A visit to the City of Jesus and Nazareth

Ok so times going quite quick and we have already just finished another weekend! To start with Thursday we had Weitzman school which is right by the sea and has some nice views from the classroom. Thursday was a really nice day, warm with blue skies and sun. We coached outside from 8am-2pm with Avi who also came to help translate etc. He told us how alot of children recognise him at the schools and he even met one of his old school teachers at the school, he also showed us a couple of tricks he had in his bag which hopefully he'll teach me soon, me and Denys then decided to do some magic with the camera. We had a short break and decided to go and get a drink and something to eat, we found a Russian bakery which was fairly cheap and had great pastries with a variety of fillings from potato to chocolate and apple, will definatly be going back next week on the short break for more! later on the P.E teacher told us how the boys had recently won a Basketball tournament and the girls came 3rd so the whole school gathered for a trophy presentation in the playground, we did notice that he was wheeling out a big speaker and microphone during one of the lessons but didnt ask what for, we were also called up to the podium to say a few words about what we were doing and answer some questions from the children.

Before the ceremony

The boys and girls teams with their trohpies and medals

Denys and Avi

Where did that sneaky magician go?



In the evening we had 2 friendship houses scheduled from 5-9pm. The first one we only had around 8 people who weren't very interested in the coaching and just wanted to play games, like we told them if they only want to play games then they can get a ball and play anywhere, hopefully next week we'll have some younger children who would enjoy and benefit from the training more. Friendship houses can also be tough with older children as we don't understand the language and if we need to put something across to them then it also gets lost in translation.

The session from 7:30-9pm was cancelled as we arrived to the pitches but both pitches were taken, we found out you cant book the pitch so you just turn up and hope nobody is there, we met Effi the guy in charge of the group and he drove us to another pitch nearby with the same set up but that was also taken so after alot of time driving round in the car eventually they decided to cancel it till next week when hopefully one of the pitches will be free again.

Friday was a bit of a dead day we just stayed in and rested before going to Uri Buri Restaurant later on where we had the same tasting session as last week so we got our favourite caramelised fish and other dishes again, just like last time the food was excellent and we're looking forward to next weeks!

Saturday we woke up to excellent sunshine again! We met Danny at 11:30 who took us on another tour, this time we wen't to The Sea Of Galilee (which is actually a lake) and Capharnaum (City of Jesus). We took a short drive from one Church to another which all had special things to do with the Bible such as where Jesus walked on water, where he fed 5000 people with only 2 fish and 5 loafs of bread, each place and had something to do with the miracles he performed. We also saw one of the old towns with parts of the houses that were left built from volcanic rock. I forgot to mention along the way we also stopped off for a quick drink and bite to eat where we sat outside with fabulous views of the sea, very peaceful and quiet, something you dont get if you stop off for a drink on the M25!

Where we stopped off for a drink

Inside an Orthodox church

Looking out to the sea

We then headed to Nazareth, on the way we stopped at a Lebanese restaurant which had great meat, we hada nice meal then set off on our way again. We finally got to Nazareth, the place where Jesus grew up. We went to an orthodox church then to a huge Catholic church which is built on top of the remains of an old Crusader church. it is believed by both religions that in one of these churches is where the Archangel Gabriel appeared and told Mary of her preganancy and the future of the child she would have. The Catholic church is huge and looks more like a castle from the outside, inside and out they also have many mosaics from different countries around the world.

Entrance to the church

The Grotto of the Annunciation under the Basilica is said to be the site where the Archangel Gabriel appeared and told Mary of her pregnancy and the future of the child she would have.

Obviously from today we had loads of pictures so I've just picked out a few but it was a great day and we visited alot of historic places. We did visit the Orthodox church where its also believed the Angel appeared to tell Mary of her preganancy but my camera battery had died by the time we got there so Danny took some on his phone, the Church was actually closed when we got there but Danny spoke to the guy in charge there and managed to arrange it so only we were allowed in for a few minutes to take a look around, once again it was very decorative inside.

Once again thank you for reading and follow the blog for more future updates.