Jerusalem Tour Suggestion 7:
Ein Karem and Jerusalem Mountains Nature Hike
Discover the beauty of the Jerusalem Mountains:
-
Hike from the Ein Lavan Spring to the Ein Karem Surrounding Walking Trail
-
Hike back to the City Center on the Israel National Trail
Various additional possibilities for this day outside of Jerusalem
(if you prefer not to hike):
-
Forest of the Martyrs (Ya’ar Hakdoshim) and the Scrolls of Fire
-
Castel National Heritage Park
-
Sha'ar HaGai Park and Museum
-
Beit Jamal, Salesian Monastery
-
St Mary of the Resurrection Abbey in Abu Ghosh
Today, Ein Karem is a picturesque neighborhood in Jerusalem, but it began as a Biblical agricultural village called Beit HaKerem. In the New Testament it is referred to as a "town in the hill country of Judea". The village’s center was around a spring which for 2,000 years provided water for agriculture in the area. According to Christian tradition, the spring, known today as Mary’s Spring, is the heart of the Christian tradition where Mary, Jesus’ mother met her cousin Elisabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Almost two millennia later, the known philanthropist, Grand Duchess of Russia, also named Elisabeth, initiated the building of the Gorny convent to support the pilgrimage to the area. The building of the convent was completed over one hundred years later and the convent’s gilded domes became a landmark of Ein Karem.
We will begin our tour on the walking trail surrounding Ein Karem through the beautiful nature of the Jerusalem Mountains. We will visit Mary’s Spring, Church of Visitation and the beautiful observation points at the Convent of Sisters of Zion. We will walk through streets and passages of the artists’ colonies and beautiful stone homes immersed in greenery of orchard trees and olive groves.