Nazareth

Nazareth, home of Jesus of, is now a sizable Arab city that draws off of its history. The streets were full of tourists wearing funny hats, including some German guys of high school age wearing white mesh hats with a solar powered fan built into the brim and directed at their faces. You get the impression that the tour buses pass through everyday, drop off their human cargo for an afternoon, before continuing on to another site of historical importance; all of this while the residents calmly look on. Admittedly, this is precisely what we did.

We made an effort to find Mount Precipice and were told by the security guard at a strip mall that we had to cut through a fence and then hike up a trash-strewn slope to get to the small chapel at the top. Standing up there, looking at what could have easily been a strip-mall in Rochester (complete with Office Depot and Ace Hardware!) on one side, the modern Arab town on the other, and the ancient chapel straight before us did make for a moment of strong cognitive dissonance though one that is representative of Israel as a whole.

Travels - Israel - Nazareth