Today was our final full day in Israel and we decided to head back north for the day to visit two places we had missed previously; Beth Saida and the Hula Valley. I booked another car through Europcar and just like the first time, they gave us another Hyundai i10 to thrash the pants off. We headed north from Jerusalem, this time using the toll road route 6 to save on the kilometers. There was the usual account fee associated with using this road, but at least with Europcar it was only 50 shekels rather than $50us and I would also be saving massively on the kilometers. The quickest way was to head up through Nazareth to meet up with Sergio and Rhoda and head to Beth Saida from there. They have made two previous episodes on Youtube regarding the real Beth Saida and were both curious to see what it looked like during the spring time.
As we approached Yokne'am near our turn off to Nazareth, the traffic got a little heavier and everyone in front of us slammed their brakes on. We missed the car in front of us and they then quickly sped off, before again slamming their brakes on yet again for apparently no reason. The brakes on our poor little Hyundai couldn't compete with the brand new Mitsubishi in front of us and we ran up the back of it. Just what we needed on our last day! Fortunately damage was very minor, with only a slightly misaligned headlight and a missing number plate. The driver behind us missed our car, but had three cars run up behind him. After exchanging details with the other driver, we checked everyone in the other cars were fine and then headed off to Nazareth, praying that our battered little car would hold on.
Bethsaida
Sergio helped to screw the number plate back onto the front of the car to get us road legal again (Joseph from Nazareth village was not around) and we all headed off to Beth Saida with their other friends Ryan, Yossi and his family. We had been hoping for a dry spell of weather while we were in Jerusalem, alas there were a couple of days with more heavy rainfall. It seemed very unlikely that our cars would make it through, so we parked just off the main road and made some garbage bag shoes to protect our feet from the foot deep mud on the trail.
Beth Saida is one of the three towns that rejected Jesus and subsequently cursed them during his ministry. Beth Saida has for decades been recognised as being as an ancient city around 3 kilometers away from the shoreline. In recent years this place is gradually being discredited however, with the discovery and excavations of a town which matches the description a lot closer. Beth Saida was a fishing village and wouldn't make sense being so far away from the coast, and certainly not higher up than here as well. This has been argued against by changes in the sea level, however even if the water levels were at a higher level, many other towns along the shoreline, including Capernaum a few kilometers away and the newly discovered village, would be completely underwater as well. The water level of the Sea of Galilee does of course fluctuate, but it is quite clear to see the maximum water line on the edge of this village and the surrounding areas.
The newly discovered Beth Saida can be found at coordinates 32°53'35.32"N 35°37'08.36"E on Google maps, situated right at the foot of the Jordan river at the northern end of Lake Tiberias. Excavations have taken place under the direction of professor of Biblical studies, Dr. Notley. Close to the site are a few stone buildings, which were actually part of an old Syrian bus station that used to have a route to Damascus.
Unfortunately for us, much of the site was waterlogged due to the heavy rains and the height of the water level was almost reaching the ruins of the buildings closest to the shore. Our visit in the spring time was of course, not only under water, but very overgrown and hiding the exposed tops of many of the ruins.
To date, a Roman bath has been unearthed and, most importantly a church believed to be the "Church of the Apostles", built partially on the site of the houses of apostles Peter and Andrew. For centuries, this was long dismissed as even existing, but the huge amount of evidence excavated in the two digs to date is overwhelming and looking more of a certainty than a legend. The church's mosaic floor was discovered in the most recent dig, but is now of course back under water again so we were unable to see it.
Two miracles were performed here by Jesus. The first was healing a blind man and the second of feeding the multitude of people. According to John many other miracles were performed here, but were were not written down. Despite this, most people still did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and in turn, Jesus warned the people of great disaster for the city if they did not change their ways.
The city is estimated to be very large and there are at least another 10,000 square meters of streets and buildings still buried. Sergio and Rhoda have two videos covering the real Beth Saida in much drier times, and are highly recommended watching. They can be found at the bottom of this post.
Hundreds of birds, insects, spiders and even a scorpion were found here. The towering eucalyptus trees provide a home for a large flock of stunningly beautiful Rose-ring parakeets, but for once I decided to leave the heavy telephoto lens back in the car. It was entertaining watching Sergio scream hysterically when a small spider got a little too close to him.
I am unsure when the city was abandoned, but we do know a missionary visited at least in the 8th century AD. This has been supported with the discovery of many Byzantine era artefacts. Quite possibly it was one of the many places in the area that was levelled during a great earthquake in around 750AD. I am sure very soon we will see Beth Saida open to tourists in the near future and will be keeping an eye on the progress of excavations.
We spent a couple of hours in Beth Saida before taking another long drive north to a good place to view the Hula valley near the base of Mount Hermon. Sadly a lot of low cloud spoiled the view and the sky became dark very quickly. A handful of birds were seen, but nothing like the massive migrations we were hoping for. This place is absolutely gorgeous however and will be a priority again for our next visit, should we happen to visit at the same time of the year at least.
We failed to find a restaurant on the way home and parted ways with our friends, apart from Ryan who joined us in the hopes of getting to the airport to attempt to re-book his flight home. The mighty Hyundai i10 got us to our overnight accommodation at Petah Tikva, only a few kilometers north of the airport, despite having a bung headlight.
"Jesus and his disciples came to Beth Saida. Some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch and heal him." - Mark 8:22
SNR Israel's video from the first dig in August 2018
SNR Israel's video from the second dig with more exciting discoveries
Continue to Part 29 - click here
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