From the Sea to the Mountains

We headed up to the Golan Heights and found our-
selves 35 miles from Damascus. It was another beau-
tiful day, though chilly, as we walked out to look at
the valley where Israel meets the Syrian border, as
well as the border of Lebanon and Israel. Everything
is so compact. We warmed up in the cafe sipping on
Latte's and enjoyed the warmth. Hard to believe that
a conflict exists. We felt perfectly safe that day. Such
a beautiful view of the snowy peak of Mt Hermon.

From there we drove to the bottom of Mt Hermon
where spring flowers were in bloom and where three
rivers form from the mountain snows. Each of them
goes underground for 3 or 4 years and then springs
forth from the ground, each flowing into the Jordan
River. We saw the remains of the city of Dan and then
the Gate of the Kings, put there by one of the Northern
Kings of Israel. The most interesting thing was that
in Genesis 14:14 the scripture says that Abraham
came there when he was chasing the five kings to
get Lot back! It was a long way on foot!

At the foot of Mt Hermon is a cave and was a place of
worship to Pan which is connected to goats. The path
we took passes live goats so maybe it is still a place of
worship to this false god. Water was gushing and early
spring flowers were out. When I think back to this part
of the trip it is a time drenched in sunshine and every-
thing is bright green with flowers dotted here and there.

At one point we were a half mile from the Lebanon border
and saw Apache Helicopters that were re-turning from
Lebanon--just "doing business" says our guide. One thing
I had not realized was that the River JorDAN is connected
to the tribe of Dan.

Last year Israel hosted 4 million tourists and it is expec-
ted to be 5 million this year. I actually felt safer walking
around Israel than I felt living in Washington DC!