Ugh, it was an early morning, wake up call at 05h45, bus leaving at 07h30. A weary bunch of twenty five travellers made it to the bus and off at that time. Or at least, I was weary, and I guess I project that onto everyone else.
First, an aside about the room. It is plain, simple, and functional. And quite comfortable too. The balcony is a nice touch – although it would be nice if the balcony door would latch closed! At least we are on the third floor. Well and the shower door on the bathtub is only a half door – and water leaks out onto the floor. Oh well, it is very clean and it works fine otherwise.
OK, back from the aside.
Our first stop was a park for the Tel of Dan. A tel is a trapezoidal mound that forms when a city is ruined, and builds up in layers. So this tel is the mount over the ruins of the city of Dan. Dan was the home of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. They had been on the coast of Mediterranean, sandwiched between the Philistines and the Samarians, but got squeezed out, and moved up to the north-east corner of modern day Israel and set up a new city. This new city eventually ended up in ruins, hence the tel.
This tel also contains one of the three sources of the River Jordan. It was a difficult path, about 200 ft of hopping from large rock to large rock while dodging low hanging branches, but it was worth it. Very beautiful! Then we saw successively older excavations of Dan, starting at about 2500 BC, and backwards to 18,000 BC. Very cool.
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| Temple in Dan from 8th century BC |
| Main gate to City of Dan from 12 century BC |
| Ruins of exchange gate of City of Dan from 18th century BC |
| Roman temple to Pan at Bania |
| Dean at Roman temple to Pan at Bania. |
| Dayna at Roman temple to Pan at Bania. |
| Peter’s mother-in-law’s home in Capernaum |
| Dean reads scripture from the teacher’s seat in the synagogue ruins in Capernaum |
| Here is where the scripture lesson gets very interesting, so he leans forward… |
| George says he is honoured to sit where Dean sat! |
| There it is – the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberius. |
| Lots of fruit groves and vineyards along the trip down from the Golan Heights to the Sea of Galilee. |
| During the ride, we felt comfortable enough to smile at least once! |
| Our ride across the lake! More sound than she looks… |
| Because here we are, safely on the other side of the lake. |
| Dean and George, both trapped in thought, pensive in each their own way. |
| Oh Canada! |
| The “Jesus Boat”. |