Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes here. The church that is built on the site where the miracle happened has a very famous mosaic from the Byzantine Era. It depicts two fish and a large basket filled with bread. The mosaic is on the floor right in front of the altar. The area is roped off so you can't get too near but the picture we have is pretty good. We were standing in front of the altar listening to our guide and trying to get a picture. Another family came up beside us to take pictures. Usually you would not think twice about this. However, this family must have been from the West Bank, at least our guide thought this. The young boys/men, there were three of them, all were carrying automatic rifles. The boys were ages 15-20. They were dressed like any normal young teenage boys and seeing the rifles slung over their shoulders just seemed odd not scary. For us, it took away from the reason we were there to visit the church because we were so surprised that the people that "run" the church allowed them to come into the parking lot, not to mention the church with these rifles. We were not at all threatened by their appearance or the guns which as I am writing this seems really bizarre. Why weren't we scared? They were a family on a tour with large guns. Oddly enough, we saw the same family again when we went to see another site later in the day and there was a big sign of things you are not supposed to do like: no dogs, no flash, no touching, and NO GUNS. They must have missed the sign.
On the way out we saw a ground cover and could not resist taking the picture. Our guide had already gone to cool off the car, so we could not ask him. However, at home we call this plant a "Wandering Jew". Sorry, could not pass up the photo. We will ask him tomorrow what they call the plant here, maybe the same?
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