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| *Travel Tips>>>Israel Travel Tips |
Groovy places in the North of Israel? |
Travel Info I'm heading up north from Tel Aviv for a few days. I'm renting a car but wanted to know if there are any really interesting (off the beaten track) places to go/sleep/eat. The basic plan is to head to Tiberius and across to Haifa and back down. We have heard of Ein Hod which is meant to be cool - does anyone know anywhere else??? Thanks in anticipation. Travel Tips i loved Ein Hod. I once did an easy hike to Monfort Castle. I was beautiful and well worth the time. Montfort Castle The ruins of the once splendid Montfort Crusader castle, are located on a precipitous rock crest, overlooking the Keziv river are surrounded by an immense natural forest on the river slopes. The castle was constructed by Templar Crusader knights in the early 12th century, probably initially as a fortified farm, because in contrast to other Crusaders fortresses, it does not control a road, or any other strategic point. Short after completion the building was destroyed by Salah al Din after the defeat of the Crusaders at the Horns of Hittim on 3-4 July 1187. Five years later, the castle was re-conquered by the Crusaders, who restored it. In 1220, Montfort was sold to the Crusader Knights of the German Teutonic Order - the German order split from the Hospitaller order - and became their seat. They enlarged the castle with the help of donations collected by the head of the Teutonic order, Hermann von Salza , and gave it the name "Starkenberg" which means strong mountain. In a contract signed in Jaffa on 18th of February 1229 by the German King Friedrich II and the Moslem Sultan Almalik Alkamil, Montfort is mentioned as a Christian castle, with for first time the French name "Montfort", as used today. The fortress became a part of the defensive system protecting the Crusaders "Kingdom of Acre". For years, the Moslems tried in vain to re-conquer it. In the summer of 1266, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars made a first attempt to capture the castle but withdrew, only five years later, in 1271, after a seven days siege and digging under the walls he succeeded breaching the outer western wall and assaulted the inner defences, thus he conquered the last Crusader stronghold in Galilee. The Crusaders were permitted to surrender and withdraw with their treasures and archives to Acre; copies of those archives reached the Tirol in Austria, and are an important source for the history of the Land of Israel in time of the Crusaders. The Mamluk army devastated the castle and its walls, to prevent re-occupation by the Crusaders, and left the ruins we see today, although a few constructions date from the time of Dhahir el-'Amar, the Bedouin Governor of the Galilee in the 18th century. The castle's Arabic name is "Qal'at Qurein" meaning "castle on the small horn" so called for the the small and precipitous cliff which this castle crowns. The river Keziv River below is called "Wadi Qurein" in Arabic. The remnants and finds In 1926, an American archeological mission excavated the castle. Crusader armour was found, together with a part of a bow, many spearheads, a helmet, and parts of a cuirass. Downhill remains of another Crusaders building were found from that period, probably the farmer's house, and remainders of a dam in the river was discovered which stored water for channaling to a flour mill. From the castle can be seen the best preserved section of the outer defense wall two meters thick on the north and west side of it; loopholes in the wall; three cisterns hewn in the rock; rain water from the roofs and squares was collected through backed clay pipes into the cisterns; an observation tower; a staircase; living and work rooms and cellars; a row of some immense Gothic columns, which supported the roof of the main hall, a well preserved wine press. There are also some remains of a church, on the east flank of the castle; where the cliff is connected to the mountain range there is a moat cut in the rock, 20 meters wide and 11 meters deep; about 50 meters further east, a deep depression was broadened to form a frontal moat. Because also coins and pot sherds from the Second Temple period were found, some archaeologists maintain, that the Crusader builders used building materials from a former Roman fortress and other Roman ruins in the area. Source(s): http://www.jafi.org.il/education/noar/si... http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~bazlov... Other Travel Tips You used groovy and Israel in the same sentence... Ein Hod is Cool. Take a Map and Include From Haifa, Aco, Nazereth, Safed, Metula, Golan Heights, Zemach, Beit Shean, Megiddo. Anything from One Day to a Month is Possible... I lived in Safed (Zefat) for three years and Now there was Snow there, One of the most interesting Places. Lived there, Virtual Tourist Website Ein Hod is an artists village, lots of painters, sculptures etc. live there. Its on the No.4 road from Tel Aviv to Haifa, i.e. you can go on the Tel Aviv Haifa highway get off at at Furadis Junction until your reach the No.4 road junction turn left until you reach Ein Hod sign and turn right into the mountains you will find it. I have no idea about it being a cool place. If you go to Haifa do not miss the Bahai Gardens, on the way you can go (if you are interested in religion) through Nazereth and of course there are other things to see but none are really off the beaten track. Naharia - 40 minutes drive north of Haifa still on the coast. Beautiful place. Looks a bit like Southern Spain They are going to put up a brass plaque on a wall above a certain table in a certain restaurant saying "An English woman ate a whole large water melon here!" I know - I had to help her back to the car! What a guts! |
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