Rosh Hanikra Grottos

Part of Rosh Hanikra is a beautiful system of caves, opening right on to the Mediterranean sea. The limestone is constantly eroding by the action of the waves.  

entrance to the caves...

 The caves are a habitat for bats.  We could hear them but could not see them, all through our tour through the caves

 lots of fun twists and turn, port holes, water rushing beneath our feet....

 The water is beautiful and clear.  It was fascinating to watch the little fish.

Rosh Hanikra

 Right on the Israel/Lebanon boarder is Rosh Hanikra.  There is a natural boarder between Israel and Lebanon of rugged, forbidding mountains.  This photo was taken from near the boarder and  is looking south towards Haifa.

And this photo is looking north.  Lebanon is on the other side of the out-jutting of rock.  The water is so beautiful and clear.

we took the cable car down to where for a very short while there was actually a railroad line connecting Israel with Lebanon.

Read the sign to see what happened to the rail line.  

 Inside the tunnel.  Look on the floor.  They left the rail road tracks in the floor.  The door in the back leads into a theater.  There is a beautiful balcony area behind us.  We were told that it was a very popular wedding location.

The black behind the screen below is the wall that separates Lebanon from Israel.  

Laish/ Tel Dan, history and judgement seat

 about 1/2 mile from the sacrificial worship center was the actual city of Dan.  It was remarkably well preserved in places, as you can see in this photo.

 Strong fortifications were built to try to protect the city from foreign invasion.

 don't forget.... click to enlarge so that you can read the sign.

 I found this to be fantastically interesting.  We read in the Old Testament how the Elders "sat in the gate", as for instance in Ruth, where the elders judged whether Boaz could receive Ruth for his wife.  This is a well preserved judgement dais, just outside the city gate of Dan where the king and elders sat in judgement and the people would come with matter that they could not resolve on their own.

 I find it interesting that this was obviously a very public setting, where anyone who happened to pass by could observe and even participate in the proceedings.  Ancient Israel was set up to be a very open society in matters of law, public judgement etc.

looking northward.