Time to Hit the Heights

Today was one of those “be flexible” days, as we did not follow the planned schedule. We were supposed to go to Sepphoris and Nazareth, but, since it was the Sabbath, (which means that all public transportation, including planes, trains, and busses are cancelled, and Orthodox Jews stay at home) we decided to take to the open road and go up to Banias and the Golan Heights instead. Little traffic and small crowds.





Banias is the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, built by Herod Agrippa. It was obviously a Roman city as Herod was trying to court Roman favor. The city was built around a spring, as many cities were in those days, and around a temple to the god Pan. That is where its present name comes from, Panias, but since there is no “p” sound in Arabic, it became Banias. The water from the spring flows from Banias down the side of the mountain and makes a beautiful waterfall that is clear and cold.

We also saw the ancient Crusader fortress of Nimrod. I know Austin and Chase will appreciate that!

Jesus came to the region, which is really quite far from Galilee, with his disciples and this is where Peter made his famous confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”





From here, which is in the northern corner of Israel, we went into territory that used to be part of Syria, but has been occupied by Israel the 6-day war in 1967, so in that sense it was one of the most dangerous places we have been, as we drove right up to the Syrian border. There were several Israeli military installations, and we were told not to take any photos. We came back through the Golan Heights and stopped for sandwiches (falafel and schwarma) at a roadside place on the way back.

Tomorrow will again be a little changed from our schedule. We are not going to be able to see the live Nazareth village, which is sort of like the living colonial Williamsburg, where people dress up and sort of act ‘ancient.’ It is closed on Sunday. But we will be able to worship with the local Scottish church, and that will be fun. The hotel is owned by the Church of Scotland, and Dave Hyers made connections with the pastor. The church here is very small, so when we join them, we will greatly enlarge his flock.