Beautiful Banias

The Banias Spring flows at the bottom of Mount Hermon and emerges powerfully through a canyon for 3.5 km. Leading down 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 path near the spring goes 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 are 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.

 

At the site of Caesarea Philippi, this is where Yeshua asked his disciples, "Who do men say I am?" This is in Mark chapter  8:27. 27 and Yeshua went with his disciples, to the villiges of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do men say I am?" 28 And they told him, "John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; and others of the prophets." 29 And he asked them, "But who do you say I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 30 And He charged them to tell no one about him.  

Now the beautiful Banias Springs. This is truly the most beautiful path in Israel. It is a breathtaking journey through a cooled path below the normal ground level. If you were up at the parking lot, it was very hot but as soon as you enter the path next to the springs, you are totally cooled down and are in awe. Its absolutely beautiful through the Banais. Its really indescribable…you would have to experience it yourself to fully understand.

A 45-minute loop trail passes Roman and Crusader period sites. The 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.

 









Just from the pictures I bet your saying, wow! It's georges! Your seeing just the pictures, but you havent seen the real thing until you go and see it yourself. :)

Nimrods Fortress

Just a heads up, this Fortress/Palace is not made by Nimrod from the Tower of Babel. Read the history below to find out what happened!


There is SO much history just within the area of Nimrod's Fortress! Okay, I'll tell you the history. It all starts after the battle at the Horns of Hitiin (1187), the Crusaders lost their hold on most of the territory in the Land of Israel. Salah a-Din, who commanded the Ayyubi army in its struggle against the Crusaders, was lord of the land. He and his troops systematically desdtoryed the fortress which fell into theird hands. The Crusaders, however attempted to return and reconquer the Holy Land in subsequent Cresades, but they were able to gain hegemony only on the Coastal Plain and in the Galilee. The Banias area, which also fell to the Muslims, was placed under the governorship of al-'Aziz 'Othan, nephew of Salah a-Din. Intrigues between Sultan el-Kamal in Egypt and his brother al-Moatis, govenor of Damascus, brought about the building of the fortress, and it happened this way in 1227, the army of the German Eperor (Kaisar) Fredrick II arrived in the Holy Land. Sultan el-Kamal provoked the Kaisar to engage his brother in battle, and even gave Jerusalem to the Kaisar. Al-Moatis, who feared that the Crusaders were about to attck Damascus and conquer it, initated construction of the fortress in 1227 with the help of his younger brother al-'Aziz 'Othman, in order to defend the road leading to Damascus. When the danger had passed, the Ayyubids decided to reniforce and to expand it westward. construction continued for about a year and was completed in 1230. In 1253, the Crusaders tried to return and conquer the fortress, nut to no avail. The Mongol invasion of Syria and the Holy Land from Central Asia seven years later brought about the destruction of the fortress. The Mameluke army managed to stop the Mongols at the battle at the 'En Jalud ('Ein Harod), considered to be one of the most important battles, Baybars, named himslef Sultan of Mamelukes and gave the fortress to his second in command, Bilik. The new governor began broad reconsruction activites and actually, the building in his day was the most grandiose ever, and included the semicircular towers. Bilik memorialized his work and glorified the name of his siltan in the impressive incription from 1275. With the surrender of the Crusaders and their final ejection from the Holy Land at the end of the 13th century, the prestige of the fortress diminished. In the 15th century it served as a prison for rebels, but later was abandoned. From that time on, shepered and their flocks would occasionally take shelter in its fastnesses.

Here is a basic description of the Fortress and were it's located. Nimrod Fortress is located on top of a mountain with the scenery on the slopes of Mt. Hermon, ( the ski hill here in northern Israel) atop a ridge at an altitude of 815 meters (2,675 feet) above sea level. The northern slope drops to the north towards the Guvta stream, while the southern slope drops to Wadi a-Naqib. The ridge descends southward toward Banias and rises eastward in the direction of Mt. Hermon. The whole National Park covers an area of 195 dunams (19.5 hectares, 49 acres). Within the park lies the fortress occupying 33 dunams (3.3 hectares, 8 acres) and it's surrounded by olive groves and natural vegetation. Nimrod's Fortress is one of the largest and most impressive fortresses which has survived in the Mid-East since the Middle Ages. The fortress controlled one of the region's main roads, which began in Tyre on the Medditerranean shore and ran through the upper Hula Valley and Banias to Damascus. The Fortress with its long narrow structure, fits in with the special topographic conditions of the area. Its width varies accordingly from 50 meters (165 feet to)150 meters (about 500 feet). Its length is 420 meters (1,380 feet) The fortress is sourrounded by walls and towers. Its really an amazing palce even though only so much of it remains.

The whole entire Fortress has 14 different sites including The Northwest Tower, The Southwest Tower, The Donjon, and The pool. That's not all, but that's what I'm going to be talking about in this post ;)

The Northwest Tower (1) is an impressive gate installed in the tower bears an Arabic inscription of the Ayyubi governor al-'Aziz 'Othman and belongs to the first construction stage. The stones of the arch shifted in an earthquake (1759), but miraculously the arch itself did not collapse!!

















The Western Tower (3) is facing Westward and is not yet excavated.

The Southwest Tower (5) Provides a magnificent view of the Galilee, the Hula Valey and the slopes of the Golan. The tower was enlarged in Baybar's time, after which additional embrasures were built.

The Donjon (10 & 11) is a fortified indepedent location standing off above the fortress (Donjon is french "keep" in English). In the event that the lower fortifications were overrun, the defenders were able to continue the battle and the defence of the fortress from a very large and stronly constructed donjon. At the four corners of the structure square towers were erected. In the area between them were found remnants of the arches of a ceremonial hall, additional halls and water cisterns.











I loved being up there and seeing the Holy Land from a different view. Even the history behind this fortress is amazing!

Masada

Oh wow, Masada is an amazing place with such history! You would think of Masada as a city on a hill kind of like Zefat. But I can tell you that it's much more than that. It's a place of life and death, sorrow and joy. Really, it's set in the desert mountains (in Hebrew a mountain is called Har) with vast mountain ranges and the Dead sea in the distance. It's really a breathtaking view. No wonder the Romans wanted it so darn bad! Oops! Am I skipping ahead to fast?? Sorry! Let's start at the beginning ;)

Ah the Romans. Romans, Romans, Romans...such a strong people full of well...anger. It's kind of hard to put it. You see, the Romans didn't "own" it until they took full control over it. The basic reason that we know about the history of Masada today is because of Josephus Flavius. He called the attack on Masada "The Great Revolt". Josephus relates that one of the first events of the Great Revolt, which broke out in 66 CE, was the conquest of Masada by the Sicarii, a group that got it's name from a curved dagger, the sica, which they carried. The Sicarii were headed by Menahem, son of Judah the Galilean, who was murdered in Jerusalem in 66 CE. After the murder, Eleazar Ben Yair fled from Jerusalem to masada and became commander of the rebel community on the mountain. It was a varied group, which apparently included Essenes and Samaritans. The last of the rebels fled to Masada after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and joined those already in the fortress under the command of Eleazar Ben Yair. They were living a happy life full of joy and freedom until the Romans came. Once aware of the Romans presence, the Jews tried to defend themselves but couldn't. The Jews defended themselves by rolling down large stones on the Romans. But the Romans had Jewish prisoners working for them to help build up the ramp to Masada. The Jews on Masada didn't want to kill their own people so they had to stop rolling the stones down.
The Romans were building the ramp up to Masada because there was no other way to get up to it at that time. Now they have cable cars to take you up to it...lol. Anyways, it took them a long time to build the ramp up to the top of Masada.

While the Romans were building the ramp up, the Jews were almost in panic because they knew that the romans were an awful people. The Jews had no other choice but to basically commit suicide. It was either that or live theirs lives full of torture and pain. They didn't want their wives and children to become servants. So they had to make a painful decision, commit suicide. So before the Romans came to attack and kill them, they quietly killed their wives and children. I think they would have done it a quick and not so painful way. My best guess it that they put poison in their drinks one night and didn't ever wake up the next morning. Can you imagine being a roman and coming up there after all that time building the ramp and everyone was dead?! But the Romans sadly got what they wanted! I'm just thankful that the Father has those families with Him right now. They are probably happy and save. In fact, I know they are :)

After all of that, King Herod build his GIGANTIC palace on top of Masada which is still kinda standing today! Oh my, it's an amazing sight! Not all of it is excavated but so much of it is! I know it was inhabited by Romans but The Jews lived there long before them. Some of the original flooring is still in place! Masada had springs of water flowing through it and all of it's food resources. So basically, it was already stalked full of food and water! In Herod's Palace he had water cisterns, bathing rooms, a swimming pool, bed rooms, guest houses, a church and SO much more! Man, that guy must gave been loaded with cash! lol ;)

Below are some pictures from Masada. It's really nothing like being there! You'd HAVE to experience it for yourself to understand where I'm coming from.

This is the original camp from the Romans

The view from the top of Masada

En Geddi Waterfalls

En Geddi, En Geddi is right across the road from the Dead Sea. It's a small town with a couple of Hostels and houses. It's lush and green but also very deserty. We didn't really go into the town but we went to the "National Park" were the waterfalls are!

It's just a short hike up to waterfalls. Now as we were walking along we read on the map, Ibex's, Leopards and Hyheana's in park. I was like, gahhhhhh! Get me out of here! That's why they lady at the front said no eating in park! Then I was very aware and alert...lol. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the "lower falls" it was a very beautiful place to be!! And no we didn't run into any wild beasts. There were way to many people there so I bet the animals were just all hiding or something ;) you can go swimming in the falls but I didn't because it was too cold...hehe! But there was no stopping Elijah from jumping in! lol ;)

So Dad, Nolan and Elijah all went up to the "upper falls" while mom, Benjamin and I went back down. while the boys were up at the upper falls, they saw an Ibex! They got some greats pictures too!!!

Jerusalem - Tunnel Tour Trip

Woohoo!! We made it back to Jerusalem for the second time while on this trip! I thought for sure that when we went during Sukkot that was going to be our first and last time in Jerusalem this trip! Thank you Father!! We left early that morning and headed for Jerusalem which is about a 2 hour drive from Tiberias were we are living at the moment. Jerusalem is a very confusing city to drive in! I think it’s easier to take the bus…but it’s nice to have a car though ;) So we had planned to park at the Old City near the Jaffa Gate. So we parked and set off to go to our Tunnel Tour in David’s City. We ended up on Mt. Zion totally in the opposite direction of David’s City. *cough* *cough* It’s a long story…anyways! Once we finally found someone who knew where it was we had basically missed our tour. We just decided to go on the unguided tour ourselves. When you walk down the set of stairs, you are standing in David’s city…well the remains of it. But it’s just amazing seeing this palace! It was like the size of a mansion! The city wall is still there! Well some of it. What an amazing place!

 

Once you’re past the palace, you go to enter the Tunnels that Hezekiah dug. Okay, he probably didn’t dig them all by himself but you get the point. Lol Before I start talking about the tunnels, maybe I should talk about the history of the tunnels and Hezekiah! Hezekiah was a great king that reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. He became kind when he was 25 years old. His mothers name was Abijah the daughter of Zachariah. Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of YHVH, according to all that his father David had done. Hey, Hezekiah is David’s son?! Yes! I never knew that till a few weeks ago! So, in the first year of his reign in the first month, he opened the doors of the house YHVH and repaired them. So basically he restored the temple in his first year as King. After the temple was restored, we sent out a letter to all of Israel, Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh saying that they should come to the house of YHVH at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to YHVH of Israel. They had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month for they could not keep it in the first month (when Passover is really kept) because a sufficient number of Priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. Before Hezekiah died, he dug the tunnels at the Upper Gihon where the water came through to the city which is on the west side of the City of David. He dug the tunnels to divert the water to the City of David so the Syrians couldn’t get to the water. You see, the Syrians were going to attack the City of David. So they were camped all around the City. But without any water, they couldn’t survive! Hezekiah prospered in all his works. You can read more about Hezekiah and his works in the Bible! Look in the books Kings and Second Chronicles.

Now there are 2 different tunnels you can go through. There is a dry one and a wet one. Mom, Benjamin, Elijah and I all went in the dry one and Dad and Nolan went in the wet one. The dry one was dug by Kind David to attack the city in the first place before it became King David’s City and the Wet one was the one King Hezekiah dug to divert the water into the city. The Dry one has really tall ceilings and is very narrow. The second one is very wet and had lower ceilings and is also narrow. I just can’t imagine what the workers were thinking while digging through the tunnels…they probably hoped that they wouldn’t collapse on them! I know that’s what I would have thought! They probably had to work by candlelight and with a low amount of oxygen. Just think, what if there were Syrians on the other side while you were digging through! Now that’s a thought! But they were fine and made it through safely. They got the water running through to the city.

 

Once finished our unguided tour in the City of David, we headed to our other tour under the ground next to the Wailing Wall! Now, that’s a tour I will never forget! And yes we did have a guide this time ;) Before we got to go on our tour, we have to go through the Wailing Wall area to get to our tour. There was barley anyone there!! I could just go right up and touch the wall and pray! It was so amazing! We happened to arrive at the wall tours about an hour to and hour and a half early. There isn’t much to do other than stand and wait around. We noticed there was a lot of IDF soldiers there! I thought that it was probably for an event of some sort. It ended up being when the IDF swear into the military! It was so cool! But I thought to myself, these young people are ready to give their lives for this country! I also thought they are only 2 years older than I am! That’s not much older! Wow…to me it’s really amazing! Just on that day there were probably 80 – 100 new soldiers being swore into the military! Both men and women. The first few soldiers that went up to get swore into the military all saluted to the front guy, but one of the girls saluted wrong so the general guy corrected her in front of everyone! You could tell she was a new soldier. To me, it was cute! ;)

 

Finally it was time for our Kotel Tour! The Kotel tour is the tour under the ground next to the Wailing Wall. Our group wasn’t very big but we had an excellent guide! My goodness! All the history behind the wall and the temple is absolutely (loss for words here…) well full of history I guess! The wall goes all the way back to the era of the Maccabees! You can look down through this glass hole in the floor and see the era from Maccabees! You look like 50 feet down! You realize how much the ground has been brought up over the centuries. Now, the stone slabs to make up the wall were 15 feet wide and 40 feet long!!! Now that’s a big chunk of rock! The wall is like some 150-180 feet tall from the original ground up to were it stands now! That must have taken forever to build...okay not forever because it’s done and we are living thousands of years later. Anyways back to the Kotel Tour! While next to the wall, our guide said this to the group which to me is very powerful. She said, when saying the Shema out of Israel you face Israel, when in Israel you face Jerusalem and when in Jerusalem you face the Holy of Holies. We were standing about 20-30 feet away from the Holy of Holies! That’s the closest I’ve ever been to it in my LIFE! Knowing that the temple once stood on the other side of the wall and now the pathetic dome of the rock on top it’s an eye sore! I wish the temple was still standing tall and beautiful! Stupid Romans had the courage to burn and destroy the most holy place on earth! It’s heartbreaking! You can still see some of the design in the wall from King Harrods time! Once further into the Kotel, you run across 3 stone slabs waiting to be put into place! These stones were never used! They were going to be for the floor next to the wall! 2000 year old stone floor slabs never used and are still waiting to be used! Stunning, eh?! Across from the stone floor slabs there are these pillars still standing! You realize that the roof wasn’t really that tall! But it probably was in its time! I thought to myself, the sky probably used to seem SO much further away 2000 years ago! Wow…to me that’s amazing knowing that the ground has been brought up so much since the roman’s existed!

 

Okay, back to the destroying for the Temple. Before it was destroyed King Josiah (he was a good king) hid the Ark of the Covenant. No one knows where though! People have tried to find it but all of their systems have failed or something prevented it from being found. My theory is that YHVH will reveal and restore it when its time. The Ark is SO holy that you have to be SOOOOOOOOOO careful to handle it the right way. You need Levite Priests who are cleansed and pure in order to transport it from one place to the other! Just think! I might have been standing 20-30 feet away from THE Ark of the Covenant! The most Holy thing! It has the two stone tablets of the 10 commandments and Aaron’s staff in it!! Can you imagine?! I know I could barley fathom knowing that I was closer to it than I have ever been before in my LIFE! It was a powerful and moving tour.

That night after all of our touring was done, we went out for supper! It was my birthday supper!! WOOT! All of this happened on the 23 of November ;) We had a great supper in Jerusalem and then headed back to Tiberias. We really had an amazing day! Thank you Father! <3

The Bird Sanctuary

We went to the Bird Sanctuary last Monday for the day. You see, we all thought it was going to be somewhat cold but it ended up being the nicest day of the week!! We all wore pants and sweaters! It ended up being like 25°C! Poor us! lol.

When we got there, it looked like a national park in BC without the mountains and the trees were bigger. You see, you would NEVER think there would be birds migrating there! But when you step out of the car, your in a whole new world of different birds and different sounds! You really need to look and listen to the birds in order to see the different types! My goodness! There were SOOOOO many different kinds just within the Sanctuary! We saw small ones full of colors, big bright blue ones, big white ones, small ones with a skinny beak...plus much more! We saw a great haron and a stork. Along with catfish and water buffalo! Oh and little cute turtles!!! Just all kinds of wildlife within a wetland!

So, at the sanctuary they have a 4D movie about the bird migrations! Ha ha ha........I hated it. Yes the seats move and there was mist and wind....but half way through the movie these bug things went up my WHOLE body including my legs! I was SOOOOO creeped out! But they were not just little taps..they were hard!! I was totally freaked out! But, I learned so much about the birds migrations and how they all come from north and south America and Africa, Asia and so many more countries and they come to migrate in Israel! It's amazing that they come to the holy land to migrate! I just think it's a beautiful thing.

It was such an educational day!!!

Zefat

Zefat is the Artist town of Israel. Its up on a hill in the Golan. It's a good sized town and has mostly one way streets! So if you miss your turn..you have to go all the way around again to get back to were you want to go/park. Lol, we figured that out the hard way! But at least now we know! Zefat is not pronounced, zee fat. It's pronounced, zfat. Confusing I know. It's pronounced a few different ways. But there is no question that it's a cute little town with gorgeous views!!

The first time we went it happened to be a rainy day. It wasn't foggy down here in Tiberias...but it sure was in Zefat!! Man..you couldn't see anything! Surprisingly, it was very busy! I didn't expect it to be so busy because Sukkot is over and everyone should be at work. But, tourists are still out and about! The streets in Zefat are very narrow and old, so they are one way like how I mentioned before. But are very busy! Constant traffic and honking! lol!














Once we parked we got out and got ready to go find the Artists Area of Zefat. No, Zefat isn't all just art. They haver certain areas were you can go to too see the art.That's when we saw our breaths for the first time since we arrived in Israel! You would think we have never experienced the cold! lol! We were so amazed!!! Funny, eh? Now thats sad since we are Canadians. hehe! Then we set off to find the artists area of Zefat.

We happened to run across a shoe store. This shoe store happened to be a Naot shoe store! Naot is an Israeli shoe company that has stores all around the globe. Of course they are expensive but SO CUTE! But they are twice to three times as much in Canada and other countries. So I bet your wondering if I got a pair. Yes I did! My first pair of heels...which don't have much of a heel to them ;) they are absolutely the cutest shoes I've ever had! They are SO comfortable too! Then later that night we found out about the Naot shoe factory were they make all the shoes! They happen to be even less than they are at Zefat! So we went there a few days later and mom got a pair of shoes too ;) Naot also sells these Bamboo Socks! They are the most comfortable socks ever! And no they aren't $15 for a pair. They are like $5-$7 for a pair ;) here is the Naot website so you can check it out!!
http://www.naotcanada.com/index2011fall.htm
I got the Royal 44053 in Black ;) love them!!!

Once we found the artist area of Zefat, it was lunch time!!! The artist area of Zefat is full of cute little shops full of artwork and jewelry! The art is absolutely amazing and the jewelry is just stunning!! Most of the jewelry is hand made! It's just fun to go and look and all the different styles and colors!! Near the end of the artists area, there is this pizza place but it's not exactly pizza. The guy who owns the place is a Yemenite Jew. His name is Ronan! He's such a fun guy! Okay, back to the pizza that's not really pizza. lol...so Ronan makes these little individual pizzas topped with his spices, tomatoes, onions, parsley and lots of cheese!! Yummy!! I can't remember the exact name of his pizza things...but they were amazing!!! Then we asked Ronan if we could take his picture, and he said sure! Sarah, come up here! So I went up and he put a head covering on me like what Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah would have worn! Then he got some hats for Nolan and Elijah to wear! We all got our picture taken together!! Fun fun fun!!

So that's our first experience of Zefat!