It’s really a lake, but whatever you call this Galilee waterway, lots of fun and educational activities lure visitors. ISRAEL21c gives you the top 10.
Did you know that Israel’s famous Sea of Galilee is actually a lake? It’s had a variety of names since biblical times, but in Israel it’s called Lake Kinneret, and it holds several distinctions: the largest freshwater reservoir in Israel, the only natural freshwater lake in Israel and the lowest freshwater lake in the world.
(The only lower lake is the Dead Sea, also in Israel.)
No matter what you call it, the Kinneret is the focal point of the Galilee. Its cool waters are surrounded by both sandy and rocky beaches, kibbutzim – including the very first one, Degania (“Cornflower”) — and a huge assortment of historic, natural, archeological, recreational and religious attractions that bring in visitors from all over the world.
On our top 10 list of places to explore around the Kinneret, we have not included the many significant Christian sites. Watch for a list of those places to visit on ISRAEL21c at a later time.
6. Kibbutz Degania Aleph and Bet (A and B)
Degania Aleph’s Gordon House, founded in 1935, was one of the first nature museums in Israel. Its artifacts date back to prehistoric times until the beginning of Zionism. It has a diverse taxidermy collection, films about the local nature and settlement of the area and an archeological display. And there are personal items and letters from A.D. Gordon, a pioneer hero of the “Second Aliyah,” the second wave of immigration from Russia between 1904 and 1914. (04-675-0040)
Go over to neighboring Degania Bet, founded in 1920, for a three-hour chocolate-making workshop at Galita Chocolate Farm, a factory and retail outlet housed in a former cowshed. Proprietress Galit Alpert also runs a coffee bar where you can sample her homemade ice cream. (04-675-5608)
7. The Yigal Alon Center, a.k.a. “The Jesus Boat Museum”
Located at Kibbutz Ginosar, this museum has a separate hall housing the so-called “Jesus boat” – a 2,000-year-old craft of eight meters long that was discovered in the 1980s when a drought in Israel caused the water level in the Kinneret to fall dramatically. The center’s other galleries trace the history of civilization and nature in the area, and showcase artworks made by Arabs and Jews of the Galilee. Alon was a founding member of the kibbutz, an active participant in the pre-state settlement movement, an officer in the Palmach and a government minister. (04-672-7700)
8. Circle the lake
You can walk or bike around the Sea of Galilee on the new 60-kilometer Shvil Sovev Kinneret. Rent a cycle and begin the route at Kibbutz HaOn and continue past the Degania Dam to Kibbutz Kinneret.
Not into pumping your legs? Try Jordan Carriages, a horse-drawn trip in the southern Jordan River area accompanied by local lore and songs; hire a jeep or ATV guide; or hop on the free “Around the Sea of Galilee” bus line, which run from Tiberias to all of the Kinneret beaches. (*55477).
9. Kibbutz Ein Gev
A Kibbutz Experience train takes visitors through the kibbutz, which offers lakeside guesthouses on the eastern shore of the Kinneret. The 30-minute guided tour explains how the kibbutz, founded in 1937 by a group including Teddy Kollek, future mayor of Jerusalem, weathered attacks from Syria until the Six-Day War.
At Saba (“Grandpa”) Yosi’s Workshop on the harbor, kids and parents may build (or buy) wooden toys and climb the pirate ship built by Saba Yosi. Also on the kibbutz is the 200 Art Gallery and the House of Anchors museum, boasting a unique collection of fishing-related artifacts found around the lake area from the past 3,000 years
10. Sound-and-light show on the lake
A 15-minute, state-of-the-art multimedia presentation is shown free of charge every evening on the southern end of the Tiberias lakeside promenade. Four shows projected onto two huge water screens colorfully highlight the development of the area, accompanied by classical music. You’ll see dancing fountains styled on the famous one at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas; pyrotechnics screened onto jets of water reaching 30 feet into the night sky; and a laser show. Catch the action at 8:30, 9:30 or 10 p.m.
Originally from here
Posted on Shalom Adventure by: Barbara Zaremsky
