Page 12 - Holyland Magazine - 2021 Edition
P. 12

Good Bread Bakery -
                                                                                                    follow the tantalizing
                                                                                                    scent of the fresh-
                                                                                                    baked sourdough
                                                                                                    bread that fills the
                                                                                                    alley in the early
                                                                                                    morning

Secrets and Stories

from the Galilee

Mystery, history, culture and natural beauty intrinsically intertwined

By Omri Avidar

Where can you find Christians,                     The Galilee is so much more...                   The stones could verify the hypothesis that
             Muslims, Jews, Cherkessians,                                                           the castle, while built in an area that offers
             Druze and Baha'is living together in  The Galilee is a rich ntriguing tapestry of      breathtaking beauty, had virtually no strategic
             perfect harmony?                      unique geography, abundant plant and             importance, and was indeed built and used
                                                   animal life, fascinating stories and historical  as a headquarters for the order of German
The answer is the Galilee, home to no small        ruins, which begin with prehistoric man          knights. The same stones could describe the
number of famous sites, including Nazareth         about 40,000 years ago, to the time of the       meetings of the heads of the Teutonic Order
and the Sea of Galilee, which are well known       Bible, with the Jews, Phoenicians, Greeks,       (founded in Acre in 1198 to aid Crusaders
to the entire world. Many have also heard of       Romans, Byzantines, Muslims and even             from Germany), who came from its outposts in
Acre, the Crusader city that has twice been        the British and Israelis all leaving their       the Southern and Eastern Europe. They could
designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage           marks. However, the people living in the         share the content of their conversations and
Site, or of Safed, where the Kabbalah came         Galilee today are by far the most fascinating    the generous hospitality they received. They
into being in the 16th century, and perhaps        component.                                       could also tell us exactly what treasures were
                                                                                                    kept in the guarded castle, and whether they
even of Rosh Hanikra, the breathtaking home        Out of this captivating mosaic, I have           included the crown jewels of Armenia, which
                                                   selected three stories and secrets about         the King of Armenia gave to the Order in 1228
of magnificent grottoes that were formed           lesser-known special, moving and beautiful       to protect. Exactly what they included remains
                                                   places in the Galilee.                           a mystery to this very day.
where the majesty of mountain and sea meet.
But the Galilee is not just about famous sites.

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