Galilee Day 3: (Hippos), Sea of Galilee, Gergesa, Qasrin, Capernaum

So, our hostel was at En Gev for the 3 nights we were in Galilee.. right on the Sea of Galilee. The NT site of Hippos was eally close by, and our professor said we could climb it to watch the sunrise. This is what happened:
I woke up at 4am this day and walked the long hike to, and then up, Mt. Hippos to see the sunrise. After getting only about 5 hours of sleep, I was tired and the wind was blowing quite hard at times as we made our way up the mountain, making it quite chilly and giving us more resistance. It made the hike seem quite long, although we got from our hostel to the top in an hour and 15 minutes. Once we got there, it had been dusk for a while but we had some time before the sun would come up so we began looking around at the excavations and all the ruins that are up there. There were tons of roman columns as well as millstones and other remains. The sky turned pink and purple on the horizon, but we never did see the sun come up over the hill. It was too hazy to see it. So a little before 6am Matt and myself headed back while the others stayed to continue looking around up top.
We followed the trail down the front of the mountain, as opposed to the paved path, which took us up the back of the mountain. It seemed easy enough, as it wound its way down the front side, left and then right, back and forth. Soon enough, though, we came to a fork in the road. Left, it looked as though it led back up and around Hippos, while the road to the right continued to head down. We chose to go right, which probably wasn’t the “right” choice. It took us down the mountain, yes, but made it a bit more difficult. At one point, a group of cows were grazing on the path, so we climbed down the hill instead of taking our chances of going through them. Once the path hit the bottom, we were in a field, off to the right of the main paved road. Our only option was to take a “beaten path”-looking trail that connected with the road. As we approached the road, we were stopped about 15 yards short by a barbed-wire fence. Luckily, there was a gap in between where two fences met, and we were able to squeeze through. It was about a half hour walk back to the hostel, and already easily 6:45. We had to be on the bus at 7:20 and I knew we wouldn’t have time for breakfast. When we reached the hostel grounds, the wooden fence around the perimeter ended where a line of trees began. We needed to enter here to get our things from our rooms before continuing ahead toward the dining hall and the bus. Unfortunately, there was barbed wire twisted all through the bottoms of the trees. It took a few minutes, but with a few scratches and tears in Matt’s shirt, we managed to slip our way through and back onto the hostel property. It was one of those adventures that you are not ashamed to tell, but that you would not necessarily look back fondly on.
Our first “stop”, the boast ride on the sea of Galilee, was a much- needed relaxing stop. It was a calm day and you can see how easy it would be to take a quick boat ride from one place to another. It was also neat to see how much goes into being a fisherman, while we were on the see of Galilee as well as our stop at Capernaum. There are so many things from mending nets, to separating and selling fish, to just being patient and being out all night long waiting to bring in the nets, that go into the job. It makes for a good illustration which Jesus took advantage of as he called Peter telling him that he will be a “fisher of men.”
Gergesa wasn't much of a place, although it's supposedly where Jesus cast demons out of a man and into the pigs, whereupon they ran into the sea. We also stopped in Qasrin, a Jewish Village in the Roman Empire, and got to see reconstruction of what the houses would look like. it was neat to go inside and realize how little light would be able to come in, and how everything would go on in the same rooms. Oh yea, and we stopped by the Jordan River and got to see the water. woohoo! haha