Back to Perth and a lovely day in the Golan Heights

After 14 months in Haifa it was time to visit family and friends and so it was that we traveled a long way for a short time in Perth. Flying economy class is still a novelty that Allan could learn not to become accustomed to!!! After seeing the family of our son-in-law at grandfather Rex’s 80th birthday celebration (we went there almost straight from the airport!), we spent lots of time with our daughter Allison and her husband JJ as well as Muna’s brother Fareed. Allan then went on to Wagga Wagga in NSW to visit his parents; after nine flights and six days of traveling, he ended up back in Haifa. Muna stayed in Perth, shopped and visited friends and suffered only six flights. We are trying to interest Qantas in a direct flight!

The Ridván festival from April 21 to May 2 is the most important Holy Day in the Bahá’í calendar and the first day was celebrated at Bahjí which is the holiest spot for Bahá’ís—some 45 minutes drive from Haifa and half way to the border of Lebanon.

Sunset at Bahjí sheds a glorious glow on these very beautiful and peaceful gardens.

There are three days out of the 12 days of Ridván on which we do not work, so it was a great opportunity for us and ten friends to see some more of Israel before it gets too hot. The Gamla Nature Reserve on the Golan Heights was our destination. It had once been a Jewish fortress captured by the Romans in the Great Revolt. It is named Gamla after the Hebrew word for camel (gamal), because the ancient fortress is on a mountain that is shaped remarkably like a camel.

On the kilometer walk to the Gamla waterfall, which at 50m is the highest in Israel (OK, so it is not Niagara Falls, but very impressive by local standards!), we passed a field of red poppies which were a sight to behold.

Seeing water flowing like this is a rare event in this desert country.
Being wild flower season, there were a host of small and large flowering plants, including many prickly varieties, which we enjoyed without the burden of finding out their names!!!

The remains of the ancient settlement of Gamla are reached via a steep descent that took us about 20 minutes (and 40 minutes coming up!). Gamla was an important city at the end of the Second Temple period and it is possible that Jesus visited Gamla. The city catapulted to fame because of its role in early days of the Great Revolt (67 C.E.).

In his book, The Jewish War, the Roman historian Josephus Flavius tells in great detail the dramatic story of how the Jews of Gamla fought the Romans tooth and nail. When they saw that they had no chance whatsoever of victory, the Jews chose to commit suicide by jumping off the precipice rather than fall into captivity. It’s a long jump!

The reserve boasts both a phenomenal concentration of birds of prey, some of them rare, living in a relatively small area. Scores of pairs of Griffon vultures nest on the cliffs, making up the largest flock of Griffon vultures in Israel. In the afternoon we saw them circling overhead in large numbers and from the remains of the fortress, they were actually flying below us.
Coming from Australia, the archeology of Israel is amazing and Gamla has remains of a church from the Byzantine period, the earliest known synagogue in the world which was used for prayer until the destruction of the Second Temple, an aqueduct, a ritual bath, and many public buildings. The arrowheads and slingstones found here are sad mementos of the battle waged and lost at Gamla.

On Fridays, we work only half a day and there are a lot of short trips that you can do from Haifa, starting at noon. Together with two Bahá’í youth, Sacha and Ginous, we went to Caesarea, a coastal port of great significance during Roman times and a major tourist attraction. On the site of what once was a Phoenician town, King Herod (34 - 4 BCE) built a resplendent port city and named it after his patron – Augustus Caesar. Its inhabitants – Romans, Jews and Samaritans enjoyed the pleasures of the Roman world - bath houses and places of entertainment. Herod, of course, had a great palace built for himself, courtesy of plenty of slave labour! Then the Jews rebelled in 66 CE and the city only again reached the height of its prosperity in the Byzantine period (fourth to sixth centuries CE). After the Muslims conquered the land in the seventh century, Caesarea’s fortunes declined until the crusaders captured the town in 1101 CE. Eighty six years later Saladin conquered the town and destroyed its walls, which were rebuilt and fortified by the French king Louis IX. However, (you’ve guessed!) the strengthened walls could not repel the Mameluke Sultan, Babar, who conquered the city in 1265.

So a lot of people have been through, and now Allan and Muna are added to the list, though we only captured photos. These people were amazingly clean and had saunas and hot and cold baths, which also served as a place of social contact. A bath stood on top of these pylons and the fires would rage underneath to create plenty of steam.
There were amazing mosaic floors as well – thousands of years old – it really does make an impression on the boy from Oz, especially when people walk all over them!
Of course Allan loves the water and so the blues and greens of the Mediterranean hold a special fascination, as they do to the wind surfers and dozens of yachts that take advantage of the constant breeze.The Romans loved a good chariot race and although this team does not look like they are going to win, the hippodrome was a place of great spectacles – the remnants are in excellent condition; you can really get a sense of what people did on a Friday night before Aussie Rules football (AFL) was invented.
Here you see some latter-day gladiators getting ready to entertain the masses!
There is so much to see in this ancient land – so rich with history and small enough to make it all very accessible; we are indeed fortunate and thankful to be here. Enjoy the Aussie winter and may it be a reasonably wet one!