Day Trip to Snir River

 

Snir River is one of the rivers that runes into the Jordan River from the North and is a part of the Banias Natural Reserve.

It was a hot day so we decided to take a hike in a cooling shady area and nothing fit us more that the beautiful Snir River.

Hermon Stream (Banias) Nature Reserve

The Banias Spring emerges at the foot of Mount Hermon and flows powerfully through a canyon for 3.5 km, eventually leading to the Banias Waterfall, the most impressive cascade in Israel. Nine kilometers from its source, the Hermon Stream meets the Dan, and together they form the Jordan River.

A stepped path near the spring climbs to the Banias Cave. Nearby, five niches carved into the cliff wall are a remnant of the temple to Pan, which gave the site its name: Paneas or Pameas (pronounced Banias in Arabic). Remains of a temple built by Herod the Great stand in front of the cave. After Herod’s death, his son Philip inherited this area, and in 2 BCE Philip founded his capital near the Banias Spring, calling it Caesarea Philippi.

Caesarea Philippi became an important Christian pilgrimage destination as the place where Jesus asked the disciples who people said he was. The New Testament records that Peter answered: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then blessed Simon, saying: “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:16-19).

A 45-minute loop trail passes Roman- and Crusader-period sites. The marked trail to the waterfall takes about 90 minutes. About 150 m along that trail, it crosses the Govta Stream under a Roman bridge. It continues to the hydroelectric power station and the reconstructed, water-powered Matroof flour mill, where Druze pita with labaneh (goat cheese) is for sale. The Officers Pool, 350 m farther along, now a habitat for Capoeta damascena fish, was used by Syrian officers before 1967.

The bus collected at 6AM the group along the way from the central part of the country towards Golan Hiegths in the North and only after 3 hours we were already at a view point having breakfast.

                             

The DRUZ village below was our next stop,as the Druz do not have a country they adopt the life style of the country they live in keeping their secret Religion only to the Droz real believers, most of their people live in the Middle East and enjoy freedom  in Israel. 

                                                      

Our next stop was at the Snir River reserve hiking up stream with stops for lunch and cooling of in the clear cool waters along the way .

It was our last seasonal trip with our hiking group we will meet again in October to renew our travels in the country to new and other exiting destinations.

I believe that our next post will be from Canada after we pick our Rig and start our 12th Summer RV trip in North America.

Till we meet again and thank you for taking the time to visit our blog.