Sunday morning, October 23, we leave Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee at -200 meters and ascend to the Golan Heights in the north which is 800 meters above sea level. There used to be a small lake above the Sea but it was drained in the 1950s because stagnant water had become a breeding ground for the West Nile virus. Now the area is green with citrus and olive groves because of springs and streams coming down from Mount Hermon.