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Monday we went on an outing led by a guide. Families drove their own cars in convoy, following the guide's car. We had flags from the resort clipped to our rear windows so they were visible above the cars and we could stay together. There were about 5 cars in the tour group.
Our guide Shouka was one of the original members of the Ramot moshav. He showed us their avocado orchard with its delicious looking fruit. The moshav also built the Ramot Resort where we are staying this week. Shouka continues to be a member of the moshav community and a part owner of the resort.
The first stop was at a spot with with four tanks of different kinds: an Israeli, an American, a Soviet, and a British. As it was a family-friendly exhibit rather than a somber memorial, people climbed onto them and took photographs.
We continued to the old Cherkesi mosque. This was built by the Circassian community who lived in this particular area of the Golan. They fled during the Six Day War in 1967 and the mosque was partly destroyed in fighting the Syrians. Our guide told the story of the occupants
of that Circassian village. More about the Circassian history and culture is described in our previous blog from April 2016 - CLICK:
Day tour of Minorities in the Galil From there we drove to Fahem Springs. This was a pretty spot with water lilies. As we walked on uneven ground around the pond, we did not realise this was the start of the walk for our next objective. The path took us to Tel Farage. We climbed around the remains of buildings that constituted a village about 1700 years ago. The guide highlighted the arched ceilings of the stone structures. He explained that these were built without any structural frameworks nor mortar, yet a significant fraction had stood the test of time. Moreover they survived numerous earthquakes in the area. The secret to their integrity was the arches. A stone house built with straight walls and pillars holding the roof will sway and tumble in an earthquake. In contrast the arched design will sway but ultimately stay upright through the quake. We were impressed with those ancient community dwellers who figured this out. Understanding the earthquake nature of the area was also relevant to the overall Golan geography and what we would shortly see at the last place on our tiyul.
Finally we proceeded toward the Syrian border. We stopped at the edge of an old volcanic cone hollow. Mount Faro is one of the many ancient volcanoes which had pushed up at the time when the Golan area plateau rose and became what we now call the Golan Heights. This relates to earthquakes over time. The volcanoes erupted and left round dips such as the one into which we were now looking down. The magma which they spewed is visible all around in the basalt and pumice rocks. The guide pointed out that the pumice stones are good for scraping feet. Beyond the volcano hole we could see the Syria lookout posts at the border. Along the guarded fence we saw Israeli and UN flags marking positions of the security troops and observers. While many in the group chose to climb around the cone or further up Mount Faro for a better look, we decided to return to the resort.
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