Ridván Gardens and Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel:

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Ridván Gardens

   In the spring of 1863, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í faith, spent twelve days in a garden in Baghdad that Bahá'ís now call Ridván, the Garden of Paradise, and the festival of that name still marks the most holy days in their calendar. The garden outside Acre that carries the same name is a different place, a quiet green island on the Na'amán river, east of the old city, which Bahá'u'lláh loved during his years as a prisoner and exile of the Ottomans in Acre. He called it the New Jerusalem, and visitors who enter its small gate understand why. The river runs around it, mulberry trees give shade, and the air is cool and smells of water.

   Read the complete Ridván Gardens write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Ridván Gardens 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 24 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 46 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 Ridván Gardens.

5. 5. Ridván Gardens

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ridván Gardens write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Ridván Gardens. That is the ride.