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.

Day Hike in South Golan Heights.

While in Europe the cold weather front is taking a toll we are experiencing the most beautiful climate at this time,it is cold crispy and the skies are perfect blue, of course there is a downside to this   and is a luck of rain but as one said before “we can not control the weather so why waist energy on the issue ?” and so we did not and took advantage of this lovely day to hike 8 miles along the MEZARR Wadi in South Golan Heights.

The bus collected the hiking group starting at 630AM and at 8AM off loaded us at the starting point,we carried the breakfast ,lunch and water with us all the way and eat on the route.

During the day the wind changed as we climbed and we had to peal and add clothing like an onion.

This hiking group exists more than 15 years with more or less the same people,so it is always great to meet old friends on these occasions.

The Golan Heights are blessed with gorgeous mountain views and few waterfalls that are beautiful to watch in the spring after the rain and the melting snow from Hermon Mountain that has its South sloops in Israel and the North sloops in Lebanon.

We are  winter “seasonal” hikers because for the last 10 years we RV in N.America every summer with our 5W and are happy to find the “balance” between our HOME in Israel and our “Home on wheels” in North America,lets hope this will last for many more years….We arrived at home at 8PM after a great day, tired but happy and are looking forward for the next day trip at the end of this month,this does not mean that I am not working on our 11th RV trip that will start in late May and that will be fun too….

Till we meet again.

A DAY TRIP TO GOLAN HIEGHTS

As we spend summers traveling with our 5W in North America  we try to catch up with our local travels during the winters.

Usually the winters are quite mild in this part of the world so  clear skies and crispy days are very common here that makes the outdoors activities very attractive.

All you have to do is be dressed as an “ONION” meaning layers of clothes that can be taken of or added accordingly to the weather changes,the trail has to dry and not muddy after a heavy rain ,add to it good company , good mood and you are set to go.

Our tour bus picked us up at 6AM and others on the route to South Golan Heights to Gamla and ancient Synagogues.

If you are interested to read about one of the most heroic battles (even more than Masada) go to  http://www.jewishmag.com/40mag/gamla/gamla.htm  and read all about it.

The trip ended at 8PM but till then we hiked around 7 miles on a beautiful day (a little hazy) and visited 3 ancient synagogues ,Gamla and had a surprise birthday party to one of our friends during the lunch break.

The tour guide was very informative and gave us the feeling that we are experiencing the old times and the events as they happened.

Till we meet again…