Come to Israel, Day 4, 2019 continues.

By the time the bus was fixed, the rain had stopped, so we continued to Mount Tabor and the site of the transfiguration.  We passed a Bedouin community/village which Leo pointed out to us was the area where Jesus had left the rest of his disciples and took “just the three up with Him”.  

Our bus struggled to get about two-thirds up the mountain.  It was a serious climb to the parking lot!

From there we jumped into vans that took us the rest of the way up. There was no process to this, and many people who were already waiting jumped onto our vans with us, which was fine, but delayed us from all getting to the top!

Finally we all arrived at the very top of the mountain, very high above the fields below, and capped by the “Church of the Mount”.

We walked toward the church, Leo told us that the front three towers of the church (built by Antonio Barluzzi) represent Moses, Jesus and Elijah.

He also made sure we knew that Barluzzi was responsible for the entire design and the paintings, too.

Outside the church a plaque on the wall showed the image of Antonio Barluzzi and gave honor to him and his designs of this church.

The church was built on several levels, with a very impressive painting of Jesus’s transfiguration above the altar.

While mass was taking place in the main santuary, we checked out the side altars, above…

St. Anthony Chapel on the left,

and Our Lady holding Jesus on the right.

and Our Lady holding Jesus on the right.

Because a mass was being said, We walked silently through the massive church, quietly sneaking pictures.

We regrouped outside, wandering through the courtyard and the area around the church, where the views from the Mount were breathtaking!   

We could see Cana and all of the Jezreel valley below. 

By now the vans were back, so we headed back to our bus, excited to be going to our next stop, Capernaum!