Montfort is a ruined crusader fortress in the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel, about 35 km northeast of the city of Haifa and only a few kilometres south of the border with Lebanon. The site is a national park and the name derives from the two French words “mont” (a mountain) and “fort” (strong), meaning the "strong mountain". 
A Roman fortress stood before the Crusader castle was built and the builders of Montfort incorporated stones from the Roman fort. The modern excavation of the site, which began in 1926, revealed Roman coins, ceramics and stones.
Unlike many other crusader fortresses in the Holy Land, for example Belvoir in the eastern part of Israel, Montfort was not originally built for military purposes but begun as an agricultural farm. The fortress is built on a narrow and steep cliff, which makes the spectacular approach from the many different tracks breath-taking.
In 1187, Saladin attacked and conquered the fortress; however, just like their crusader predecessors, these Muslims did not find the property particularly significant for military purposes. The farmland lacked strategic importance as it was situated far away from any borders or main means of transportation.
After the third crusade, Christian families occupied areas in the north of Israel. The French De Milly family occupied and owned 36 villages and farms including the Montfort farm. They sold Montfort to the German Teutonic Knights in AD 1220 when these crusaders were unable to settle in Akka due to internal conflicts between them and the Templar and Hospitaller Knights.
The German Knights began to renovate the buildings of the estate and fortified the property, turning it into a magnificent fortress. They made it their headquarters and treasury in 1229. By that time the property ceased being a farmland and was considered a fortress with all its implications. The Teutonic Knights expanded the fortifications and built a keep in the centre of the property, which constitutes the main remnants of the ruins seen today.
The Mamluk leader Baibars besieged the fortress in 1266. However, the defenders of the fortress resisted and eventually compelled the Mamluk invaders to leave. Five years later, however, the Mamluk leader returned to the fortress and managed to topple the external southern wall of the fortress. 
After seven days of siege, the Teutonic Knights inside the fort surrendered and were allowed to leave with all their belongings and return to Akka. After the fall of that city in 1291, the Teutonic Knights departed and made Venice their headquarters.Of course we started with the obligatory Arabic coffee - no one makes it like Muna!
The ruins of Montfort castle are a popular hiking place 
and there are trails of varying difficulty to reach it - these combine Crusader history with unique natural scenes.
On the way there are caves and rock fissures, and an amazing array of plants – because it was very early spring after good rains – they abounded.
The ruins provided lots of photo opportunities, and the group lined up to consult the wise philosopher!
Our dear friend Andisha left Haifa this week and we really miss her.
What an amazing root structure on this tree.
Wild flowers were in abundance.
Mark specialises in taking great photographic shots of flowers and nature - that is why we include him in all our outings! Makes our blog look good! Maybe Muna will let me buy a more expensive camera when we return to Oz!
Although quite steep in parts and rough in others - there are plenty of shady spots to catch your breath and enjoy the scenery.
Syrian Hyrax could also be seen in many places - this is a rare photo with a family of 8. 
The Hyrax like to sun themselves.
The use of arches at both forts is truly spectacular and at Montfort, they enclose huge areas.
The second “tower” we visited was at Yehi'am, a fortress that has been partially restored and is a national park within Kibbutz Yehi'am, which was founded in 1946 by pioneers who first lived in the fortress ruins. During the 1948 war the pioneers were besieged behind these huge walls.
The construction date of the Yehi'am Fortress is unknown, but it was apparently originally part of the Ma’iliyah estate, 
and was later sold to the Crusader Teutonic Knights. The Mamluk Sultan Baibars (a very busy chap) conquered and destroyed the fortress in 1265.
Most of the remains date from the time of the Bedouin Sheikh Daher al-Omar, who ruled the Galilee in the 1760s. He built new walls and towers on top of the original structure, and surrounded the fortress with a dry moat.
The staircase goes up 5 levels
to provide a spectacular view.
The top of the fortress provides lovely views of the Western Galilee,
including the Mediterranean sea in this shot with Andisha perched high above ground level.
We "fortified" ourselves with a good lunch before exploring these amazing ruins.
On a more recent hike in mid-March, which took more than 3 hours, Mark, Carolina and Allan approached the castle from the north, descending into the valley and crossing the Kziv creek, before climbing up the other side of the valley to reach the castle, and then retracing their footsteps—this was twice the original hike.
We left very early in the morning as we had been having unseasonably hot weather due to the khamseen—hot dry winds laden with very fine dust that drift over the country and originate in Africa. This also means that the photos are hazier than we would like—inescapable at this time of year.
Fortunately, the worst of the Khamseen had passed by then—look at these photos taken earlier from my office—you can normally see right across the bay!
The sunlight was good for early morning shots
and we saw a UFO (unidentifiable flying object) - an amazingly large bird flying overhead.
Everything was so green!
The creek flows only parts of the year,
In the heart of this area, but actually below our starting position, rises a ridge along which the castle is nestled.
Due to an above average rainfall this year—something not experienced in many years—and the warm winter weather, the wildflowers bloomed early and were prolific. Mark took lots of photos and here is a small sample, including a collage.
On the trek down we had the valley to ourselves, but on the way back we encountered many family groups including young children.
The stream was teaming with tadpoles on this hike
and the water was flowing strongly—cool and fresh, and revived us both times we crossed it.
A mill had been built here and used to grind grain to make flour for bread.
The castle itself is spectacular as seen from this aerial shot taken from our starting point (courtesy of biblewalks.com).
Unlike many national parks that have been well developed and preserved, this park does not charge an entrance fee. The result is that there is much more litter than usually seen in national parks in Israel; so on the way back, what started as picking up a few plastic cups—reminiscent of the “Clean up Australia” efforts—we filled two large bags with rubbish. We were expecting the President to be waiting for us at the end of our walk to offer us the “environment merit award”; however, it seems that he was otherwise engaged! Litter is a problem in Israel—especially at the beaches—and awareness is very slowly growing.
So what else has happened in this long interval? We had lots of wonderful friends visit us—the Higgins family from Japan—Shannon, Kayo and Emma.
and Sacha who used to serve with us. 
The ruins of Montfort castle are a popular hiking place and there are trails of varying difficulty to reach it - these combine Crusader history with unique natural scenes.
On the way there are caves and rock fissures, and an amazing array of plants – because it was very early spring after good rains – they abounded.
The ruins provided lots of photo opportunities, and the group lined up to consult the wise philosopher!
Our dear friend Andisha left Haifa this week and we really miss her.
What an amazing root structure on this tree.
Wild flowers were in abundance.
Mark specialises in taking great photographic shots of flowers and nature - that is why we include him in all our outings! Makes our blog look good! Maybe Muna will let me buy a more expensive camera when we return to Oz!
Although quite steep in parts and rough in others - there are plenty of shady spots to catch your breath and enjoy the scenery.
Syrian Hyrax could also be seen in many places - this is a rare photo with a family of 8. The Hyrax like to sun themselves. The use of arches at both forts is truly spectacular and at Montfort, they enclose huge areas.
The second “tower” we visited was at Yehi'am, a fortress that has been partially restored and is a national park within Kibbutz Yehi'am, which was founded in 1946 by pioneers who first lived in the fortress ruins. During the 1948 war the pioneers were besieged behind these huge walls.The construction date of the Yehi'am Fortress is unknown, but it was apparently originally part of the Ma’iliyah estate, and was later sold to the Crusader Teutonic Knights. The Mamluk Sultan Baibars (a very busy chap) conquered and destroyed the fortress in 1265. Most of the remains date from the time of the Bedouin Sheikh Daher al-Omar, who ruled the Galilee in the 1760s. He built new walls and towers on top of the original structure, and surrounded the fortress with a dry moat.The staircase goes up 5 levels
to provide a spectacular view.
The top of the fortress provides lovely views of the Western Galilee,
including the Mediterranean sea in this shot with Andisha perched high above ground level.The fortress contained a chapel that also served as a mosque in Muslim times.
We "fortified" ourselves with a good lunch before exploring these amazing ruins.
On a more recent hike in mid-March, which took more than 3 hours, Mark, Carolina and Allan approached the castle from the north, descending into the valley and crossing the Kziv creek, before climbing up the other side of the valley to reach the castle, and then retracing their footsteps—this was twice the original hike.
We left very early in the morning as we had been having unseasonably hot weather due to the khamseen—hot dry winds laden with very fine dust that drift over the country and originate in Africa. This also means that the photos are hazier than we would like—inescapable at this time of year.Fortunately, the worst of the Khamseen had passed by then—look at these photos taken earlier from my office—you can normally see right across the bay!
and we saw a UFO (unidentifiable flying object) - an amazingly large bird flying overhead.
Everything was so green!The area around Kziv, a 20km long valley is covered by thick bushes.
The creek flows only parts of the year,
In the heart of this area, but actually below our starting position, rises a ridge along which the castle is nestled.
Due to an above average rainfall this year—something not experienced in many years—and the warm winter weather, the wildflowers bloomed early and were prolific. Mark took lots of photos and here is a small sample, including a collage. 
On the trek down we had the valley to ourselves, but on the way back we encountered many family groups including young children.The stream was teaming with tadpoles on this hike
and the water was flowing strongly—cool and fresh, and revived us both times we crossed it.
A mill had been built here and used to grind grain to make flour for bread.The castle itself is spectacular as seen from this aerial shot taken from our starting point (courtesy of biblewalks.com).
Unlike many national parks that have been well developed and preserved, this park does not charge an entrance fee. The result is that there is much more litter than usually seen in national parks in Israel; so on the way back, what started as picking up a few plastic cups—reminiscent of the “Clean up Australia” efforts—we filled two large bags with rubbish. We were expecting the President to be waiting for us at the end of our walk to offer us the “environment merit award”; however, it seems that he was otherwise engaged! Litter is a problem in Israel—especially at the beaches—and awareness is very slowly growing.
So what else has happened in this long interval? We had lots of wonderful friends visit us—the Higgins family from Japan—Shannon, Kayo and Emma.
and Sacha who used to serve with us. We also attended the wedding of Vahid who works with Allan—this coincidently occurred during the visit of our son Munib at the beginning of January, so he enjoyed the wedding too.
Chris and Bita Heggie with children Laurence and Shirin came on pilgrimage and shared the good news that a new book called “Reminiscences” by Merle Heggie has been published containing anecdotes about the very early Bahá’ís in Australia.
Dear Friends, we have been tardy with our blog of late; our daughter Allison and her dear husband JJ are coming in just over a week, so we will try to post some other lovely scenes soon.
Chris and Bita Heggie with children Laurence and Shirin came on pilgrimage and shared the good news that a new book called “Reminiscences” by Merle Heggie has been published containing anecdotes about the very early Bahá’ís in Australia. Dear Friends, we have been tardy with our blog of late; our daughter Allison and her dear husband JJ are coming in just over a week, so we will try to post some other lovely scenes soon.
