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Zion Gate
This gate had to be punched through to give access to the Franciscan monastery left outside the walls by Süleyman’s architects. During the 1948 Arab– Israeli War, Israeli soldiers holding Mt Zion also tried to burst through here in a desperate attempt to relieve the besieged Jewish
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St Anne’s Church
The finest example of Crusader architecture in Jerusalem, St Annes was built in 1138 on a site thought to have been the home of Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Virgin Mary. The building is unusually asymmetrical, and has a particularly beautiful interior. One of the sunken poo
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Damascus Gate
The scene in front of Damascus Gate is a colorful one – vendors heave goods in and out of the Old City, Israeli border police tap their truncheons, elderly Palestinian women from the villages squat on the pavement selling herbs, parents shepherd their young children through the cro
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Rosh Pina Pioneers Restoration Site
Rosh Pina’s old town was settled in the 1870s by Jews from Tsfat and after 1882 by immigrants from Romania. It consists of just three short cobblestone streets, one of them, with Parisian pretension, called HaBoulevard. It has been turned into a pedestrian zone, and visitors can ex
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Khan al
Old Akko has four large khans (caravanserais) whose courtyards – surrounded by colonnaded storerooms and, upstairs, sleeping quarters – once served camel caravans bringing grain from, and imported goods to, the hinterland. The grandest is the 18th-century Khan al-Umdan , easily rec
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Jaffa Gate
One of the six original gates built by order of Süleyman the Magnificent, Jaffa Gate is actually a dog-legged pedestrian tunnel passing through the city wall (the dog-leg was to slow down any charging enemy forces – you’ll find the same arrangement at Damascus, Herod and Zion Gates
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St James’ (Jacques’) Cathedral
Glowing lamps hang from the ceiling, glittering icons adorn every wall and richly patterned carpets are strewn across the floors, giving this 12th-century cathedral an aura of mystery lacking in many other Christian sites of Jerusalem. Its open only for services, the most impressiv
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Knesset
Israel’s 120 lawmakers convene at the Knesset, a 1966 building belonging to the unfortunate multistorey-car-park school of architecture. Visitors can take a free one-hour guided tour that visits the committee rooms, plenary chamber, Chagall Hall (featuring three tapestries and a mo
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Bethsaida
These excavations, inside HaYarden Park Nature Reserve (Jordan River Park), are believed to be those of the ancient fishing village of Bethsaida, where Jesus is said to have fed 5000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish (Luke 9:10-17), walked on water (Mark 6:45-51) a
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Kinneret Cemetery
Shaded and serene, this luxuriantly green lakeside cemetery, established in 1911, is the final resting place of socialist Zionist pioneers such as Berl Katznelson (1887–1944), famous for being at the centre of a celebrated love triangle (his grave is flanked by those of his first a
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First Station
Inspired by European design models, this handsome railway station was built in 1892 as the Jerusalem terminus of of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway line. It was in almost continuous use until 1998, when the line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem closed. Recently restored, it opened in 2013 as
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Magdala
When the Legionnaires of Christ, a Catholic congregation based in Mexico, began to build a spiritual retreat in 2009, they were astonished to discover a synagogue from the 1st century CE, dated to the time of Jesus by a local coin minted in 29 CE. The ongoing excavations were opene
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Bible Lands Museum
Exploring the people and civilisations who populate the Bible, this museum displays a wealth of artefacts showing how their different cultures were inter-related. The organisation of the exhibits can be a little confusing, so we recommend taking the free guided tour offered daily b
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Atop Masada
The plateau atop Masada, which measures about 550m by 270m, is some 60m above sea level – that is, about 488m above the surface of the Dead Sea. Visitors are given an excellent map-brochure of the ruins; similar information can be had from an audioguide (20NIS, including admission
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Nimrod Fortress
Built by the Muslims in the 13th century to protect the road from Tyre to Damascus, Nimrod Fortress towers fairy-tale-like on a long, narrow ridge (altitude 815m) on the southwestern slopes of Mt Hermon. If you’re going to visit just one Crusader-era fortress during your trip, this
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City Walls
Old Akko is encircled by a sea wall to the west, south and southeast, and by ramparts (that you can walk on top of) and a dry moat – built mainly between 1750 and 1840 – to the north and northeast. In the old citys northeastern corner stands Burj al-Kommander , a bastion that affor
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Korazim National Park
On a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Korazim is a good place to get an idea of the layout of a prosperous, midsized Galilean town in the time of Jesus and of the Talmud (3rd to 5th centuries CE). The site – especially the synagogue – is known for its extraordinary basalt c
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Elijah’s Cave
Holy to Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze, this cave is where the prophet Elijah is believed to have prayed before challenging the priests of Baal on Mt Carmel (1 Kings 18) and where he is said to have hidden from the wrath of Queen Jezebel afterwards (1 Kings 19:1-3). These days
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Valley of Jehoshaphat
The word Jehoshaphat (Yehoshafat in Hebrew) means ‘God shall judge’, and this narrow furrow of land located between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives is where it is said that the events of Judgment Day will take place. The Book of Joel describes how all nations will be gathe
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Arbel National Park
Towering over the Sea of Galilee and offering mesmerising views of the Golan Heights and Mt Hermon, Arbel Cliff is 181m above sea level, making it 390m above the vast blue lake below. It is on both the Israel National Trail and the Jesus Trail, and hikes of various lengths are poss
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