Israel On The Move There Is No Shortage Of History In Israel And It Is Not All In The Cities - Enjoy The Adventure Of Sightseeing, Entertain Your Mind And Your Body
I felt a surge of epochal vertigo coming on. I had read about this phenomenon in a guidebook - tour guides ticking off names and dates of eras and kings like so many flavors at an ice cram stand. I tried to remember that the Byzantine period (A.D. 324-638) came before the Moslem period from 638 to 1099 but after the Roman period (A.D. 0-324). Instead, my mind was awash with the sound of hooves beating along ancient stone streets and the sight of Sulieman the Magnificent standing over workers as they rolled one more 30-ton rock into place along the Western Wall.
Although Israel has enough historic and holy sites to keep historylovers and Christian pilgrims occupied for weeks, there is also plenty here for travelers who have had enough after seeing only one or two sites.
Not that a little history isn’t bad. Just hearing about miracles, battles and conversations that took place at a particular spot was enough to transport me back in time. But there is no such thing as a little history in Israel. To understand one era, it helps to understand the one before and also the one before that.
I’m not saying “don’t visit any sites unless you know your history.” By all means, see the Roman aqueduct at Caesarea and the fortress of Massada, for only two great examples. Roam Jerusalem’s Old City and wallow in historical echoes around you. But take time for a few of Israel’s active and adventurous diversions, too. Hike nature reserves or ride camels across the Judean. Float in the Dead Sea or dive in the Red. Diversions like these offer a fun break from “site-seeing.”
Israel is small. It could fit inside Vermont, so most places are at most a few hours drive away from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.
From Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee in the north, south to Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea, the terrain is uncrowded and geographically spectacular, with sheer cliffs and broad desert valleys.
At Ein Gedi, resorts, health spas and beaches along the Dead Sea, a 41-by-11-mile lake, all focus on therapeutic treatment to visitors who come here to partake of the region’s mineral waters, sulfur baths, pollenfree air, dry climate and low atmospheric pressure. It is the lowest point on Earth at 1,320 feet below sea level. The lake has an extremely high level of salt and minerals, which means you float like a cork on the water - a sensation almost as wild as covering the body with Dead Sea mud.
Slightly north of Ein Gedi lies the Judean Desert and Metzoke Dragot International Center for Desert Tourism. The Judean Desert stretches from around Jericho in the north all the way to Ein Gedi. Here, you can rock climb, hike or ride camels, horses or all-terrain vehicles across the desert. I went for a twohour jeep safari, bouncing through dried creek beds and down narrow tracks along rugged Nahal Darga Canyon and lurching over steep switchback tracks up the other side.
At the first viewpoint hundreds of yards above the valley, incredible vistas stretch over the Syrian-African fault clear across the Dead Sea to the Moab Mountains.
As the jeep climbed over the crest of a small hill, we came upon a Bedouin man shepherding a dozen camels from the back of a donkey. Later, three ibex, similar to gazelles, stood almost perfectly camouflaged in the sunwashed gray desert. The hills are beautifully desolate: washed out even when the sun descends, a bleak whitish, sandy rock - smooth in some places, cracks and holes in others.
High on the eastern slopes of the Judean Desert sits Massada. Each ancient ruin and ongoing archeological dig in Israel has its own significance and appeal. But the fortress called Massada, discovered in the 1800s, has the most remarkable setting by far. The reconstructed palace, water cistern, watchtower, storerooms, bathhouse and other rock structures stand in splendid isolation on a flat diamond-shaped sand butte high above the rest of the desert plateau. Hikers can skip the cable car and walk up a steep hourlong path to the plateau, more than half a mile long and 1,000 feet wide.
Archaeologists still do not know who originally planned and built this magnificent stronghold. After the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple in A.D. 70, nearly 1,000 Jewish zealots lived at Massada. They held out against the Romans for three years until a takeover seemed imminent. After drawing lots, the zealots killed themselves in a mass suicide. You can still see a Roman-built ramp up the east side. When the Romans finally ascended the ramp, they found only silence.
At the northernmost tip of Israel is the Galilee, a region which extends from Lebanon east to the Jezreel Valley and south to the Sea of Galilee. With lush greenery, wetland reserves and semi-arid oases, this diverse region is a natural choice for outdoor options.
Vered Hagalil, for example, is a guest farm specializing in week-long horseback trips on sheep and goat trails that date back to Roman times. Its cozy wood and stone cabins have porches with breathtaking views over the Sea of Galilee, Israel’s largest lake. The farm also hosts birdwatchers who come to spot some of the 400 species of migrating birds - from bee-eaters to pelicans - that come through the Galilee twice annually.
The Galilee is also one of the best places to arrange for an outfitter to take you rafting, kayaking or canoeing down the Jordan River. In the Upper Galilee, Mount Hermon beckons skiers to its snow-capped peaks.
Gan Hashlosha National Park is a long natural hot spring winding through grounds of open grassy areas and lush forest - a shady, tranquil atmosphere and a good place to head for a swim after visiting prehistoric ruins of nearby Beit Shean, where some 6,000 years of civilization have been unearthed.
Of all Israel’s “sites,” Jerusalem’s are arguably the most profound. I spent days roaming around the labyrinthine quarters of the Old City, and ancient city within the city. “Godfrey de Bouillon led the Crusaders into Jerusalem 900 years ago,” my guide said, “and city streets ran with the blood of 40,000 Jews and Moslems.” He continued: “Then came Sultan Saladin, whose successors were sacked by the Mamelukes, only to be overtaken by the Ottoman Empire, one of whose leaders, Suleiman the Magnificent, in power from 1520 to 1566, rebuilt the city walls you’re looking at today.”
With all the cultures and generations of cultures that have passed here; with leaders, horrific and great; and battles, and the stories that go with them - it’s not surprising that tour guides tend to distill 300 or more years of history into a sentence or two.
As I strayed down the streets of Jerusalem, which date back perhaps to 2500 B.C., children kicked a ball around an ancient courtyard, young men and women flirted along fashionable Ben Yehuda Street, oblivious, seemingly unimpressed. I wanted to shout out to them: “Don’t you know how old this place is? Aren’t you staggered?”
Of course, they knew. But why should they be staggered? I found the vast spectrum of people and tiers of civilization to be as palpable as layers on a Norwegian prune torte. Perhaps - combined with the immediacy of their own lives - they found the benchmarks of history and the ongoing conflict merely tiresome.
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: If you go Security: Most Israeli cities are virtually crime-free. But because of religious and ethnic tensions and terrorist attacks, care obviously should be taken in certain areas, such as the West Bank or certain quarters of the Old City. Women should not walk alone at night. When in doubt, ask guides, hotel staff or the nearest tourist office. A good source of information on conditions abroad is the U.S. State Department’s Citizens Emergency Center hotline (202-647-5225). This is an automated line with a menu of choices providing recorded reports on conditions around the world. Getting There: Some two dozen international airlines service BenGurion International Airport at Lod, 12 miles southwest of Tel Aviv and 30 miles west of Jerusalem. Best Time To Go: Warm, dry weather (43 to 67 degrees) begins in April, with cooler weather in hilly regions such as Jerusalem and Safed. Visas: U.S. citizens require a valid passport and are issued a visitor visa (no charge) at port of entry. Language: Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages. English is widely spoken. Tours: The society for the Protection of Nature in Israel conducts a variety of scenic tours. SPNI Tourist Service, 4 Hashefela Street. 66183 Tel Aviv; telephone (011) 972-337-5063, fax (011) 972-338-3940. For more information: Israel Government Tourist Office, 350 Fifth Ave., New York NY 10118, telephone (212) 560-0600, fax (212) 629-4368.