Entries about lebanon

On my last day in Israel, I took a tour of northern Israel. The tour stopped in Caeserea, Haifa, Rosh HaNikra, and Acre. We drove up the coast from Tel Aviv to Caesarea, the ancient Roman capital and port. I toured the Roman amphitheater, archaeological ruins and excavations. The tour then went on to the Baha'i Gardens at the summit of Mount Carmel where we had a beautiful view of the port and city of Haifa. The tour continued north to Rosh HaNikra and I toured the limestone grottoes and saw the Lebanese border. From there the tour ventured south to Acre where I toured the Crusader City and walked through the Old City market before heading back to Tel Aviv.

Caesarea. Fun fact, Kobi my tour guide mentioned about Caesarea. It is the most expensive area to live in, in Israel. Apparently the Prime Minister (Netanyahu at the time of my visit) has a mansion here.

Baha'i Gardens:

View of the port and city of Haifa from summit of Mount Carmel:

Rosh HaNikra:

Looking south from Rosh HaNikra:

Looking east from Rosh HaNikra:

View from the cable car down to the grottoes:

Grottoes:

Acre and Crusader city:

This was a great trip! And I enjoyed my time in Israel. On to the next adventure!

In this post, I'll go over my visit to the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights is probably one of the most controversial places on the planet (another is Jerusalem), so I will not get into the history or status today. The Golan Heights is bounded by the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee on the west, Mount Hermon on the north, the seasonal Wadi Al-Ruqqād (part of the Yarmūk River) on the east, and the Yarmūk River on the south. One of the things that the Golan Heights is famous for is wine. There are lots of wineries and wine specific tours. Agriculture is important in the area. I drove around with a friend who was familiar with the area. We covered the Golan from south to north and then cut across to the Israel-Lebanon border. I was able to see three countries in all during this tour day: Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. This was no short trip either, all of the driving and overlooking took about 13 hours, but in my opinion it was totally worth it. It took about three hours to get to the Golan from Tel Aviv.

For whatever reason, despite being sunny and very hot (reminds me of the climate in Florida), it was also very hazy.

I believe these are from overlooking the Jezreel Valley, east of the southern point of Lake Tiberias:

Looking west to Lake Tiberias and the Tiberias area:

Flowers at the overlook point:

Destroyed Ottoman Valley Rail Bridge (looking into Jordan):

Looking into the Israel-Syria-Jordan border:

Derelict APC near Jordan River baptismal site:

On top of Mount Shifon looking northeast:

On top of Mount Shifon looking southwest:

Memorial of a tree growing out of a destroyed M113 APC:

View from tree/M113 APC site (Mount Shifon in the background on the right):

On top of Mount Bental at Coffee Annan, looking into Syria:

Found the sign for Trump Heights:

Hula Valley:

Nimrod's Castle:

Villages heading west in the Golan:

Sheep darting across the road:

Israel-Lebanon border at Misgav Am overlook (eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border):

Looking into the Galilee from overlook:

This was a really cool day of driving around. It was surreal peering into Syria and Jordan and being so close to the border. I felt the same way about the Lebanon border, literally a stone's throw away. Both being some of the most volatile areas in the world and I was right there!

Onto Latrun and Jerusalem...