Tips about exploring Tzfat
Everything is pretty driveable in the North because this is a small country. We split our time between Tzfat and Haifa. There were merits to both, but we wouldn’t stay in Haifa again.
Tzfat has an artists’ colony, lovely views, and a few good restaurants. The artists’ street was mostly closed when we were there. We gathered this was because of the day(s) we tried to visit, or the times, or the COVID-season, or the month (February). In any case, we saw only a few shops in Tzfat because we were unwilling to wait around for things to open when there were mountains to climb elsewhere. The candle shop in Tzfat was open and worth a visit, and there were a few Judaica shops with lovely items. Our B&B had a thrilling view from the rooftop garden, where we enjoyed dinner our first day.
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We headed in the car to Meshushim Pools in the Nahal Meshushim, in the Yehudia Forest Nature Reserve. This is a 35 sq km preserve, the largest in the area. It was a 1.5 hour glute and thigh workout, downhill first to the pool and waterfall, and a nice bridge, and then back uphill, on a trail that is well-defined but rocky with uneven-sized steps. The views are stunning. The rock formations will make you want to be a geologist. The vegetation is beautiful, a number of flowers were blooming including cyclamen, anemone, and various other flowers; this was in February, so I imagine it is spectacular in the busy season (April-October, according to the park attendant). As a cool-down, we did a 5 min loop with a lookout. This was a paved, flat, gentle upslope. If you can’t manage the rocky downhill loop to the waterfall, it is still worth the 5 min loop. Because it is paved this is suitable for wheelchairs. The loop features 2 lookouts which are breathtaking. It feels like you can see the entire country, with treed valleys, distant cities, birds and hyrex. We saw porcupine quills on the path and most of the vegetation from the longer walk is also here to view.
2
In the Ancient Qatsrin Park they are updating the ruins from 3-6th centuries village. It has a basalt synagogue, working olive press, free-range peacocks, and one house that had been fully restored. Construction was in full swing on other home restorations, the winepress, and we were told a swimming pool is also planned. This might be more exciting for more types of visitors once they finish all the restorations, or perhaps it was the season in which we visited. (In other places they mention interactive events on-site and bread baking.) However, since we really like archeology it was enough for us to see the synagogue and the completed house. The synagogue has a line around it showing what is restored and what is original. The door’s top stone was intact and featured an olive wreath, olive oil jug, and pomegranates–a testament to the olive oil production in this village that sustained the community. The restored home was really cool: a 2-level modest home. An employee onsite gave us context that I hope will show up in a plaque or guided tour in the future: sleeping mats were found on the ground in a long room on the bottom level. A slightly smaller room next to it was likely for animals to stay inside and to store items. Above the smaller area was where the parents slept. It was reachable by a ladder or, as this is the second floor, it also had an exit to an uphill patio where the cooking happened. The Park also had a video presentation near the olive press which was entirely skippable: 1980’s production with outdated humor and too much off-topic.
Our final destination was a restaurant called Alyasmeen in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the foothills of Mt. Hermon north of the Golan Heights. Check out our food in Northern Israel page for more information.
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Banias Falls Nature Reserve (a part of the Hermon Stream Nature Reserve) has two parking lots for the reserve – we drove first to the Falls parking lot. We then walked to Banias Falls. It’s a 2 km round trip hike, less strenuous than the Meshushim pool hike but still with hills and steps, though the steps were more regularly sized. Beautiful falls, especially with winter snowmelt, and part of hike is on a suspended path over the river.
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We bought preserved labneh for 25 shekels from a guy with a stand in the parking lot, then saw there was another guy around the corner. His labneh was 20NIS, but instead we bought a druze pita with labneh, zatar, and olive oil that he assembled and then heated. It was the perfect snack.
We drove to the other end of the park (Banias springs parking lot) to see Pan’s cave, palace ruins from Agrippa II (son of Roman-installed King Herod), and a hybrid tower with parts from Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, Ottoman and present day. Pan’s cave is visible from the parking lot. It’s a fascinating Roman complex of temples to Pan and dancing goats. It’s a pleasant, flat walk from there to Agrippa’s palace. Along the way, we saw a small hydroelectric station and a flour mill (using water-driven stones to grind the wheat up until the 1980s for local villages). Just beyond the flour mill, there was a snack stand. A woman was making date-filled cookies and had finished cooking some other cookies. She gave us one to split; it was still warm and the dates were the only sweetener but made for a tasty cookie. Then we bought a druze pita from her, for comparison. It tasted about like the first one but we enjoyed eating it while watching the water flow around and through the flour mill. We continued our walk to Agrippa’s palace, which contained well-preserved ruins of storehouses, a synagogue and some baths.
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Nimrod’s Fortress (in Arabic, Kalat al-Subeiba) is only about 20 minutes drive from the Banias Springs parking lot. Although attributed to the biblical Nimrod in the 19th century by locals, the fortress was built by the Ayyubid empire and enlarged by the Mamluks. This was another glute and thigh workout; you get to drive to the top of the hill but there are still plenty of stairs to get to the top of the keep. Remarkably well preserved with some beautiful and well-preserved Arabic carvings on some doors and fountains. There is an impressive 7-foot shaft to bring water up from the cistern to the main castle level, and a bathroom!
5
The Gamla reserve has vultures, spectacular views, and the ruin of a town destroyed by Romans.
This park has expansive views of the valley and a Biblical story to explain its history. The town of Gamla–meaning camel in Hebrew–is perched on a hilly camel-like ridge between two mountains. The Jewish town was from the Second Temple Period and fought off a Roman invasion once, but not a second time. After the defeat to the Romans, the town was not resettled.
The site has several options for walking and hiking. The central path is short, level, and paved. From here, one can see vultures, the ruins of Gamla below, and some nice native plants. They have some young vultures in cages that can be seen from the path, but not super close as they are raising them to release into the wild. Free, adult vultures came to the cages to visit, which was pretty cool. A challenging hike down from this path to Gamla gives close-up access to the Gamla ruins. Another path towards the Gamla waterfalls is mostly level, though very rocky. It takes about 40 min each way to the waterfall. Just before the falls, the path turns downhill about 5 minutes, and then there is a bridge over the upper falls. The path continues uphill which provides a view of the whole falls.
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We spent one day essentially circling the Sea of Galilee.
At the southern tip, we were on a quest for dates at Kibbutz Kinneret. If you like dates and are near the Sea of Galilee, this is a great stop. (If you are visiting the Christian baptismal site Yardenit, which is run by the Kibbutz, the date store is directly up the hill). The Kibbutz store has many date varieties and 1kg cost 24NIS (US$8 at the time)!! They also have date syrup and honey made on-site, and products from other local producers including drinks, snacks, cookware and home furnishings. They were not offering samples due to COVID, but otherwise, this is the norm.
Very close by is Dagana Alef, which has a museum. Dagana was the first kibbutz in Israel, founded in 1910, and Kibbutz Kinneret the second, founded in 1911.
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The drive in this area boasts views of banana fields, covered with huge screens and all laden with blue bags that protect the fruit bunches on each plant. We made a circuit all the way around the Sea. Most beachfront is public. Places to enter the water are clearly labeled.
1. Select "New Israeli Shequel" In the "From" box.
2. Select your native currency in the "To" box. For example, US residents will select "US Dollar".
3. Type in the NIS amount you would like to convert into the "Amount" box. For example, if you would like to know how many US Dollars are in 500 NIS, type "500".
4. The conversation rate will display at the bottom of the gray box.
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