Monday, September 14, 2009

Israel Day 5: Golan (Nimrod's Castle)

Tom and Kaley allowed us to sleep in a little in our adorable mountain cabin and it was glorious! I love sleeping with the windows open to crisp air while I'm buried under a mound of comforters. The weather in Tel Aviv was hot (probably around 90 each day) but in the north, it was much cooler and refreshing.

After destroying the breakfast buffet (where Zach poured himself a glass of salad dressing because he thought it was juice), we headed out for the day. Our first stop was the Nimrod fortress, a castle compound dating back to 1227 A.D. It was built by a pair of Muslim sultan brothers and changed hands many times in its history, between Muslims and Christians and back again. After the crusaders surrendered and left the Holy Land at the end of the 13th century, the fortress felt out of use, although it was a prison for awhile in the 15th century. It is named after the mighty hunter Nimrod, who was a great-grandson of Noah.




The Baybars Inscription, a monumental Arabic inscription with words of praise and eulogy:



Zach, demonstrating how to shoot an arrow through the window while keeping his body protected:


2 comments:

~Kimberly said...

I also love a good glass of salad dressing in the morning. Gets me going in the morning!

Lisa said...

Ah, haven't we all make the buffet line mistake?! ;-) Whether it's salad dressing for juice in Israel, or whipped butter for lemon mousse at The Sizzler. . .Although, I am curious how much of it Zach felt he had to drink!