Throwback Thursday

Although this pic is cluttered with things such as "Hello, my name is," visor, what appears to be a red bag hanging from my neck, and white tennis shoes with dark wind suit, it is still one of my favorites. We are standing on top of Mt. Arbel in Israel which overlooks the Sea of Galilee and the view is spectacular.

The pic makes me happy because Israel was first of all, a place I love to visit. Second, we were able to make the climb up the mountain! :-) And third, I love the colors of the rocks, the sky in the background, and the tree growing out of the rocks in the photo. We were on the heights and you can see from my windswept hair that it was very gusty up there!

Standing 700 feet above the Sea of Galilee, the Cliffs of Arbel provide a panoramic view stretching from the Golan Heights to the Jordan River valley. The snow-capped Mount Herman can be seen in the distance on clear days.

photo credit

The view is beautiful, but the history of this mountain is quite bloody. The historian Josephus documented the Roman conquest of Hasmonean rebels living in the cliffs in the 1st century. It is recorded that Herod the Great sent soldiers over the edge of the cliff by lowering huge baskets.  The soldiers then reached into the cliff dwellings and hurled the Hasmoneans to their death, and set fire to the dwellings to finish the job.

If you are interested, you can see other pictures and read more about Mt. Arbel here, but frankly, it's pretty gruesome.