Day 18 Thursday

Another day on the Sea of Galilee. Another beautiful sunrise, early morning start and day on the road.

We started this day on a bit of a drive to the Ancient City of Dan... Yes that's right:  "Holy Dan". It is known for being near the source of the Jordan River and had ancient ruins from 1000 years BCE and beyond. 

 Here I am clowning around in the wading pool at Dan after ashore prayer service there.

The walk felt strangely familiar as this section had gum trees both sides of the path.

Hard to get the mind around these sort of dates ... 

 This gate  was built in the Canaanite period ... Built in the 18th century BCE 

... but when we saw Command Post Look outs and trenches from the 1967 Six Day War between the surrounding nations and were reminded of the things happening just over the border in Syria I thought I'd perhaps prefer to live a little further back in the past.

 Here is a photo taken from inside the trench at the Command Post.

The second place we visited was called Banias ... or as it was called in early Christian times : Caesarea Philipi. This had a waterfall was surprisingly beautiful but not worth paying to get into see it I didn't think.  The spring water was clearer than I had even seen running water in my life.

I'm finding the need to drink a lot in this type of climate a little annoying I must say.

The water is so amazingly clear as it comes from a spring a little further up. 

It was at this  place known as Basias Springs that Simon was given the  name Peter ... cool  name ... and told ' upon this rock I will build my church.' It also had the ruins of an enormous temple to the ancient god Pan. I was unsure who I should have been thinking about here , so I combined the two and called it Peter Pan rock.  ... Gee I had to work hard for that joke.

 A part of the Temple of Pan 

Lunch was in a Lebanese restaurant which was delicious. All the hummus, falafel s and pita bread we could eat, as well as baclava and coffee. 

The trip home took us high up Mount Herman where we were exposed to the Druzes - a people with an interesting background - the Lebanese and Syrian borders - stories of war and fighting over land and more importantly water, and countless Israeli army camps on the way down.

  A view of the Galilee valley as we went up the mountain

 The UN headquarters between Syria and Israel set up after an invasion by the Syrians on the day of Yom Kippur ... Clever... Unfortunately for them , they were defeated and the retaliation went badly for them also.

I had an afternoon nap back at Pilgerhaus that made me miss mass by the lake, but the meal and conversation at the table, as well as the fun outdoors with Tony the must and some American visitors and a German priest made up for it all.

I also missed the full moon rising over the lake, but I discovered if I hold the button down on the camera for a long time whilst on the scene setting : night time you can still get great shots like this one. 

Or this

I'm planning on being transfigured tomorrow on the top of Mount Tabor, then returning to Jerusalem. Feeling sad because I've enjoyed the space, greenery and the relaxation here . I may get up early and go for a walk ... lap-it-up so to speak ... a little St Pat's humour there ... albeit a week early.