Coastal Plain and Lowlands
Bahai Gardens in Acco
The Bahai faith’s two holiest shrines are in Israel’s north, one in Haifa and one in Acco. But whereas the Bahai Garden’s of Haifa are well-known, those in Acco are almost ignored. If you are soothed by greenery and symmetry, then make the journey only a half hour north of Haifa to a place where you can give yourself over to contemplation for hours at a time.
Ein Hod Artists Colony
Nestled in the low hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the artists village of Ein Hod sits just fifteen minutes down the old coastal highway from Haifa, Israel’s third largest city. But in Ein Hod’s idyllic serenity artists can focus on the creative process, aware that they live amongst leaders in their chose field. Indeed, ten Ein Hod residents have won the Israel Prize in painting, dance, literature and acting. Today the village has 22 galleries, 14 art workshops, and 2 museums. In addition their are eateries in the town square. Just up the hill from Ein Hod we can find the Arab town of Ein Hawd whose residents originally lived in Ein Hod but were displace during Israel’s War of Independence. It took many years but about ten years ago Ein Hawd was finally attached to the Israeli electrical grid.
Sites of Haifa
No question about it, Haifa’s primary attraction is the view from the top of the Bahai Gardens, both the view down into the gardens, the view of the port, across the Bay of Haifa all the way up to Lebanon and the Galilean hills. Haifa is an attractive city, set amongst the growing forests of the Carmel. The town planners placed the homes on the ridges, leaving the valleys for nature hikes and water courses. Go down into the German Colony near the port, on Ben Gurion Street, sit and enjoy coffee there and watch the people walk by. Haifa is a great jumping off place from which to make day trips up into the Galilee and even as far as the Syrian border on the Golan Heights, an easy hour and 40 minutes away, with a bathroom stop along the way.
Dig For A Day (Bet Guvrin)
The Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park is a large (1,250 acres) beautiful park at the nexus of the Judean Hills and the lowlands by the coast. It is the geology of Bet Guvrin that makes it special for us today: a covering of chalk over a harder rock called nari. People in antiquity realized that if they could get past the tough exterior they could then utilize the softer interior for storage, burial and even their homes. Bet Guvrin and the surrounding countryside is filled with such caves, by the thousands and they were used to good effect as hideouts by the Jews against the Romans during the 2nd century Bar Kochva rebellion.
The bible tells us of the defense line which included Mareshah and other points along the low hills leading up into the heart of Judea by the capital Judea. Thus, Maresha served as a line of defense for Jerusalem. King Rehoboam of Judah fortified Maresha after the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak fought a military campaign here: “And Rehoboam…built cities for defense in Judah…Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph” (2 Chron. 11:5-8). Later the city reached its zenith during the Greek reign over the land. Heralding a short period of independent Jewish sovereignty, John Hyrcanus, of the Hasmonean line of kings conquered the city in the second century BCE. It’s inhabitants were forced to convert or leave. and forcibly converted its inhabitants.