We made our way through the Jaffa Gate, down the narrow streets of the Armenian Quarter to the Jewish Quarter to a now favorite restaurant of ours. We first visited it one evening in December 2009 when we were looking for some local food to eat. The neon red sign outside the restaurant says "B.B.Q." Not sure what that meant, we checked it out, and found out it was shwarma! Lamb meat that is served in a fresh pita or laffa and "all the trimmings" like an Israeli Subway. This is where we had our anniversary dinner :)
The restaurant is located in the courtyard next to the Hurva Synagogue (the largest building in the center of the picture below). We sat in this courtyard at a table and enjoyed our meal together before continuing for a "stroll" through the rest of the Old City.
On Saturday morning, about 6 am, we began our anniversary adventure to the North. We had been blessed with an "anniversary check" from Jim's parents with instructions to "do something special". We were also blessed with the use of a car for the weekend to be able to see more of Israel. We hadn't had the funds to go away, but God provided for us to be able to enjoy His special Land, so we packed a picnic lunch and LOTS of water and were on our way.
Reminder - the pictures look better when viewed larger, just click on the picture to make bigger, then click the back button to return to the blog post.
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| Jerusalem bridge on left. |
The drive through the Jordan Valley is amazingly beautiful and majestic.
To travel north to the Galilee there are mainly 2 options - drive west toward Tel Aviv, around the "West Bank" and then east again toward Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) or drive a little east of Jerusalem on Route 1 to the top of the Dead Sea and turn north on Route 90 and drive through the "West Bank" which is the beautiful Jordan Valley. We choose to do the latter following the Yarden (Jordan River). On this portion of the route, you can see the fence that separates Israel and Jordan.
The road just the left of the fence is for military use only.
On Route 90 heading North toward the Galilee.
Ancient Jericho still exists today as an Arab city under Palestinian control.
Sheep herding on a hot summer morning.
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| Notice the date palms & vineyards in the background. |
We have arrived at our first destination in about 2 1/2 hours. We have chosen to go hiking for our anniversary, since this is one of the things we both love to do together. We love being outside and enjoying God's creation. This is something we began in the States when we lived near the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway with its many hiking trails.
As our anniversary gift from Jim's parents, we chose to purchase a one year pass to visit Israel's National Parks - 66 in all! Since Israel is only the size of New Jersey, we will be able to visit many within the next year. These also include many in the Jerusalem area, Caesarea, En Gedi, Megiddo (Armageddon), Masada, Qumran and many more! What an opportunity for adventures!
So today we are hiking ancient Gamla - less than 10 miles from the Syrian border. It is known as the Masada of the north. The Jewish city of Gamla joined the revolt against the Romans in 66 AD. When the fortress was destroyed in fierce battle in 67 AD, Josephus (the historian of the time period and leader of the revolt in the Galilee) writes that 9,000 Jews lost their lives. In 1968 the city was rediscovered and excavated with findings of the battle from 1900 years ago.
The National Park is also a Vulture Reserve and the largest nesting colony of birds of prey in Israel.
We saw several of these Agama lizards about 30 cm in length.
Our first view of the hike we will make today. The pictures really don't do it justice :)
An ancient catapult representing the battle that took place.
Many catapult arrowheads were found in the synagogue.
Also a ballista showing how the Romans were able to break through the city wall.
Hundreds of ballista balls were found.
Standing in the tower looking back at the mountain we had just descended -
from the highest point to the paved area was quite steep.
We are now climbing up again across the ridge of the mountain where the city lies.
We took one last picture before putting the camera away.
We would need both hands to cross this section of the hike
across the steep ridge of the mountain.
This was a little "off the trail" but is a much more "adventurous" path.
Back on flat ground for a short time :)
Going up the last part of the hike before reaching the tip of the mountain peak.
Can't go any farther than this!! We sat for a time to enjoy the breeze and a snack with plenty of water. The view from the peak of Gamla was amazing! The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is in the background.
Heading back down the "path" :)
We stopped on the way back to look at the city remains that were excavated.
The Jewish "mikveh" is where Christianity gets the "baptismal". This mikveh is 2,000 years old.
The synagogue is the center of city life.
This synagogue is one of the oldest discovered in Israel.
Looking down into a dwelling place. There were even 2 story homes in this city,
built during the Second Temple period.
Standing in the city looking out the breach that the Romans entered the city through.
Standing outside the city looking towards the breach the Romans "created" to enter the city.
It's now time to go back up the steepest part of the hike,
looks like once upon a time they had a shuttle....
But not today...today we climb (slowly) back to the entrance of the park - knowing
there is an ice cream stand waiting for us :)
Looking back at the what we had just climbed - all the way to the very peak of the mountain!
View of the city of Gamla - destroyed in 67 AD, found again in 1968 - 1900 years later.
After taking our time to reach the last portion of this hike - the entrance to the park, we refreshed ourselves with ice cream. After a bit of rest, we decided to have our picnic lunch under a shade tree. When we finally got back in the air conditioned car, we were quite surprised to see the temperature! We began the hike around 9:00 am so we would be done before it got too hot. It was 29 C (84 F) when we started, but it was not 40 C (104 F) at 1:17 pm!! Because of the low humidity, it doesn't feel quite that hot, so.....we continue to our next adventure......
We had a couple more adventures on our anniversary getaway, but we'll share them next time.....
Thank you for sharing our special anniversary with us.
May each of us take the time to open our eyes
to all the wonders around us.
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