3/27/2011 - Tel Dan

From our room at Kfar Blum we could see the orange trees growing in the field with Mt. Hermon in the background.  What a lovely area to stay.

We began our day at Tel Dan in the Hula Valley.  After walking a ways up, we came to a beautiful pond.  Of course, some of us, including me, took of our shoes and socks to stand in the cool water.

We walked on to the Gate House that had been reconstructed as it appeared 3000 years ago.  From Tel Dan we could see the Syrian border of today and of 1967.

Some of the stones were larger than my arm.

Boaz is from the Book of Ruth

The Altar

The red and white stick represents the 1967 Syrian border.

We can see present-day Syria in the distance.

The Hula Valley was originally a swamp.  Eucalyptus trees were planted in 1950 to help dry much of the land.  Because of underground gases, nothing would grow on the ground.  The fist nature preserve in Israel resulted from the remnant swamp lands.  Also, some of the land with the bases below were re-swamped and the land around covered with corn kernels so that the migrating birds would have food to eat without taking fish from the area fish farms.