The Amazing North

Shalom!

 On Tuesday morning we set out from the lovely town of Akko and started to head up the coast. The first place we stopped was actually the farthest north you can go on the coast of Israel, Rosh HaNikrah. We took "the steepest cable car in the world" down the cliffs to sea level, but it only lasted about two minutes and was going at a very slow pace. When we went down in the Grottos, caves carved out by the sea, and the water was beautiful. Abba, Henny, and I all wanted to jump in that beautiful water, but it was a little ruff, plus it was restricted waters.

 

In the "Grottos"

Then we hit two more stops, the Ghetto Fighters museum and Yeheyam Castle. The museum was a holocaust museum, which was very sad and interesting. They had a whole exhibit dedicated to the warsaw ghetto fighters, which I had not known about at all. Only so few of the millions of Jews actually resisted, and they met horrible ends. I certainly respect the memory of those men and woman. Abba, Henny, Sarah, and I got trapped in a small exhibit dedicated to those who hid Jews by a group of 30 or so Israeli school children sitting on the floor, and it was at least 15 minutes until we decided to stop waiting and just go through them.

The only picture we took, a letter of a man captured after helping Jews.

 Yeheyam (I do not know how to spell that) was very cool, an old crusaders castle.

I don't know how Henny ends up in all my photos :)

View from top

 

 

 After that, Abba drove us on a very beautiful road that curved among the north side of the country. We were very close to the Lebanese border, so close that at one point the border fencing was just on the side of the road. The mountains were very dramatic; deep ravines, steep slopes, many trees, and the color green was abundant. The roads were also steep and had many sharp turns, some of them hairpins. Israelis like to drive fast and dangerous.



Hardly distinguishable mountains

 

 

 

 



We ended the day down right below the Golan Heights, after stopping for some falafel. As you might have figured out, we have been eating a LOT of falafel, but who can blame us, it is delicious!

 

The next day, Wednesday, was also very full. Our first stop was Nimrod's castle, which is the most impressive castle ruins in Israel that we have visited to date. If you haven't figured it out already, I absolutely LOVE archeology. I just want to continue to excavate all these places, and we know there is more to be discovered in so many places. The scale of the castle is just huge, and I loved going down the spiral staircases to where the archers would be.

 

 

 

 

 Then we managed to get lost driving in two Druze villages, and were just driving through them aimlessly. My sisters were much too scared to stop out for food, and I wouldn't be surprised if we missed the best food in Israel. Ah well.

All the women were dressed like this, and there was a whole lot of them.

 

We headed over to the Banias falls area, where many tour groups were and Israeli school kid field trips. The first part led by a place Yeshua went (some Roman area) and the foresty area reminded me of a hotter northwest. There we found some orange trees, but the orange tasted more like a lemon and was full of seeds. Perhaps that's what a non-genetically modified orange tastes like. Also, apparently the tribe of Dan had some settlements there, near the springs.  

 At the second hike (Henny and Sarah stayed up at the parking lot because it was too hot) we went down to a simply gorgeous river. Abba and I so wanted to jump in and swim or go up it, but it wasn't allowed! The clear water was just sitting there, torturing us by not letting us join in its beauty. Or that's how I felt. The waterfall was cool though.

The only picture I took, which barely shows the beauty at all.

 

 So ended our day out and about! This was quite the long blog post, and kudos if you were able to read this far!!! I just want to mention that Henny and Sarah have been having to treat me like a four year old child. They are constantly telling me to "Don't climb up there!" "Ella, you can't go there!" "Stop it!" "What the heck are you doing?" because I am often climbing up into places in castles, or jumping down to investigate holes and what not.

 To summarize, Saba has seen enough ruins for a lifetime, my family cannot get enough of Archeology (I even dreamed I was unearthing the bones of a sabertooth cat), and the North is simply beautiful and lush.

 

Shabbat Shalom,

 

Ella