March 26th: Banias Falls Nature Walk

Posted by Kara

I did not post about my days in Jerusalem because despite the fact that we did a TON of walking all over, there wasn't really any hiking to speak of. In case you are curioius, though, here is what our days looked like in between. These are only SOME of the things we did in Jerusalem:
 
Friday, Mar 23 – Jerusalem
Haas Promenade – Panoramic view of Jerusalem

Welcome & ice breakers with Israeli peers
Jewish Quarter – Old City walking tour

The Kotel – Reflections at the Western Wall
Machane Yehuda – Colorful Jerusalem marketplace

Saturday, Mar 24 – Jerusalem
Group activity & Walking tour
Political seminar – The Situation Today in Israel
Ben Yehuda Street – Pedestrian Shopping Center

Sunday, Mar 25 – Jerusalem & The North
Yad Vashem – Holocaust Memorial & Museum
Har Herzl – National Memorial

But after leaving Jerusalem, we drove up north to the Golan Heights and Sea of Galilee. The north of Israel is insanely gorgeous and a huge contrast to the South. It was incredible to know we had just left the Negev Desert merely days before and were now in a lush, green, rocky, mountainous part of Israel that looked completely unrelated. For a country the size of New Jersey, the amount of geographical diversity in unbelievable. I never wanted to sleep on the bus, no matter how tired I was, because of how beautiful it was.

    The Banias Falls nature walk was not at all difficult, but beautiful and the falls/rushing water was powerful and invigorating.  The wildflowers up north were in bloom all over, especially my favorite red flowers I'd been in love with since the beginning.

 

You started at the top and worked your way easily down into the valley, where a white-water river was raging powerfully. It was very noisy, you could hear it in your chest rumbling, and the water looked deadly as it rushed over the rocks.

Which lead to the waterfall...

 

This was the last hike we took. There was lots more walking, lots more city exploring and beautiful pictures, but this was the last nature-based activity we had and I was truly sad about that. I could have done three times the amount of hiking we did on this trip... not that I would have said that in the beginning after those first two or three days. But by this time, I would have done a repeat desert hike in a second. However, I also appreciated the other days where I saw some beautiful cities and learned a lot. 

I may post more about Israel, but these were the main hiking events during my ten day trip, and I thought it was worth sharing.