This weekend, the International School took a hiking trip to Safed, the upper Galilee and Mount Hermon. Even though I was pretty exhausted from hiking 40 miles the past weekend, I decided to go along as my time in Israel is coming to a close. You’re probably sick of hearing about me hiking places, so I’ll keep it short!
The first day, we arrived in the village of Safed, one of the four holy cities in Israel, together with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. In the 12th century, Safed was a fortified city in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, and later we got to explore The Knights Hospitaller’s castle. The old part of town consists of narrow cobblestone alleys revealing artists’ galleries, medieval synagogues, private homes and small guest houses. Later in the day, we visited a small Kabalah art gallery. After we fit over 40 people into a room that was meant for maybe 20, we received a lecture from a middle aged woman who one of the artists/employees at this gallery so we could get a better understanding of what Kabbalah is. From what I got,- after a conversation that combined light with not eating meat, with the infinity sign, with bright colors, with meditation, with the Torah, with restrictions on who can study Kabbalah (there aren’t many though, because our generation is full of light) with breathing, among other various blurbs, all in about 15 minutes – made my head spin. After some clarification, Kabbalah seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence, and various other ontological questions. It also presents methods to aid understanding of these concepts and to thereby attain spiritual realization…oh. The paintings were very interesting and beautiful though.
Later in the evening, we camped out under the stars in a relatively commercial campground and made dinner. A game of flag football was started, and later a group of girls and I had a pretty intense soccer match. All of us agreed that it felt like we were in America again! After traveling outside of Israel, I am really thankful to study here, because none of us girls would have been able to have a competitive soccer match anywhere else (especially in shorts!). It was a really great time to say the least, despite how my body felt the day after.
The next day, we hiked down into the Hula Valley and then up an intense climb to the Nimrod Fortress. The fortress or castle was built around 1229 by Al-Aziz Uthman nephew of Saladin and younger son of Al-Adil I, to pre-empt any attempt on Damascus by the Sixth Crusade. It was quite impressive, and from the top of the watchtower you could easily see the Lebanese Border, and we could have seen the Syrian Border if there wasn’t another mountain directly in its path. After seeing the castle, we proceeded to hike in the Banias Springs in The Hermon National Park, which had and ancient Greek/Roman temple, courtyards, a grotto and niches for pagan rituals. Remains of a temple built by Herod the Great stand here, and it is said that after Herod’s death, his son Philip inherited this area in 2 BCE. The rushing water was like a natural air conditioning, and was really refreshing and peaceful to walk by, and since natural rivers are pretty scarce in Israel. This spring is one of 3 tributaries to the Jordan River, one of the major water sources for both Israel and Jordan, which is slowly but surely disappearing from overuse. Near the end of the hike, we got to see a very impressive waterfall, which topped off our trip in the Golan.
This area of Israel is so much different from all of the other places I’ve been, and actually reminds me of home minus all of the mountains. If I had more time here I’d definitely want to hike here more often! Part of me wishes I was staying here for a full year, because even though Israel is such a small country, it sure has a lot to offer.
SR
#mostdefproffesional
Hi Steph,
Just getting caught up on your letters here. I am fascinated by what I have been reading. You have a unique way of sharing your adventures in the way you write them. Take care, and enjoy the time you have left.
Love
Rick
cool hike and awesome picture but what is the little brown creature?