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1: Unique journeys to God
When 45 people meet at Johannesburg airport to embark on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Italy (with travel-imposed stop-overs in Cairo), they are certain to have 45 different reasons and expectations. Some came for purposes of devotion and to obtain (or, if they had been to the Holy Land before, relive) the spiritual benefits of a pilgrimage, others to accompany a parent or spouse. Whatever the aim, rarely is a pilgrim left entirely untouched by the experience.
2: Graces in Galilee
The area around the Sea of Galilee (or Sea of Gennesaret, as the evangelist Luke called it) is my favourite part in a Holy Land itinerary. Here, around the lowest freshwater lake in the world, Jesus performed much of his public ministry. And this is also the area where eleven of the Twelve hailed from. Indeed, it was Peter’s Galilean accent that drew the suspicion of the bystanders at the high priest’s palace on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion the night Jesus was betrayed (by, of course, the one non-Galilean disciple).
3: Where rank will not impress
The road to the magnificent Barluzzi-designed church atop Mount Tabor — the site of the transfiguration — snakes and winds by way of a succession hairpin bends. Tour buses cannot reach the summit. Pilgrims must therefore pile into taxis. Recently most of these have been upgraded; 8-seater minibuses replacing the old limousine Mercedes cabs. New vehicles notwithstanding, the Mt Tabor cabbies have retained their idiosyncracies. The taxi I took on the way up was specially modified to compensate for the driver’s missing left arm (a limb that ordinarily comes in handy when steering around the sharp bends). One-handedly our driver navigated the treacherous road with admirable dexterity. Without a doubt he’d do so with equal ease while engaging in the evidently mandatory activity of the Holy Land cabbie: smoking.
4: Inside a walled ghetto
Bethlehem means “the house of bread”, and here, the Gospel tells us, the Bread of Life was born. And here, daily bread is denied to many as a direct result of the policies of the state of Israel.
5: Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives is my favourite part of Jerusalem. This was where Jesus would make his home when visiting the Holy City, where he was arrested, and from where he ascended.
6: Waiting for ladder to fall
Occasionally I am asked about my favourite place in the Holy Land. It is a difficult question to answer. For me, there are three: the entire area around the Sea of Galilee (but especially Capernaum), the church of All Nations at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and the church of St Peter in Gallicantu on Mount Zion.
7: A vision that changed history
Our time in the Holy Land was slowly winding down. For a week we followed in the footsteps of Jesus, as the indispensable cliché goes — and, indeed, in those of St Peter, to whom this pilgrimage was dedicated. So it was fitting that our penultimate destination in the Holy Land should be Jaffa, whence Peter sailed to Rome.
8: Rome’s loveliest basilica
When St Peter left the lands of his birth for the city of his death, he departed by boat from Jaffa, which today is a suburb of Tel Aviv. Our group of 45 left for Rome from Tel Aviv — albeit by plane and via a detour over Cairo.
9: St Peter’s basilica at its best and worst
As one prepares to visit Rome for the first time, one may expect that the highpoint would be St Peter’s basilica, an architectural marvel packed with priceless artworks, an indigestible amount of Church history, countless altars catering for virtually any entrenched Catholic devotion, and lots of dead popes (including, of course, St Peter — patron of our pilgrimage — whose bones are said to rest beneath the main altar).
10: The pope, in the flesh
At breakfast on Wednesday morning in Rome, our group of 45 pilgrims seemed a little more animated than usual. This was the day we were going to see the pope.
