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photo page 49 |
Two days after the Dead Sea experience, we drive the same road, but continue north through the Jordan valley.
The trip is not entirely trouble free: the gas station north of the Dead Sea is out of gas, and when we stop near Beit Shean to refuel,
the gearbox malfunctions once again. As we pull away from the gas station in second gear, with roaring engine, we discover that we
are less than 50 meters from the spot where the first gearbox self-destroyed. Coincidence???
Fortunately, after a few kilometers the gearbox starts to work again, and we reach KenBaHula,
the zimmer of Evelien and Uri without further ado.
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This time of year, the garden is totally different from October: wild flowers and spinach all around.
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A few miles north of the zimmer, and east of Kyriat Schmona, we visit the Tel Dan nature reserve, where the Dan river wells up and
where excavations have revealed large fortresses and castles, from over 3000 year BCE.
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The Dan is the most important tributary of the Jordan river, and springs up from several wells in the nature reserve. A path of large boulders
starts where the river thunders, and leads in about 10 minutes along the springs where water bubbles out of the ground, until the very
beginning of the river.
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The water comes from the Golan heights and the mountain Hermon, and all year long it has a steady flow and temperature. A large forest
thrives on this water.
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These castle ruins are not the oldest of the complex, dating from 'only' 1200 years BCE.
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Walking back to the river, we discover beautiful lizards, miniature fresh water shrimps, and several fresh water crabs.
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Such scrumptiousness calls for food, so we drive to the famous Dag al HaDan restaurant:
fish at the Dan river, where we enjoy trout and lots of salads.
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Evelien and Uri have organized a jeep trip through the area. We start in Nahal Dishon, a dry riverbed that only carries water in
winter. Somewhere, under a tree, we discover a huge mill stone, probably used for pressing olive oil.
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Lots of Irises in the field behind the mill stone.
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A turtle crosses the road, but slowly slowly. Sonja comes to the rescue.
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Peek-a-boo....
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Time for tea. Uri gets the burner and Turkish coffee, and Evelien conjures up some bananas and Dutch chocolates.
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Oops, we forgot to bring tea for Sonja. No problem: Uri picks some 'cammilion' flowers and other plants, and brews a delicious tea
that reminds us all of childhood tooth aches.
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Evelien gives another round of chocolate.
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As we continue our off-road journey, the cliffs get ever more steep.
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On the other side of the valley, we can see some small animals climbing the rocks.
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Then Sonja discovers more of these Hyraxes, just underneath us. A whole family lives there: daddy, mommy and lots of kids.
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Hitting the blacktop, we drive to Hurfeish, where we are welcome at the house of a Druze sheikh: mister NimerNimer.
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While his wife and his daughter prepare a fantastic lunch, Uri and the sheikh get into animated discussions, about politics, poetry,
books, religion and just about anything else. The living room is covered with the diploma's of this 10 children, of all types of
Israeli universities.
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The room also features a huge book case, with photo's of the sheikh with welknown faces of both sides of the orient:
Rabin, Arafat, Peres and Assad of Syria.
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The garden has an olive tree of which the trunk measures 6 meters in circumference. The age of olive trees is estimated to be
1 meter per 400 years, so this giant must be at least 2400 years old and still yields 500 kilos of olives every year. This tree must have
seen a lot!
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Another Druze experience: we drive to the little factory of Aya Natural, in the Druze village Beit Jann. They produce and sell
all sorts of olive oil based soaps and skin treatments. Not a bad idea for Sonja, since her skin is terribly dry ever since the mud bath
in the Dead Sea.
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Taking 5. Henk reads his emails on the swing from the tiny screen of his palmtop PC, with newspaper, coffee and cat Smartoeta ("cleaning rag")
within reach. The zimmer has recently been equipped with wireless internet, but since that time Uri's PC has had troubles. Despite several
attempts, Henk does not succeed in making it work OK again.
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This holiday in a holiday is almost over: on our way back to Eilat we stop at a giant Moroccan shop in Hazor Haglilit. The place is packed
with vases, pots, tajines, screens, lamps and furniture.
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Especially the peacock throne gets our attention. Doesn't fit in the suitcase however, so we leave it to someone else.
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