Hidden gems: Israel
Compact Israel is best known for modern Mediterranean Tel Aviv, Jerusalem’s ancient sacred sites, the beaches of Eilat and the Dead Sea. Laura Gelder looks beyond
Haifa
Seaside town Haifa is the Silicone Valley of Israel and is often dubbed the country’s best example of Arab-Jewish co-existence.
The city’s most famous tourist attraction is the Baha’i shrine and tropical gardens which cling to the slopes of Mount Carmel, looking over the Med. At the foot of this is the German Colony, founded in the 19th century as a Christian community and home to charming stone houses.
The beaches are a draw for sun worshippers and surfers and the port area is a bustling area of commerce. Nearby is the Carmel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve which aims to save endangered species like the griffon vulture and fire salamander.
Caesarea
This half-ruined port city is considered one of Israel’s greatest Roman sites. The area has been occupied since 586BC, by Phoenicians and Byzantines too, but at its height the megalomaniac King Herod transformed it into a thriving fortified city. Visitors can still see the remains of a bathhouse, aqueduct and an amphitheatre, where gladiators once fought to the death with ferocious beasts. Today the amphitheatre also holds modern concerts and an onsite museum uses coins, jewellery and other relics of the past to explain its history. There’s also a golden beach and a scuba club offering divers the chance to explore the parts of the city lost to the sea.
Masada
This mighty clifftop fortress is a place of a legendary resistance. The 450-metre plateau rises sharply between the arid wastes of the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea and offers panoramic views of both from its summit – reached by cable car or a walk up the Snake Path. Masada was Herod’s winter residence and, despite its remote location, hosted luxurious palaces, well-stocked store rooms and elaborate cisterns which fed the bathhouses so beloved by Romans. After the death of Herod, Masada was the site of the last stand by the Sicarii, an extreme Jewish sect who sacrificed themselves rather than be killed by the Roman troops.