Prison and Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel:

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Prison

   Acre's citadel has been a prison for much of its life, and the word on the label points to it. The great vaulted fortress in the north-west corner of the old city was built by the Ottomans on the foundations of the Hospitaller halls, and in the nineteenth century it became a feared jail for political prisoners. Bahá'u'lláh was held here in the late 1860s with his family and followers, in crowded and miserable conditions, before being moved to a house in the town. Later, under the British Mandate, the same building held Jewish underground fighters, and a dramatic break-out in 1947 became one of the best-known episodes of that period. Part of the complex is now a museum, and the rooms are open to the public on set hours.

   Read the complete Prison write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Prison is where the day begins. Next is Persian Quarter.

2. 2. Persian Quarter

   Haifa climbs the northern slope of Mount Carmel in tiers, and halfway up, a golden dome catches the light above a staircase of gardens that tumbles all the way down to the old German Colony and the port. This is the Bahá'í World Centre, and the dome crowns the Shrine of the Báb, the founder figure of the Bahá'í faith, whose remains were brought here from Persia and interred on the mountainside. The nineteen terraces around it, with clipped lawns, gravel paths, cypresses and fountains, are among the most meticulously kept gardens anywhere, and together with the shrine of Bahá'u'lláh near Acre across the bay they form a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Persian connection runs through everything here, from the faith's origins in nineteenth-century Iran to the formal geometry of the planting.

   Read the complete Persian Quarter write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Persian Quarter comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel:.

3. 3. Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel:

   In the caves of Nahal Me'arot, on the western slope of Mount Carmel near the coast south of Haifa, people lived on and off for half a million years, and both Neanderthals and early modern humans left their bones here. The four caves, Tabun, Jamal, el-Wad and Skhul, contain one of the longest records of human evolution anywhere, and they were listed as a World Heritage Site in 2012. Tabun alone has layers spanning hundreds of thousands of years. The Natufian culture, among the first people to settle in villages before farming, also left traces in el-Wad.

   Read the complete Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel: write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel:. Next is back through Persian Quarter.

4. 4. back through Persian Quarter

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Persian Quarter write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Persian Quarter, late in the day. Next is Prison.

5. 5. Prison

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Prison write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Prison. That is the ride.