Day 14

WEDNESDAY 23rd DECEMBER

Synopsis of day: Journeying around nature AND old rocks instead of just old rocks!
Spiritual Sites visited: Hazor, Tel Dan, Banias 

Biblical Connections: Hazor was the largest Canaanite city when it was razed to the ground by Joshua and was later used in the C8/9. Tel Dan was the site where Jeroboam constructed his capital after the division of Israel and Judah. There was a rather impressive Solomonic gate and city entrance as well as the lovely Dan river, a source for the Jordan. Banias/Caesarea Philippi was probably the site where Jesus asked Simon Peter “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16) and Peter is called the rock.

Highlight of the day: We had a hike around part of Tel Dan and that was really nice because it was a break from architectural sites (we encountered some later there!). Along the way there was a little body of water and the trees reflected perfectly in the water and in photographs. Loved that.

Lowlight of the day: Kerri has a 'broken' kneecap, and I swear I've a broken calf.  

Favourite quote/word: “When I look up, I see clouds. They just find me” Guess who that was.
Favourite photo: Tel Dan reflections

Cultural-shock moment: We went up to the Golan Heights, which has a chequered history of conflict between Israel and Syria. From the lookout where we stopped, you could see the Syrian border over the next hills, and before that was a UN compound and some no-mans-land. We were told not to take photographs from the Israeli direction because of the Israeli spy/army concentration further up the hill. (See What Arthur did next for additional info).

The UN site is the white in the front centre, the buildings in the background were Syrian.