Elijah’s Springs: Attempt 1
Dear Friends,
A while back, I heard that there is an archeological site called “Elijah’s Springs.” Apparently, the prophet Elijah hung out and did stuff there; now the Carmelites own it and are excavating the ruins of a Byzantine church and the area around the springs. Conveniently, it is located in Haifa. So, this week, I went to find it. I very carefully followed GoogleMaps. It led me to a cliff overlooking this wadi:
Waaaaayyyy down below, I could see a cave and what could potentially be a garden:
On the other side of the wadi, I could see some stairs down:
Since I had nothing else going that afternoon, I decided to to try and find those stairs. So, I found the mosque above the stairs on GoogleMaps (you can see the mosque and minarets in the second picture) and started walking over there. Sad to say, I do not get any prizes for situational awareness. For all of corona time, everyone has been going on and on about the boar taking over Haifa. I had not seen a single one. Then, I walked within four feet of this one without noticing it. When I was almost passed it, it made a snuffling sound and I jumped out of my skin. A lady looked at me like I was crazy when I turned around to take a picture. Boar are actually pretty athletic. This one leapt lightly over a small wall before continuing to snuffle around.
After failing to be aware of my surroundings, I attempted to improve. I didn’t seen any more wildlife. But I did see flowers!
Eventually, I made it to the other side of the wadi. At that point, I stopped at a playground to fill up my water bottle at one of the water fountains Haifa so kindly provides.
The mosque was easy to find and and smaller than it looks from a distance. They were doing some construction around it, so it is either new or being renovated. It looks beautiful (like an oasis if an oasis were a building) from what I could see on the outside.
Unfortunately, I could not find the stairs down into the wadi. However, I did get a good view of the massive cemetery I’ve pass on the bus. I had no idea it was that large.
At this point, I was worn out, hungry and very sweaty. Hopefully, my next attempt to find Elijah’s Springs will be more successful!
Pax, amici!
Debora