gamla

gamla
Originally uploaded by nostalgist

At Gamla you can rent binoculars at the entrance and watch the vultures. I wish I'd taken a picture of the sign warning people not to throw rocks in case they hit the vultures on their heads; it depicts a Seussian vulture looking rather discomposed at the rock that has fallen on his bald, long head. The blue in the distance is the kinneret. Gamla is the location of one of the last-stand cities against the Romans; it's the Masada of the North. And you can hike over to the ruined city, but it would have taken too long with the kids. It's tremendously picturesque but I'm a little uncomfortable with the cult-of-suicidal last stands around Masada and, to a lesser extent, Gamla. Soldiers often go to Masada to get sworn in, and a popular song has the chorus, "It's good to die for our country." I'm on the good to live for our country side of things myself. Dulce et decorum est - not.