Today we went on our first tour. We set off to Bible Hill located near First Station in Jerusalem. After that we traveled to the Sataf Hiking Trail and hiked the Ein Kerem path down from the top of this ancient site, which included terraced agriculture and springs. It wasn’t a difficult hike, but you needed stamina to walk down hill and down so many steps and rocks.
After that, we headed to Bar Behar a cute cafe at the entrance to the Forest of the United States, a JNF/KKL forest.
Once we were rested and fed, we headed out again to the Stalactite Caves, also known as Avshalom’s Cave. Again, there were lots of steps down to the site and through the caves. Beautiful, natural formations made over time were an awesome sight to see.
We wound back towards Jerusalem from here. We headed to the site of a giant monument called the Scrolls of Fire – מגילת האש. This monument was designed by Nathan Rappaport. It depicts the end of the Shoah/Holocaust and also symbolizes the return to Israel.
Lastly, and just for fun, we stopped in Beit Zayit. This is a small moshav outside of Jerusalem known for the Derech HaGefen Cafe. But today we were looking for dinosaur tracks! About 200 of the tracks were found opposite the cafe. Today, there stands a statue of a dinosaur. It has a small protected section of the earth and the footprints preserved in the hardened, dry riverbed.
Sam Kramer Goes to Israel 