The Golan Heights

We really love visiting northern Israel but have found ourselves stopping in the Galilee area more often than not. This summer we purposely travelled a little further and spent a fabulous few days exploring the glorious Golan Heights.

The Golan Heights rises up to the east of the Sea of Galilee in the far north east of Israel and is home to some of Israel's most spectacular landscape: volcanic hills, cattle ranches, boutique wineries, olive groves and orchards. About 40 miles from north to south, it is a relatively small but important region, supplying Israel with over one third of its water and historically being the site of many important battles.

We stayed at Kibbutz Ein Zivan and enjoyed the wonderful cool Golan weather. Air-conditioning in the summer? Not at Kibbutz Ein Zivan! 

Our first stop was at The Golan Magic Visitor Centre, located in the Israeli town of Katzrin, to try and give the kids - and us - an understanding of the geography and history of the area. Then we began exploring.

The settlement of Gamla (above), which dates back 5,000 years, is known as the "Masada of the North". It is where some 9,000 Jews revolted against Roman rule in 67 CE. At the national park we saw from a distance the ruins of the original settlement, which is now lorded over by a colony of vultures that breed in the surrounding hills. It was deemed too hot for the longer hike down to the ruins, but we did make it to the beautiful Gamla waterfall, passing ancient dolmens – stone structures which are shaped like tables, but nobody is sure of why - and the remains of a Byzantine village along the way. At 170 feet, the waterfall is the tallest flowing waterfall in Israel.

We kayaked down the River Jordan, admittedly with seemingly half the population of Israel who were on holiday at the same time as us. A relaxing ride down the river it was not, but the day was redeemed by an afternoon spent at Kibbutz Kfar Blum's "Top-Rope" adventure park. The boys climbed the high rope course, practised their archery skills and zip-lined into the waters of the Jordan River.

A tour of the apple packing house of Beresheet allowed us a break from the outdoor activities typical of the Golan. The tour took us through the path followed by the apples after they have been picked in the nearby orchards, all the way to the packages we find at our local supermarket. We learned about the cutting edge technologies Beresheet use to preserve, select and pack the fruit and, best of all, we now know which apples to look out for after choosing our favourites in Ein Zivan's own orchards.

The same day we made a return visit to Mount Bental and listened to Syrian gunfire in the background. It was incredibly strange to be standing in such a beautiful spot, on a gorgeous summer's day, yet being reminded that such atrocities are being carried out not so very far away.

A very informative audio guide on Mount Bental suggested a visit to Kibbutz Elrom, near the Valley of Tears (Emek HaBacha). There, inside a cinema, a fascinating film is screened which tells the story of the battle of the Valley of Tears, when the Syrian Army tried to penetrate the Israeli frontline during the Yom Kippur War and was stopped by the Israeli Armored Corps’ 77th "Oz” Regiment of the 7th Armor Brigade, together with soldiers from the 188th Armor Brigade. Afterwards we paid a visit to the "Oz 77" memorial to remember the young people who died. This time we stared straight in to south-western Syria, in to the ghost town of Quneitra, a town evacuated during the 1967 war and left in no man's land ever since (above).

At Kibbutz Odem we picked (and ate!) delicious figs, peaches, plums and blueberries, just some of the unique fruits that only grow in the Golan Heights' altitude and weather, and we went horseback-riding at Kibbutz Merom Golan. The kids participated in a basic chocolate-making workshop at the De Karina Chocolate Factory and Visitor Centre. I preferred to simply taste the gourmet chocolate.

Who would want to go home after almost a full week of activities such as these? Certainly not us! But we know for sure that we will go back to the Golan for more someday soon.