After rising for breakfast, we began the day with a relatively long bus ride to the northern reaches of Israel.
Tel Dan
Tel Dan is at the very northern tip of Israel. At one spot, we were within a kilometer of Lebanon, and could clearly see a Lebanese village in front of us. One of the most productive springs in the Middle East is here, which is why it was likely a place for settlement dating back to the time of Abraham and before. The spring provides about half the volume of the River Jordan. There was a skirmish here in 1964 between Israeli and Syrian forces, using a border the width of a pencil line drawn in 1923 for both sides claiming sovereignty over the spring. It was a reminder of the land disputes between nations in this area that have raged for eons.
Our hike back to the site was over a path that alternated between muddy and large, smooth, slick river stones. It was a beautiful, overgrown area, clearly watered by the rushing stream that roared past us as we walked along.
We had a chance to see a city gate that dates back to the Middle Bronze period, about 1800 BCE. From Genesis 14, we know that Abraham, who would have lived in this period, was in Dan. The gate was buried as a typical part of conquering a city in that time, and was unearthed in 1979 and opened to the public in 2009. The construction is of mud bricks.
One of the information signs at the site stated "Following the division of the kingdom of Solomon in 930 BCE, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, established a cult at Dan as an alternative to the one at the Temple in Jerusalem. He placed a golden calf in the city and built a house of high places. In the Hellenistic period, the cultic precinct was surrounded by a wall that is visible to this day. A bilingual (Greek-Aramaic) inscription found at the site attests to the precinct."
Banias Springs and Waterfall
A short distance away from Tel Dan, we came to the backside of the Caesarea Philippi site that we visited on our last trip. Banias, also spelled Banyas, comes from the cave in the limestone at Caesarea Philippi dedicated to the Greek god, Pan. The site was originally called 'Panias', but since the area was under Syrian Arabic control for a long time, and they have no sound for the letter "P", it became Banias. We parked on the Falls side, and as we started down the path, across the way we saw a herd of about 7 wild hogs scrambling up the hillside.
We had a hike back to the falls that involved some climbing, some narrow passage ways, and some more mud. The site features a relatively new suspended trail attached to the canyon walls. There were several spots where we had to squeeze to one side while large groups of young people went past us on the other side of the path. It was definitely a more natural experience than the other side.
The waterfall is described as the most impressive one in Israel. It comes from a spring out of the foot of Mount Hermon, and after flowing a short distance through a canyon, it falls about 30 feet into a small pool area and on to the Hermon River. Compared to waterfalls we have back home, it wasn't that big, but it still had an impressive flow coming through to the stream below. We had a chance to observe it from a nice platform built into the side of the canyon wall.
A short distance away from Tel Dan, we came to the backside of the Caesarea Philippi site that we visited on our last trip. Banias, also spelled Banyas, comes from the cave in the limestone at Caesarea Philippi dedicated to the Greek god, Pan. The site was originally called 'Panias', but since the area was under Syrian Arabic control for a long time, and they have no sound for the letter "P", it became Banias. We parked on the Falls side, and as we started down the path, across the way we saw a herd of about 7 wild hogs scrambling up the hillside. 
We had a hike back to the falls that involved some climbing, some narrow passage ways, and some more mud. The site features a relatively new suspended trail attached to the canyon walls. There were several spots where we had to squeeze to one side while large groups of young people went past us on the other side of the path. It was definitely a more natural experience than the other side.
We drove past the Caesarea Philippi site that was very popular during the Roman period. The area was named for both Caesar and Herod's son, Philip. While we didn't stop, we could see the cave of Pan, also know as Hades. It was in front of this cave that Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah, and Jesus responded that Peter was the Rock and the Gates of Hades would not prevail against him (Matthew 16).
Leaving the Banias area, we drove a few miles into the Golan Heights and had lunch in a Druze community at the Alsultan Restaurant. The Druze are an Arab-speaking religious group, that is Abrahamic as a basis, and draws from Christianity, Judaism, Ismaliism, Gnosticism, and others, and also contains a secretive component to the religion as well. The sect exists in numerous places, and always in a minority, and often persecuted, though they are a part of regular society in Israel.
Leaving the Banias area, we drove a few miles into the Golan Heights and had lunch in a Druze community at the Alsultan Restaurant. The Druze are an Arab-speaking religious group, that is Abrahamic as a basis, and draws from Christianity, Judaism, Ismaliism, Gnosticism, and others, and also contains a secretive component to the religion as well. The sect exists in numerous places, and always in a minority, and often persecuted, though they are a part of regular society in Israel.
Apparently tours with Mike in recent years have stopped at this place, but it was new for us. We were seated family style at tables, pre-set with some dishes of olives, pickles,beets, eggplant, slaw, sauces, and a few other things. We knew that there was a set price of $12 US for basically a salad meal, and an additional $10 to add a meat. The fixings on the table looked nice enough, but we decided to order a meat dish as well, to be shared by the two of us.
The order was taken with the waiter/owner asking "how many for chicken skewers? How many for kebob?" Now the servers started bringing out more dishes...and more dishes. We had pita bread, falafel, humus (at least two ways), a cream cheese/yogurt type dip, lettuce salad, and on and on. There was barely room on the table for our plates. They brought out freshly squeezed lemonade, and big bottles of water. And if something ran out, they brought more!
Needless to say, by the time the meat dishes came out, we were already pretty full! We soldiered on and managed to eat a lot of food, and were very satisfied. Then they brought out plates of baklava and little cups of coffee. Thankfully, the baklava were in small bars, and the coffee was in small cups. Both were very good. Who knows, maybe we'll become coffee drinkers after all! There seemed to be great agreement that this was a wonderful chance to see local people in their natural settings, and it was very much appreciated.
Golan Heights Overlook
As we headed from the far north back toward the Sea of Galilee, we stopped at an overlook that was just a stone's throw from Syria. In fact, a Syrian village was clearly seen in front of us. We know from our previous trip that the Road to Damascus runs through this area, and in fact, Damascas was only about 20 miles from where we were standing.
Gamla
This was another stop that was duplicated from our first trip to Israel in 2012-13. When we got to the top of a small mountain on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee in the central Golan Heights, we had a vantage point that overlooked both the ruins of the Jewish village of Gamla, and a deep valley that is a favorite spot for vultures.
Archaelogical evidence confirms that Gamla was already a fortified town in the early Bronze age, but was destroyed and resettled during the Hellenistic period. Gamla was the capital of the Golan district during the 1st century. Gamla was overrun by Romans during the Jewish revolt in 67 AD after several attempts by Vespasian, who figured out a way to attack in spite of the steep hill and high cliffs surrounding it. This was one of the last holdouts against the Romans. While we only observed the ruins from across the valley, the synagogue there is considered to be one of the earliest in Israel.
We saw several griffon vultures floating in the air currents through the Bet Tsayda valley. The vultures are in danger of extinction, so extensive monitoring, observation, and protection activities are carried out to provide protection for them and the environment in this area.
Also in this park are the ruins of the Christian village of Deir Qeruh that dates to the 4th and 5th century. Some of these structures were still being used at the time of the 1967 war.
We drove past some of the 716 dolmens, Bronze age burial mounds, located in the preserve. They look like large, heavy stone tables, and apparently mark the burial locations of elite members of the community.
As we made our way back to the Ma'agan Holiday Village where we were staying, Kamal elected to take a 'scenic' highway down from the highlands of the Decapolis. Alan enjoyed the view, especially of the sunset over the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. However, Joyce didn't see as much of the view and spent a great deal of time wondering why in the world we were taking this route. It was very twisty, including a couple of hairpin turns that I'm guessing most bus drivers would not have attempted. Alan had been monitoring our route on his iPad and saw that the twisty section was coming and warned the folks in the back of the bus with sensitive travel stomachs about it.
Golan Heights Overlook
As we headed from the far north back toward the Sea of Galilee, we stopped at an overlook that was just a stone's throw from Syria. In fact, a Syrian village was clearly seen in front of us. We know from our previous trip that the Road to Damascus runs through this area, and in fact, Damascas was only about 20 miles from where we were standing.
Gamla
This was another stop that was duplicated from our first trip to Israel in 2012-13. When we got to the top of a small mountain on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee in the central Golan Heights, we had a vantage point that overlooked both the ruins of the Jewish village of Gamla, and a deep valley that is a favorite spot for vultures. 
Archaelogical evidence confirms that Gamla was already a fortified town in the early Bronze age, but was destroyed and resettled during the Hellenistic period. Gamla was the capital of the Golan district during the 1st century. Gamla was overrun by Romans during the Jewish revolt in 67 AD after several attempts by Vespasian, who figured out a way to attack in spite of the steep hill and high cliffs surrounding it. This was one of the last holdouts against the Romans. While we only observed the ruins from across the valley, the synagogue there is considered to be one of the earliest in Israel. We saw several griffon vultures floating in the air currents through the Bet Tsayda valley. The vultures are in danger of extinction, so extensive monitoring, observation, and protection activities are carried out to provide protection for them and the environment in this area.
Also in this park are the ruins of the Christian village of Deir Qeruh that dates to the 4th and 5th century. Some of these structures were still being used at the time of the 1967 war.We drove past some of the 716 dolmens, Bronze age burial mounds, located in the preserve. They look like large, heavy stone tables, and apparently mark the burial locations of elite members of the community.
As we made our way back to the Ma'agan Holiday Village where we were staying, Kamal elected to take a 'scenic' highway down from the highlands of the Decapolis. Alan enjoyed the view, especially of the sunset over the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. However, Joyce didn't see as much of the view and spent a great deal of time wondering why in the world we were taking this route. It was very twisty, including a couple of hairpin turns that I'm guessing most bus drivers would not have attempted. Alan had been monitoring our route on his iPad and saw that the twisty section was coming and warned the folks in the back of the bus with sensitive travel stomachs about it.
Dinner and meeting
After the meeting, several of us reboarded the bus for an Ice Cream run to Tiberias. It was fun to see some of the night life in Tiberius, and of course, ice cream is never a bad idea!
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