Israel is an absolutely beautiful place when you aren't just driving through it at night!
Today we started with a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee from our room. Then followed a great breakfast at the hotel, full buffet all hot food and cold salads. No crappy Belgian waffle and microwaveable eggs in Israeli hotels.
We then left the hotel to experience a brutally cold Israeli winter.... also known as 50 degrees Fahrenheit. We ended up getting lucky today and as the day progressed it got even warmer and the clouds/haze disappeared.
We then took a bus ride with gorgeous views of the hills in Israel, all surprisingly green, with a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee to Jeeps to go on a ride through the Golan. On our way to the Jeeps we saw lots of "Danger... Land Mine" signs due to the face that we were in the Golan which was previously an area fought over.
While the Jeep ride itself wasn't that exciting it was nice to get to talk more with some of the people on my trip and the view when we reached our destination was amazing. The mountain we could see directly in front of us, to the left in the picture, used to be Syria but was now part of Israel. Seeing this was important to show how before the land was conquered the Syrians had a strategically important height over Israel.
Matt and I at the Jeep look out
After getting off the Jeeps we took a short drive to the Tel Dan Nature Reserve. Here we walked around seeing the Dan River, narrower than the Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County, which is the main water source to the Jordan River. As we walked through we saw ancient remains of an altar where sacrifices occurred. While stopping to talk, I noticed green parrots in the trees which are an invasive species, yet beautiful.
We walked a bit farther and all of a sudden our tour guide went oh yeh... there's Lebanon. We the looked over the border, which you can't tell exists. All was quiet and we could see a Lebanese town just about 2-3 miles away. I learned that as of now the border is quiet and has been for a while especially since Lebanon is dealing with ISIS. However, we did see the Israeli military base on the mountain right next to where we were.
Lebanon is the city visible at the top of the picture, white buildings
After the nature reserve, we took a break for lunch at a mall. Unfortunately it took the whole break to get my food so I didn't get to explore the mall much. However the wait was with it and I had chicken, Humus, and a spicy tomato salad in a lapa, like a thick tortilla (think an Israeli burrito).
After lunch we ascended Mount Bental. It was a bit colder up there, maybe even the low 40s-high 30s. While on top of this mountain we could see most of Mount Harmon, which is the tallest mountain in Israel and nicknamed the "eyes of Israel" since there are many intelligence posts there. We could also see Syria, which was also only about 2 miles away. The border here was also very unclear. In fact, Damascus, the capital of Syria, was only 179 miles away. The mountain we were on is in the Golan Heights, which is the only time Birthright crosses into "occupied territory". This fact makes the mountain a crucial point for military strategy as well as the rest of the Golan Heights since with Israeli cannons they could hit the Syrian capital from there if needed in a war and the Syrians could hit local towns in Israel if they had control.
We talked a lot about the curre
nt conflict in Syria even hearing some explosions from the country while standing on the mountain. One very interesting thing I learned about the Syrian-Israeli relationship was how the Israeli army is called the IDF, Israeli DEFENSE Forces, meaning they don't start war they just defend themselves. Another interesting point brought up was how Israel has hospitals on the border to help those injured, normally in return for intelligence.
After a short walk through a bunker we returned back to the hotel for dinner followed by a discussion. The discussion was really interesting to see everyone's take on the day as well as what everyone's Jewish background and journey was to get them here. The discussion made me think a lot about my background and how I relate to my Judaism, something I wish to think more about for the remainder of the trip.
A big point brought up today is that Israel is the Jewish homeland and we are returning home to it 3000 years after the Israelites were last here. Everything we see is ours or at least a great*10 relative's. It's an interesting thought and the more I am here the more Israel does, as corny as it sounds, feel like home and I am proud of what the little country has accomplished.
That's all for now, good night!
Great post Laura! I'm excited that I can vicariously experience the Birthright trip through your blog. I didn't know that you would be venturing areas so close to war-ridden places. Have you ever felt unsafe on your trip yet? And out of curiosity, are there really still landmines there, or are the signs just leftover from previous conflict (similar to how construction workers always seem to take months to take down their signs after finishing a job)? Anyway, I hope you are having a great time!
ReplyDeleteI haven't felt unsafe at all but it was a bit surreal to see a military guy walking down the street with a big gun yesterday. The land mines are in fact still there. Our tour guide was telling us they were placed there during war and pretty much forgotten about, especially in the Golan Heights. If you see the signs in Israel you just don't walk there and there aren't issues.
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