HOLYLAND PILGRIMAGE: Day 9 Leaving Galilee, Carmel and Elijah, Joppa

We leave Tiberias climbing sharply and getting views of Galilee alternately on each side of the coach. The now familiar prayer for the area and for the day occupying much of our ascent. Everyone is pleased that Ali is again driving us.

We soon descend into the Plain of Jezreel known as the bread-basket of the region. We pass a turn for the Bedouin Soldier Memorial, a reminder that Bedouins will fight with Israeli forces. The Carmel Hills are soon visible and Ali points out the hilltop monastery we are headed for. But before that, a drive through Haifa which slowly, slowly, winds through Downtown where much reconstruction is taking place. Then a turn uphill takes us to a hilltop viewpoint that overlooks the second most sacred Bahai shrine, gold domed and surrounded by beautifully laid out gardens.

Property, much of it new, seems to be creeping its way up Mount Carmel but eventually gives way to something like heathland as we approach the Muhraqa Carmelite Monastery that is located onthe site of Elijah's victory over the prophets of Baal. We hear the story as we approach and pray to resist the idols in our own lives. Stunning views from the balcony of the Monastery but there are loud unidentifiable explosions in the distance which remind us once again of the fragility of peace in the Holy Land today (might have been quarrying or military exercises but impossible to know: however none of our guides seemed alarmed and they have been consistently careful for our safety.) 

On the way down our attention is drawn to Druze communities before we mingle with the traffic of Tel Aviv with its modern and fast-developing seafront with Jaffa (Joppa) at its far end. Joppa was historically the port of the area out of which has grown the more important and more secular town of Tel Aviv. (Jerusalem prays and Tel Aviv plays). But we are bound for Joppa from where Peter was called to Caesarea and our last lunch together as we then head to the airport.

This 9 day pilgrimage account has perhaps Been more of a travelogue -but even achieving that has been demanding when working with the difficulty of right compensation of every note. Over the next few days/ weeks, I will endeavour to amplify these notes with the Bible readings we have listened to at each stop: all the readings were supported by appropriate and frequently poignant prayers. With guides well attuned to the political situation in Israel, I guess it can hardly be otherwise.

Many thanks to McCabe Pilgrimages, The Revd Mauren Allchin, our principal guide and Bishop Stephen of Ely for a thoroughly memorable twelve days in all and to also Saeed, our remarkably well-informed and Biblically literate Palestinian Christian co-leader. There was a final marvel of this trip. The evening of a bank holiday Sunday is a remarkable time to fly into Heathrow; it was amost completely deserted. Ben, our fellow-pilgrim who has a Nigerian passport and therefore expected that we would have to wait for him before the bus could leave, amost literally strolled through passport control, as did the rest of us. Indeed, no queue at all, straight to the passport officer's booth and through. Amazing!

Hopefully, some further poetry will flow out from this time in the Land of Our Lord as the memories arise when looking at photos, of which those on this blog are but a tiny fraction.

You may also like to read A Further Day in Tiberias
A poetic postscript At Galilee
Day 7 including reflection on Transfiguration and the Golan Heights
OR
Return to main Pilgrimage Index for further reflections and index of poems arising from the pilgrimage