We rented a car last weekend and toured a bit in the north, returning to Haifa each evening. On Saturday we visited Goren Park in the northern Galilee. Lots of wildflowers. We took a short hike to the ruins of a crusader fortress, Montfort. The location of the fortress puzzled me. I would expect it to be built on the ridgetop, with a good view of the surrounding countryside and where it would be easy to defend. Instead it’s situated half way down the hillside. Sunday we visited two sites in the Golan: Nimrod’s fortress and Gamla. Nimrod’s fortress was built by the Muslims in the 13th century to defend Damascus against the crusaders. It is the best preserved castle in Israel, and is in better shape that the pictures here indicate. Situated on a ridge
... read more
