Sea of Galilee--Day Two

At 7:15am on Saturday three different alarms cheerfully greeted us, urgently squealing that it was time for us to crawl out of bed and begin our second day exploring northern Israel. With only the slightest grumbling over the fact that we'd all sustained less than five hours of sleep, we gradually dressed, packed, and collected our things before meeting the girls in the lobby of the hostel. We filled our bellies with instant coffee/tea and granola bars and then headed on our way by car and taxi to the Golan Heights. Our destination: Yehudia Natural Reserve.

As we drove towards the upper end of the Sea of Galilee, we passed by banana plantations, mango and olive orchards, and eucalyptus trees shrouded in a quiet mist that drifted in from the lake. The fresh sea-side air rushed in through our open car-windows. We drove by the town of Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes and several rocky shorelines. A few boats speckled the water with their white sails. I tried my best to block out the telephone lines and modern infrastructure, and imagined what it would've been like to stroll through this beautiful landscape two-thousand years ago. It was certainly gorgeous now and could have been only more inspiring back then.

Once in the Golan Heights, we talked with a park ranger and were directed towards a trail head about a mile down the road. Because we only had one car, Ari shuttled us in two groups. At first, we weren't quite sure if this would even work however, since the road was temporarily blocked by a herd of grazing cattle! Luckily, Iris (who is sort of like Dr. Doolittle), bravely scooted the cows out of the way, creating a narrow opening for the car to scurry through.

By 9:00 or thereabouts, we began our proposed three-hour hike which actually turned out to take about five hours to complete! On the first part of the hike, we strolled along a flat dirt path that weaved around a few lone olive trees and which was surrounded by fields of dead thistle plants. Now fully awake, we entertained ourselves by taking photographs, chatting about movies and music, playing charades, and singing. We didn't see any animals, perhaps because it was too hot. I was duly surprised at this, however, as my beautiful singing voice often has a similar effect to that of Snow White's at attracting cuddly furry and feathered friends. Yodel-ay-hee-hoo!

Tanmay, Ari, Lisa, Daniela, Martin (left to right)

Thistles

When we had hiked for about forty minutes, we found ourselves at a stream shaded by pink oleanders. We clambered over river rocks which lead us down into a gulley with rock walls and a small pool for swimming. While some of us swam in the water, the rest of us sat in the shade of the rocky cliff on rocks which formed comfortable hexagonal shaped seats. We spotted crabs scurrying about in the stream and fish flitting about in the pool. Those daring enough to try, namely Becca and Ari, dove into the pool, an impressive feat!

Oleander in the stream

Walking along the stream (Becca, Tanmay, Ari, Iris)

The pool (left to right: Tanmay, Lisa, Becca, Ari, Daniela, Martin)

Martin, Tanmay, Roni, Lisa, Iris, Becca, Ari

Lisa, Ari, Daniela, Martin

After spending an hour or so at the pool and becoming rejuvenated on water, pretzels, and fresh apples, we continued our hike which entailed scurrying down a ladder and making our way over more rocks to find another small pool with a waterfall and a nice shady cave. Here we spent another solid half-hour or so before climbing out of the valley and finishing off the hike along a path very similar to the first.

The ladder down to the waterfall (Lisa in foreground. Iris, Becca, Daniela, Martin)

Tanmay, Martin, Lisa, Daniela, and Iris relaxing in the cave

Some "ruins" along the last leg of the hike

Exhausted from climbing and the heat of the sun, the nine of us shuttled back to the main parking lot at the natural reserve and then headed off to the nearby town of Qazrin for a bite to eat. As some of us had brought our lunch and we all wanted different things to eat anyways, we found a shopping center in Qazrin and split up for food. Tanmay, Ari, Roni, and I went to Golan Heights Brewery where I ate my first Israeli hamburger. It was delicious and reminded me of home! We all shared chicken wings, filled ourselves on bread still warm from the oven, and tasted samples of the variety of beers that the brewery had on draft. As is always the case after a long day of hiking with little to eat, we savored every bite of our scrumptious feast.

Already 5:00pm, we split off into two separate driving groups. Becca, Iris, Tanmay, and I caught a taxi back to Tiberias and a series of buses from there to Tel Aviv and then on to Rehovot. The bus ride was pleasant enough with air-conditioning and comfortably upholstered seats. As the sun set over the mountains of the north, I listened to music on my MP3 player and thought about our little adventure to Galilee, quite pleased with how everything turned out. By 9:30pm we were back in our dormitories and after going out for ice-cream with Becca I caught up on a few things and then fell fast asleep.