Thu 21 December 2006   (Chanukkah VI)

Leaving Tiberias at 6:00 in the morning, a one-hour drive towards north took me to the Hulah Valley nature reserve. The noise of thousands of birds could be heard from afar, before any winged creatures could be sighted with the plain eye. I rented a bike to make closer acquaintance with these small flying tourist attractions.

Half an hour of ornithology sufficed for me on this occasion, and then I continued driving towards north. In Qiryat Shmonah there were plenty of soldiers hitch-hiking towards Metullah in the north, but I turned east towards the Hermon region. Being reminded of the popularity of hitch-hiking here (which is almost unheard-of in Scandinavia), I decided that during the rest of my two-week travel I would take as many hitch-hikers as I would encounter on the highways.

At 8:30 I arrived at Tel Dan national park, where I spent an hour of brisk walking in the rather extensive area — actually jogging most of the time, to save time which I knew to be very scarce, since I had planned to reach not only Mount Hermon in the north, but also Belvoir and Beyt Shean 120 km to the south, and all this before sunset. (I would have wished to see also the crocodiles in Hamat Gader and the kangaroos in Gan Garoo west of Beyt Shean, but my tight schedule did not allow me to pay a visit to these creatures.)

One of the highlights of the day was visiting the Nimrod Fortress, which is located a 15-minute drive northeast of Tel Dan. Climbing up and down the steep hills and stairs of the fortress was a rather athletic effort, at least at the pace with which I did it, investing only half an hour to this impressing historical site.

Another 45 minutes of constant uphill towards northeast brought me to the Mount Hermon ski resort at 11 o’clock. (The distance is actually only 30 minutes, but I drove astray in the Druze village called Majdal Shams.) There was not a single flake of snow anywhere on the mountain, but I took the skilift ride to the top anyway, to view the scenes and take some photos.

The visit to the top consumed one full hour of my carefully rationed time, because of the slow and lengthy skilift ride first up and then down. During the ride down from the top I studied my notebook and reviewed my travel plans for the rest of the day. Realizing the scarcity of time and the multitude of places to visit, I said a quiet farewell to the crocodiles and kangaroos. So close, yet too far.

Leaving Mount Hermon at noon, the next two hours and a half I spent driving south along highway 98, through the most eastern parts of Golan Heights. The bird-flight distance from Mount Hermon to Belvoir fortress is only 120 km, but the zig-zag roads near the military zones and on the mountain slopes consumed unexpectedly much time. I also picked two hitch-hikers along the road, but they were travelling to a different destination, and only stayed for ten kilometers in my car.

The landscapes were quite plain in the eastern parts of Golan Heights, except in Mas’adeh where the vegetation was uncommonly bountiful, honestly deserving to be called a “forest”. I was fool enough not to take a photo in Mas’adeh, but I took plenty of photos of the less interesting landscapes, such as the three panoramas below from south of Quneitra, Ramat Magshimim, and the southern end of Lake Kinneret.

The mountain road north of Hamat Gader offered a fine view to the river canyon that serves as the military border zone between Israel and Jordan. The photo below is the left half of what should have become a 180° panorama of the river canyon. The border patrol interrupted this photographic activity, however, because the location where I was standing was two meters inside the forbidden border zone. (Another two meters forward would have been mined zone, so two meters is a very meaningful concept in this place.)

It was 14:30 o’clock when I arrived at Belvoir fortress, which is located along such a narrow and bumpy dirt road that I was quite convinced that I had driven astray, and there could be no trace of civilization behind this forsaken wasteland trail. There it was, however, the ruins of a nice little Crusader fortress.

It took 15 minutes for me to walk around this 90 x 90 m building, and to take panoramic photo sets towards the Jordan Valley and towards southern Galilee. Despite the small size of the fortress, the magnificent landscapes on all sides made me convinced that this is one of the most beautiful historical sites in the region, and the fortress would be a real jewel if it were rebuilt to its former glory.

I continued my race against the clock by returning to the forsaken dirt road, and 45 minutes later I arrived at the ticket office of Beyt Shean national park, half an hour before the closing time. This was enough to explore the most important parts of the ancient city at a casual pace, take less than a hundred photos, and buy some souvenirs from the bookstore.

All tourist attractions in this region closed their doors at four o’clock, so there was nowhere left to go any more. I witnessed the sunset while driving towards Afula (25 km west of Beyt Shean), and it became dark before I reached the McDonald’s near Megiddo. A crispy chicken meal gave me energy to drive another four hours to Mitzpeh Ramon at the center of Negev desert.

Two teenage hitch-hikers were knocking the windows of cars at red traffic lights on highway 6, but again they were travelling to a different destination than me, and only stayed for five or ten kilometers in my car.

It was 21 o’clock when I arrived at the parking lot of Mitzpeh Ramon youth hostel. The trip meter of the car showed 900 km, of which 670 km had been driven today. Taking a well-deserved hot shower in my room, and then surfing on the Internet and watching a basketball game on television, I made the observation that while the low-budget accommodations in Israel are mostly intolerable slums, the Youth Hostel Association runs its business decently. Their price is seldom the cheapest offer, but it most probably will be the best value for money.