20180531 Upper Galilee, Tel Dan, Golan Heights, Sefad: Another very long and wonderful day. After breakfast at the hotel, we left about 8:30 and drove north to the Upper Galilee and into the Tel Dan Nature Reserve. We could see the stream of the Tel Springs that has water from Mt. Hermon, the main source of Israel’s water. This runs down into the Sea of Galilee and then south all the way to the Dead Sea. We drank some of the water bubbling from the stones and waded in a cool pool.
Besides the nature trails, the main attractions are from the Tenth and Ninth Centuries BCE with the original gate area to the City of Dan and the excavated temple there built by the Jewish king of the region to rival the temple in Jerusalem given it was a separate kingdom of Jews. This is about the only place where once can see a temple from the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem since it’s buried under the Temple Mount there.
After a couple of hours there, we went nearby to a Naot Outlet and then to a pizza place next to it. From there, it was across the Hula Valley and up and up to the Golan Heights where we could see the border in the distance, visit with some UN peacekeepers from Estonia and The Netherlands, go into trenches and old bunkers from the Six Day War period, and get a good cold coffee.
Then down across the valley and up and up again to Sefad. We visited both a Sephardic and an Ashkenazi synagogue and heard their importance in Judaism from the rabbi at one who wrote the Shulcan Aruch to the rabbi at the other who was seminal in the Kabbalah. Afterwards, we walked to along the wonderul shops. and back to the hotel about 5:00.
Andy, Tracy and I walked down to the Sea of Kinnereth (Sea of Galilee) to dip toes and see it up close. Then off to dinner nearby around 7:00. Tomorrow we head to Jerusalem.
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