Vistas upon Vistas

July 4, 2009

One of the extraordinary aspects of Israel is the number of spectacular, but seemingly hidden, natural sites. We experienced this in the Negev and again today when we visited the Banias waterfall. Extending from the entrance shack, where the ranger collects the entrance fee, is a ravine with lush growth, so there is obviously a river running through it. About 100 meters from the shack is the beginning of the path that leads down, through the foliage to the river, and then several hundred meters, accompanied by a roar of growing intensity. There, roaring from inside the rock wall is the falls, plummeting 30 or 40 meters to the river below, with additional foam and spray from other large rocks as the river flows toward the Jordan. Imagine wandering through the Galilee on a hot, suffocating day and stumbling upon this cool, refreshing, literally life-sustaining site. Although the falls are part of a large set of hiking trails in the Banias National Park, we drove to the entrance to the park itself. Because of the rich network of springs, the site has been inhabited and developed by peoples going back at least 100 years B.C.E., with Greek, Roman, Muslim, and Turkish structures, including a flour mill that operated as recently as 1986.

Next stop on our meander along Rt. 99 was Nimrod’s Castle. Another castle, another set of ruins? Because it rests on the peak of one of the hills around Mt. Hermon, the castle is visible from miles away, but the ruins, made from local rock are sometimes not that distinguishable from the background. On 989 leading to the entrance road, however, at a point the hilltop and the castle are stunningly perched above. During a brief stop to appreciate this magnificent set of ruins looming from the top of the mountain, the obvious question presses, “how in the world did they build that structure on the top of the mountain?” Wandering among the castle grounds, this extraordinary excavation has structures from the mid 600s and as late as 1200 or 1300. Imagine a conquering warrior in 650, standing on top of this mountain, surveying the Hula Valley to the west, Mt. Hermon to the north, and rolling hills to the east and saying to his minions, “See those boulders and stones, scattered on the side of this mountain? I want them up at the top, assembled into a castle!” This order was all the more unbelievable if the winds that nearly toppled us as we explored the site, were swirling about 1400 years ago.

We continued to the Moshav of Nimrod. The Witch and the Milkman, perched on the top of a 1100 meter hill near Mt. Hermon, overlooks the Druze village of Majdal Shams, as well as a crater lake, in this unlikely place. Climbing the hill to the moshav, there is a set of tepees, bravely bearing up against the winds that collide through these mountains. Was this a lost tribe?

The unlikely name for this wonderful restaurant in an unlikely place has a story, as related by our mid-20s, Russian, waiter. Gilad from a kibbutz further south had dreamed of learning to make cheese. Finally, he left his regular job to pursue his dream when he had the opportunity to work with one of the best cheesemakers in Israel. About 15 years ago, Gilad and his wife Yael, found the opportunity to open a restaurant in the Golan so they went for it. Yael, Gilad’s wife, is the cook in the house, and runs the kitchen in the restaurant which specializes in different hearty casseroles, many with a French touch. So the Milkman is clear. What about the Witch? Yael’s nickname is Witch. The chalet style of the building, with glass on most sides allowing spectacular views is decorated with lots of witch marionettes and puppets, dangling from the ceiling and affixed to the walls.