The Galilee region of Israel is home to a variety of Christian and Jewish religious sites since it was home to a number of ancient Jewish holy figures and where Jesus began his apostate. Holy sites include:

• The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes (also known as the Church of the Multiplication) in Tabgha, which stands on the site of fourth- and fifth- century churches and has preserved an early Christian mosaic, as well as the traditional stone on which the miraculous meal was said to have been laid.

• The Church of the Primacy of Peter, commemorating the newly risen Jesus’ reinstatement of Peter after a fish breakfast on the shore with the words “Feed my sheep.” This is the event for which the modern church is named.

• The Mount of Beatitudes, the traditional site of Jesus’ delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. The Church of the Beatitudes stands in the general area and the ruins of a small church dating to the late fourth century has been discovered downhill from the present church.

• Capernaum, an ancient fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, home to the house where Jesus healed a paralytic and St. Peter’s mother-in-law. Capernaum was Jesus’ main base during his Galilean ministry and is referred to in the New Testament as Jesus’ “own city” and a place where “he lived,” probably because it was the home of his first converts, Peter and Andrew. Here, too, is where he began to preach and where Jesus healed a centurion’s servant and many others who were brought to him, as well as the town Jesus had set out from with his disciples when he calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee.

• Cana—its modern name is Kafr Kanna— regarded as the site of Jesus’ first miracle turning water into wine at a wedding. There’s a small Franciscan wedding church there with two levels—the upper has a chapel and in the lower there’s also a chapel and small museum with artifacts from the site, including a winepress, a plastered cistern and vessels of various dates. One jar is said to be one of the six jars used for the miracle.

• Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, is under the control of the Palestinian National Authority, which initiated a program of economic recovery and tourism, with the town’s main draw, the fourth century Church of the Nativity, built over the site of Jesus’ birth. Underneath is the Grotto of the Nativity, a rectangular cavern reputed to be the site of Christ’s birth since at least the second century. A silver star in the floor marks the very spot where Christ is believed to have been born and across from the birthplace shrine is the Chapel of the Manger.

• Rachel’s Tomb, located outside of Bethlehem in the West Bank. This is the burial place of the Biblical matriarch Rachel, wife of Jacob. For Jews, it is the third holiest site after the Temple Mount and the Tomb of the Patriarchs and an important place of Jewish pilgrimage, especially for Jewish women unable to give birth. The site consists of a rock with 11 stones upon it,one for each of the 11 sons of Jacob who were alive when Rachel died in childbirth.

• Nazareth, hometown of Christ, is also the home of the Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation, which stands over the traditional site of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would give birth to the savior of the world. Orthodox tradition, however, says it occurred while Mary was fetching water so St. Gabriel’s, a 17th century Orthodox church, is built over the spring that feeds the ancient Mary’s Well, believed to be the well from which Mary and the young Jesus drew water.