Hike

On Sunday, Feb 27 I went on a hike with a few of the other volunteers from the Garden. Don wasn't feeling good so he stayed back. It was part of the Israel trail that starts in the north of Israel and follows it all the way to Eilat. One of the staff members at the Garden, Rikki, lives in a town, Matta, that is about 1 hr from Jerusalem. This town overlooks the valley of Elah where David fought Goliath. I can imagine David picking up the stones as the hills are covered in stones - big and small. It would not have taken him long to fill his pouch!
There are many evidences of settlements throughout the area dating back to different times in history. Last summer on the hills not far from their homes, a fire wiped out a lot of olive trees and low growing brush, and Rikki and her husband discovered new caves that they had never seen before. They went into one of the caves and found some old pottery dating back to the crusader times or possibly even earlier.
Spring is just arriving in Israel so we saw many beautiful flowers blooming as well as the almond trees in blossom. I hope I don't bore you with the many pictures but I couldn't resist.
These look like crocuses but are actually cyclamen's growing in the wild! A few of the valley.

The town of Matta.

A fallen olive tree.

The hills were covered in poppies and these yellow flowers that looked a little like daisies and dandelions combined (if that makes sense.)

Our group on the hills overlooking the valley of Elah and the town of Matta.

An almond tree in blossom!

Poppies!

Star of Bethlehem flower!

Another almond tree in blossom. I know I'm from the Okanagan and I see fruit trees in blossom all the time - but it was so beautiful and smelled so good!

Our group having coffee at a small little coffee shop in Bar Bahar which means Bar in the Hills.

We climbed up to this fortress where we stopped for lunch. The structures show that this was probably built back in the Roman times but was used as recently as the early 1800's. It is now a national park called Beit Iila or (Elah.)

Having lunch!

On our way back we saw 2 sheperds with their 500 goats having lunch on the mountain side. Then the shepherd stood up gave a couple of loud weird calls and all the goats fall into line, started coming down the hillside following him up the road. What a sight!

This a the marking of a gravesite dating back to the time of the Marmaluk's (not sure I spelled that correctly!) One one of the hikes that Rikki and her husband were on they discovered this cave and saw a human skull, and then another and then another. In total there were 19 bodies. They reported it to the authorities and they said they were aware of it and that it had been used as a burial site dating back I think to the times of the Kings! Enjoying the sunshine and the view. I even got a little tan!

A few last pictures of flowers in Rikki's yard.

It was a great day. While I was on the hike I kept thinking "If only these hills could talk - Oh the stories they could tell." It is truly amazing to walk through so much history.

Till next time;

Shalom,

Shalom

Glenda