For the first time in days the parents didn't wake me up!! Although did wake up at 4:51 (which sadly I couldn't partake in last night due to the Holocaust Memorial day), but got back to sleep and woke up again at 6am.
Drove north and crossed the Jordan river (looking at the photos you'd think it was a river somewhere in Australia).
Crossing the Jordan River
Stopped first at Bethsaida, which is a ruin town on the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee (at least it *used* to be on the edge - it's silted up since biblical times, so the edge is a few kilometres away now).
Excavations at Bethsaida
Stone chair at Bethsaida
Photo by Mum
View towards what used to be the Sea of Galilee but has now been silted up
Then we headed north, going to the top of Mt Bental, which overlooks Syria. There were some foxholes and bunkers you would walk around so that was pretty cool, and the view was spectacular.
Storks near the side of the road
Mount Bental (left) and Mount Avital (right)
Looking north over Bental Reservoir towards the Mount Hermon ranges
Photo by Dad
Dinosaur sculpture on Mount Bental
Soldier iron cutouts on Mt Bental with Mt Hermon ranges in the background
City signpost with soldier iron cutouts on Mt Bental with Mt Hermon ranges in the background
View east from Mount Bental
Bunkers on Mt Bental with Mt Hermon ranges in the background
View north to the Mt Hermon ranges
Trenches at Mount Bental
Photo by Dad
Inside a bunker tunnel
View from inside the bunker towards Syria
View towards Mount Avital
Photo by Mum
Continued north west over some mountains.
Israeli countryside looking towards Ein Qiniyye
Photo by Dad
Next stop was Caesarea Philippi which had some springs that are some of the starts of the Jordan river, as well as the remnants of a bunch of old temples.
Caesarea Philippi
Photo by Dad
Springs at Caesarea Philippi
Springs at Caesarea Philippi
Grotto of Pan
Caesarea Philippi
Photo by Dad
Caesarea Philippi
Photo by Dad
Caesarea Philippi
Caesarea Philippi
Excavations at Caesarea Philippi
Continued on, coming very close to the border with Lebanon and driving past minefields.
Minefield warning sign
Defense line road in northern Israel
Had lunch in a restaurant near Dafna. Their specialty was trout, which was nice once you could get past all the bones, but too much food, a lot of which got wasted because there was too much for us all to eat. :(
Trout at Daphna Fish Store
Then back to Tel Dan, another ruin city and another Jordan spring (which was a raging torrent of water due to the heavy winter they've had here). The old city wall was pretty cool and there was even the remnants of a chair in the city gate that the king would likely have sat in. A little way around from this was a city gate made out of mudbricks, which is something like 3500 years old!
The Dan River
Kids in the pool in Tel Dan Reserve
Photo by Dad
Ancient wall in Tel Dan
Entrance square at Tel Dan
Tel Dan
Lizard at Tel Dan
Dad at the entrance to Tel Dan
Mum in Tel Dan
Photo by Dad
Tel Dan
Photo by Mum
The Canaanite Gate at Tel Dan
And then back to the hotel. Went down to the lake to document it because the water was so blue. Then got caught up on news feeds (or at least to the point that if I don't have internet again before I get to London Google won't delete them on me).
Sea of Galilee at Nof Ginosar
Tiberias from Nof Ginosar
Distance covered on the GPS: 163.7km
Steps walked: 13080
Photos on the Canon: 444
Photos on the Sony: 15
Videos: 26
NIS Spent: 15