Bethsaida

Closed! I was so upset. If only I'd gotten to the pier an hour earlier, maybe I would have made it to Bethsaida on time. If only this, if only that. There was a gorgeous skyline so I left the car door open, dropped the keys on the ground and dashed across the highway to photograph it - you have to chase pretty skylines around here - and turned around to see two tour buses disappear into the site.

Turned out the gate's always down, unlike every other site - you just pay there. $12.50. What?!!! Capernaum was 75 cents.

The guy took pity on me when I hesitated before reaching for money. 'Go in, if you like it, come back and pay,' and handed me some brochures. I pulled over, decided I'd be a fool to be stingy and went back to pay. 'No, no, you pay later. The park never closes. Stay as long as you want.'

Well, okay. I don't really care when I pay, actually. $12.50 is still $12.50 two hours from now. So I went clambering on rocks again, staring at signs that say 'Residence,' 'Courtyard,' etc. and wondering how on earth they could tell the difference. I could photograph the one saying 'Kitchen,' put it in the book as 'Residence,' and no one would ever know the difference. (But of course I wouldn't do that.)

(Actually I know they decipher it by what archeological remains are inside the room. So, in the kitchen they must've found pots, etc. But that doesn't make the stone walls look any different in the kitchen than they do in the residence. )

After a couple hours it started raining so I headed 'home' to pack and blog. The man at the entry gate was very perturbed. "Why are you leaving so soon?" (So soon???) "Because it's raining." (A good reason, I thought, to not be climbing over rocks under the open sky.)

"You don't have to pay. It's okay. Go on through. I live around here. Come back any time you want, let me know if you need anything."

Huh? I was pretty confused, but took advantage of Israeli hospitality before he could change his mind.

My social day indeed, I got into two more lengthy conversations, one of which nearly got me into men-trouble. You'd think my Temple adventure would have taught me caution, but I'm a bit slow on the uptake.

Anyhow. I wound up fine and headed off to the airport the following morning, which is a different blog. So I'll sign off, hope someone out there enjoyed this!

I also sailed on the Galilee today.