Day 5:Golan Heights

So part of our trip is spent in the Golan Heights, which is the Northern corner of Israel, that goes up to Mount Hermon (about 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee) and borders the East side of the Sea of Galilee and goes to the Syrian border. It's a beautiful area, high above the Sea of Galilee and as I mentioned in the last post, the place we are staying, Peace Vista, is located right on the edge of Sea of Galilee, overlooking the lake about 12oo feet above it...can you say GORGEOUS?!!!

We all have a little cabin, and daily they bring us breakfast in a little basket, with lots of food. We have a full kitchen and each has it's own hot tube in the room...I know what your thinking, "Can we just stay here?" Well, no...but it's wonderful while we're here!

As I mentioned, this place is a Kibbutz (there are about 240 Kibbutizm running in Israel) which can be anywhere from fully communal to more of a co-op with a variety even in that...

We started day 5 (Thursday) with a little tour of some of the left overs from the Syrian occupation still left on the Kibbutz. There is a picture of a lookout bunker. The land around this area is littered with land mines, so there are signs in many places warning not to wander...yikes!

We then went to an ancient city called Gamla, which is a word for camel because where the city was, it looks like a camel's back. This city suffered a similar fate as Masada in the South, but is far less known. When the Roman besieged it, the people stood as long as they could but when they realized there was no way out, they jumped off a tall cliff at the top of the hill to their deaths...

We then traveled to a place where the Yom Kippur war took place back in October of 1973. Again, we went to a Kibbutz that hosted a video with some of the tank operators of that war. This particular battalion was out numbered by Syrian tanks 10 to 1, and they told their stories of courage and survival...very powerful.

On a lighter note, as you can see from the picture of the car coming at us, the roads were a little narrow at times and it seemed like we were playing chicken with oncoming traffic...we passed another tour bus and I thought we were going to lose our side view mirror!

Then you can also tell the Israelis have a sense of humor by the underwear they had on display for purchase...:) Jeff looks like he is ready to join the IDF right now!:)

Really an interesting morning, and I know it seems like there was a lot of death...but we were now off to lunch...so that can't be bad...can it?:)