of St Peter. This is a popular bus tour stop and a group had just disembarked. One lady came to me and said “I remember seeing you walking your bike up that big hill a little while back”. I must confess that I did bail on that one hill but only that one time.

We did stop and take a look at the Church with its lovely stained glass windows. It was built in 1933 by the Franciscans and inside is a large flat rock, believed to be a place where Jesus and his disciples breakfasted on fish here. I have an idea as to the fish as we ate the local specialty – St. Peter’s fish from the Sea of Galilee. I’m sure that theirs was minus the fries. Outside the church are a few steps cut out of rock, some people believing Jesus stood on these rocks when speaking to his disciples. We didn’t linger long as we realized at this point it was going to be a much longer bike ride than we initially anticipated.

Shortly thereafter, we came across what looked to be another church, but seeming to have been abandoned. It would have been a ride downhill and then back up again to get a closer look and we decided we weren’t going to increase the distance on this ride in any way, shape or form. Instead, we limited our stops to enjoying the flora along the route.

Crossing the Jordan River was interesting as we have heard so much about the river and expected something large and awe inspiring. Shortly thereafter we stopped for lunch at the ‘24/7’ restaurant, I guess aptly named. Perfect timing as the heavens opened up and it rained sporadically while we dined and rested.

Although we needed the break, I’m not so sure it was a good thing. Climbing back up on our bikes, we now realized what a gluteus maximus was – big time. And we still had not hit the half way point of the ride. The second half of the ride may have been flat, often riding on a bike path, but it didn’t matter, we were becoming increasingly saddle-sore. It was impossible to find a comfortable seat and instead, just tried to find a spot that was the least painful to sit on. Needless to say, we did make it back but our plans to stop at the other Jordan River crossing and witness baptisms’ in progress (this is where it is believed John the Baptist performed the first Baptism) were nixed.

We went to bed early that night, leg weary and bum sore. We took the first bus to Jerusalem in the morning and really savored the comfort of extremely padded bus seats.