Israel - Tiberias & Golan Heights

Thanks to a free trip to Israel, I officially visited my fourth continent! I would love to record every moment of the trip here, but I truly don't have the patience or brain capacity at this point. The trip was a whirlwind, and now that I'm back in "real life" some moments of it don't even seem real. In any case, I love my travel recaps so I will do my best here with a major emphasis on photos.

I took off from JFK on January 19. We met the rest of the group in the airport, did a few embarrassing icebreakers, and were on our way to Isreal with a quick stopover in Brussels! Our group consisted of 40 Americans, mostly around age 26, and mostly from New York, Boston and California. We landed in Ben Gurion airport in the evening, met our Israeli tour guide and security guard, and hopped in the bus (that would become our second home) for a few hours ride to "the north".

Not King of the North, but this was too funny not to post.

We arrived at our first hotel in Tiberias. More icebreakers and discussing the trip ensued. Here's an approximate map of our stops throughout the 10 days:

We started in Tel Aviv, drove North, then south through Jerusalem to the Red Sea, then back up to Tel Aviv.

The next day we were up early for a packed day, starting with a hike in the Golan Heights! When we walked out of the hotel we had a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee -- this was the first of many exciting historical moments for me. Supposedly this is where Jesus walked on water and calmed the storm. Very cool. On the way to the hike we passed by the Jordan River. Because of it's significant religious and historical relevance I assumed it was going to be this mammoth body of water. In reality the river was so small I nearly missed it.

The Golan Heights is Syrian territory that is currently occupied by Israel, and sadly, the beautiful landscape is littered with landmine areas and ruined neighborhoods. The Heights are also a place where the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) practice, so it was not uncommon to hear gunshots/explosions as we walked along. It was a mostly easy hike, except for some extra muddy moments and maneuvering through water/trees. Scary reality check: just a few days after our hike Syria fired rockets into the Golan Heights. Eek.

Waterfall in the background!

After the hike we stopped for lunch and I had my very first Israeli schwarma. It was good, but when I asked the guy what kind of meat was in it he said he didn't know. I spent much of the remaining trip eating vegetarian (hello hummus and pita). Unknown meat sources really skeeve me out. Lunch was also my first experience with the crazy Israeli cats. There are cats EVERYWHERE in Israel. Look at these two cuties hanging out at our table:

After lunch we went to an overlook point at the border of Syria and Israel. The point looked out onto the beautiful Mount Bental (known ironically as "the mountain of lust"-- both Israel and Syrica really want control over the mountain area). As we overlooked Syria we discussed the strained relationship between the two countries, as well as the current, seemingly endless conflict within Syria itself. As the guide spoke we'd occasionally hear the sound of gunshots in the distance. A soldier stationed at the overlook point told us that significant fighting occurred within Syria just that morning. Deep breaths.

Mount Bental

Syria in the distance

Following the overlook we headed to the ancient village of Katzrin and took a tour. This was actually my least favorite part of the entire 10 days. I really had no idea what we were doing there and the guide did not explain it well. Honestly the whole thing was weird so I'll just post some photos:

The highlight of the village was seeing a donkey go crazy. I wish I took a video of it!

The woman in the second picture was our guide -- a former Canadian who moved to Israel after visiting and meeting her now Israeli husband at a bible study class. Supposedly this was not a planned part of our itinerary, but after our tour she invited our whole group (yes, all 40 of us) back to her home to hang out in the backyard and snack on some pita and olive oil. It was a nice gesture but her pro-Israeli sentiment was a little too much, too soon. It was only day 1 after all!

Our last stop of the day was Olea Essence -- an olive oil factory where we sampled oils and skin care products. I bought myself this amazing exfoliater and lip balm. Necessary purchases?

After a long day we finally made it back to the hotel for dinner and drinks in the lobby. Understandably, Birthright has some fairly strict rules -- you can't leave the hotel on your own, you can't bring alcohol back to your room, there are certain days/nights when you can't drink at all, etc. I think a few people in our group were pissed about this, but I got it. They really don't need some idiot getting drunk off of Fireball shots and then getting kidnapped by ISIS while they're peeing in an alleyway.

Coming up: Tzfat and Tel Aviv!