Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE C OAS T AND G ALILEE
Afertile corridor squeezed between the sea and the desert, this
is the Promised Land of the Old Testament. The green hills
and fresh waters of Galilee provided the setting for many
episodes in the early life and ministry of Christ. Beside all its religious
associations this is very much a secular paradise too, the heartland of
modern Israel and a sun-drenched scenic magnet for tourists.
The wealth of ancient sites along
this stretch of coast bears witness to
the fact that for centuries this has
been an important land corridor
connecting Africa, Europe and
Asia. The great empires of ancient
Egypt to the south and Assyria and
Babylon to the east met here in
trade and battle. Later, the
Romans exploited this coast-
line with the laying of a great
highway, the Via Maris, and
Herod built a magnificent port
in Caesarea
(see p176)
, one of
the grandest and most important in
the eastern Mediterranean. Ports such
as this formed the nuclei of the Latin
Kingdoms when the Crusaders came
conquering in the Middle Ages. The
Muslim Arabs eventually drove out
the Christian knights but their legacy
remains in some superb muscular
architecture, especially at Akko,
which retains one of the
most charming old towns in
the whole of the Holy Land.
When in the 19th century
the first major waves of
Jewish immigrants began
arriving, it was on the fertile
coastal plains and rolling hills
of Galilee that they chose to
settle. They planted wheat and
cotton in the fields, orange groves
and vineyards on the slopes, and
cities overlooking the s
e
a. The
capital they founded, Tel Aviv, has
become a vibrant centre of culture
and commerce, wh i l e H aif a,
attractively tumbling down Mount
Carmel to the sea, is a thriving
economic powerhouse. Inland
Galilee remains rural and idyllic,
equally pleasing to pilgrims on the
trail of Christ and to seekers after
relaxation and the picturesque.
The harbour at Akko, stronghold of the Crusaders and one of the Holy Land's best preserved old cities
A vaulted street in Jaffa, an important ancient port now part of metropolitan Tel Aviv
