The Path to the Vineyards
May be changed at any time during the outing, since the way from the hotel – which leads to the thickets of the Jerusalem Hills and its marvelous quietude among the trees and to some of the most beautiful landscapes you will encounter – and the route back to it, are the same.
It’s easy to believe that when Israeli Songwriter Naomi Shemer composed the line “mountain air clear as wine, and the fragrance of pine,” she was thinking of this very path.
The route:
Exit the hotel, turn right at the gate and walk straight ahead for 200 meters
alongside the narrow road that rarely experiences traffic, until it meets up with road from
which Mt. Adar can be seen opposite you. Cross the road carefully, turn left and then
immediately right, onto a dirt road with a red marker, similar to those the length of route.
The road which descends to the Southeast, is easy to walk along; heads towards Jerusalem;
the houses of Kiryat Anavim are visible to the right. After walking for about one kilometer,
you’ll arrive at an intersection with red and black markers. You might consider stopping here
for a rest, under the shade of a tree, before retracing your steps back to the hotel. You could
also continue your walk, turning left onto a path that runs up the slope towards Mt. Adar, or
continue two more kilometers along the path marked with red, until reaching some of the
beautiful grape vines planted in the region these past few years. If you take this latter option
and then return along the same red-marked path, you will have walked exactly six kilometers.
The road back is uphill, but not too difficult to walk along; some parts are steep, but even
they are fairly easy to cover on foot.
Duration: About 2 hours.
Distance (total): 6 kilometers.
Degree of difficulty: Moderate/difficult.
