Along the way:
After a morning pick up from the port you’ll east along the Zebulon Valley and cross the Gate of the Valleys, the narrow natural passage between Mt Carmel and the Lower Galilee, along the southern border of the Jezreel Valley, known as the Plane of Armageddon, to Megiddo. After a visit to the site you’ll take a scenic road, crossing the Menashe Hills and up Mt Carmel via Carmel National Park, crossing the Druze villages back to Haifa
What you see:
♦ Megiddo: The Tell of Megiddo and the plane underneath it is the scenery site of the apocalyptic prophet of Armageddon. The term Armageddon in coming from Ancient Greek based on the Hebrew name of this place: Har Megiddo (Mt Megiddo):
“Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. (Revelation, 16:16-21)
Megiddo is actually not a mountain but an archeology Tell, constructed by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot on which ancient forts were built to guard the Via Maris, an ancient trade route linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Excavations have unearthed 26 layers of ruins, indicating a long period of settlement, what made Megiddo a key site in understanding and dating the history of all Israel from the Chalcolithic period (4500-3500 BC) until the end of the settlement in 586BC. Since that time it has remained uninhabited, preserving ruins pre-dating 586 BC without settlements ever disturbing them.
You’ll explore the site entering through a Solomonic City Gate, wondering between the ancient periods. you’ll see the two stable complexes, originally thought to date from the time of Solomon but now dated a century and a half later to the time of Ahab, that both could hold more than 450 horses combined. From the top of the Tell you’ll have a viewpoint over the Plane of Armageddon and over the big archeological cut revealing more than 20 layers of life and a big complex of worshiping containing temples and scarifying alter from different period.
To end you visit you’ll go down the water system consisting of a square shaft 35m (115ft) deep, the bottom of which opens into a tunnel bored through rock for 10om (330ft) to a pool of water and out of the city.
♦ Muhraka: The Muhraka Monastery is a Carmelite monastery which is situated at the top of the highest peak of the Carmel mountain range. The Order of the Carmelites is a Catholic religious order which was founded on Mount Carmel, the traditional home of the Prophet Elijah, at the time of the Crusades. As the Prophet Elijah is the Carmelites’ venerated saint and great patron, a statue of him holding a sword adorns the well-kept monastery courtyard. The meaning of this monastery’s name, Muhraka, in Arabic is “place of burning”, as according to the Bible, in this place a fire came down from the sky to burn the sacrifice offered by the Prophet Elijah at the time of his battle with the prophets of Ba’al. The views seen from the monastery’s roof are breathtaking and on a clear day one can even see the snowcapped Mount Hermon from here.
Notes:
- To fully participate may require periods of walking over even and uneven surfaces. There are steps, inclines, cobblestone surfaces, and periods of standing.
- The price include guiding and transportation only.
- The price does not include admissions and meals.
- Extra cost expected for admissions – 45/29₪ per Adl/Chl
