Thu 9-Apr-09 to Sat 11-Apr-09 (Golan trip)

Maria mustered up the energy to fulfil her (and my) wish to see the Golan, as we had put it off so many times before Maria became ill. It was worth the wait, although Maria did struggle for a little while after returning home as it took a bit out of her. The five of us, which includes ‘Mama’ (‘Yiayia’ to the kids) headed off and travelled to our accommodation for the two nights at a well known Guest Farm called Vered Hagalil. It is situated on a ridge overlooking the Mt of Beatitudes and Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) from the north. The kids enjoyed some horse riding while we were there. As we arrived on Thursday afternoon and departed on Saturday, all of our major travel was on the Friday. Basically, we headed north-east and ran parallel to the Syrian border. Enroute we came across plenty of fields containing landmines (Ben was a little freaked each time I suggested we do a little off-road driving). We also came across a disused/inoperable tank, which the kids happily played on for quite a while. The area was unbelievably green with so many wildflowers out at present. After heading north towards Lebanon, we veered west and visited the spectacular Nimrod Fortress (built in 1228), which is well preserved and sits near Mt Hermon (tallest mountain in Israel where skiing is popular). We were able to coordinate with the manager of the National Park to drive Maria and Mama up to one of the lookouts. The kids and I did the second, more challenging walk, but the views across the valley were well worth it. Then to Banias Falls (Hermon National Park (Banias), which is the largest waterfall in Israel. Apparently it loses 190 metres in altitude over the course of 3.5km, and you can tell by the force of the flow! It is a beautiful area with many walks on offer and an ancient city. Maria and Mama were unable to do the trip down to the Falls, so the kids and I ran off and briefly explored it. We continued west till we came to Kiryat Shmona (close to the border of Lebanon), which has been the target of rocket attacks from Lebanon, both recently and historically. We had seen enough for a day and headed back to the ranch.