We spent a day in the Golan Heights and drove to Nimrod Fortress and Banias Nature Reserve. The Golan Heights is disputed territory - before 1967 it was Syrian land and Syria used these highlands to regularly launch mortar and artillery fire down onto Israeli citizens/farmers and soldiers alike. During the 1967 war, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, Israel rallied and took all of the Golan, as well as other strategic land, and kept it as a buffer from future attacks and to increase Israel's homeland security.
Our guide book listed Nimrod Fortress as a Crusader castle but the information on site said the original fortress was likely built earlier by Mamelukes. Neither of us have been to a castle as complete or large as this one. There was the outer castle and storerooms, smaller stone dwellings, and then the large keep in the center. The whole fortress looked down on a road going North-South, from central Israel, North to Damascus. This was an important ancient road for traders as well as for traveling armies and the importance of controlling this hilltop with a castle was obvious.
Our guide book listed Nimrod Fortress as a Crusader castle but the information on site said the original fortress was likely built earlier by Mamelukes. Neither of us have been to a castle as complete or large as this one. There was the outer castle and storerooms, smaller stone dwellings, and then the large keep in the center. The whole fortress looked down on a road going North-South, from central Israel, North to Damascus. This was an important ancient road for traders as well as for traveling armies and the importance of controlling this hilltop with a castle was obvious.
Funny sign - Danger Abyss!
Local fauna, including the Hyrax from the video above.
Dang! For some reason I can't get the videos to work! Bummer, dude!
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us know! They hopefully should work now...
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