A second colony of these Templars is Sarona, 1 M. to the N.E., behind the dunes, in the coast-plain of Sharon between Jaffa and Cæsarea, famed ever since ancient times for its fertility. The vine in particular thrives here admirably.
Beyond Jaffa the Steamer soon passes the mouth of the Nahr el-Aujâ, the largest river in Palestine next to the Jordan, and then, near the N. boundary of Judæa, the site of Apollonia (now Arsûf). Farther on we sight the scanty ruins of Caesarea Palaestina (Arabic El-Kaisarîyeh), a seaport founded by Herod the Great, which in the Roman period surpassed Jerusalem.
Beyond the Nahr ez-Zerkâ (‘blue river’, p. xxxiii), the Crocodile River of Pliny, come the little town of Tantûra, the Dor of the Old Testament, which classical authors say was a Phœnician colony, and then Atlît, the Castellum Peregrinorum of the Crusaders, the seat of the Knights Templar in 1218–91, with its grand ruins.
The beautiful outlines of *Mt. Carmel (1811 ft.; Jebel Mâr Elyâs, ‘sacred mount of Elijah’) become more distinct. On the hill-side is the Carmelite Monastery (558 ft.), the original seat of the order, which extended its sphere to Europe in 1238. Below it, on the evergreen N. slope of the range, rises a Lighthouse.
Most of the steamers call at the open roads of Haifa or Khaifa (Hôt. Karmel or Krafft, pens. 8–10 fr.; carr. at the tourist-office of Unger & Hermann, at G. Sus’s, etc.; Brit. vice-cons., P. Abela; U. S. cons. agent, Th. Struve; pop. 16,000), a rapidly rising commercial town, beautifully situated at the N. base of Mt. Carmel and on the S. shore of the Bay of Acre, not far from the site of the Sycaminum of antiquity. The trade is chiefly in the hands of the German ‘Temple’ sect, whose settlement presents a striking contrast to the prevailing Oriental squalor.
A Road leads from Haifa viâ Atlît and Tantûra (see above), and then inland viâ the Jewish agricultural colony of Zammarín (Hôt. Graff) and Kakûn (410 ft.) to Nàbulus or Nâblus (1870 ft.; Hôt. Nablus, German,) once Sichem, the capital of Samaria. After the war of 67 A.D. (p. [472]) it was re-founded by Vespasian as Flavia Neapolis. It is now a town of 27,000 inhab. (incl. 700 Christians and 170 members of the Samaritan sect). Fine view from Mt. Gerizim (2848 ft.; Arab. Jebel et-Tôr), to the S. of the town. A new road leads from Nâbulus, past Jacob’s Well (St. John, iv. 5–30), viâ El-Lubban and El-Bireh, to Jerusalem (p. [470]).
From Haifa viâ Derât to Damascus, 177 M., Railway. One train daily in 10 hrs.; fares, 1st cl., 142½, 3rd cl. 65½ pias. (note exchange at rail. stat.: 1 mejidieh = 19 pias.; 20 fr. = 86½ pias.; £ 1 = 109¼ pias.; £ 1 Turkish = 96 pias.). Most travellers, however, prefer the following profoundly interesting route, joining the train at Samakh (p. [469]).
We drive from Haifa to (24 M.) Nazareth (1145 ft.; Hôt. Germania, pens. 8–12½ fr.), the home of Christ, whence the Christians in the Levant are still called Nazarenes (Nasâra). Then past Mt. Tabor (1844 ft.; Jebel et-Tor; fine view), the traditional scene of the Transfiguration, and Kafr Kennâ, the Cana of the Bible (St. John, ii), to (4½ hrs.) Tabarîya (82 ft. below sea-level; Hôt. Tiberias or Grossmann, pens. 10–12½ fr.; pop. 7500, incl. many Polish Jews), the ancient Tiberias, once the capital of Galilee, and, after the destruction of Jerusalem (p. [472]), the chief seat of the Jewish nation. It lies high up on the W. bank of the Lake of Gennesaret, or of Tiberias, or Sea of Galilee (682 ft. below sea-level; 13 M. long, 7½ M. broad), through which flows the Jordan. During half of the year the climate in this profound Syrian valley is extremely hot.
From Tiberias we row down the lake in 2 hrs. to the rail. station of Samakh (610 ft. below sea-level; 54½ M. from Haifa). The train ascends the *Yarmuk Valley to (100 M.) Derât (1735 ft. above sea-level; Buffet), where it joins the main Hejâz line to Damascus (p. [484]; Kadem station).—For details, see Baedeker’s Palestine and Syria.