Introduction
36km (22 miles) NW of Tiberias; 74km (46 miles) E of Haifa
From Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, our next destination is the ancient and mystical city of Safed (Zefat, Zfat, Tsfat, Tzfat), about 45 minutes northeast of Tiberias and less than 2 hours due east of Nahariya. Once Israel's major mountain resort, Safed is now more religiously oriented.
Skirting the Yermak mountain range (900m/2,953 ft.), you finally climb up into Safed (pronounced with one syllable, Tsfaht, in Hebrew), which, at 837m (2,746 ft.), is Israel's highest town. This quiet city is built on three slopes and looks down onto a beautiful panorama of villages and tiered hillsides. Safed's name comes from a Hebrew root word, tsafeh, meaning to scan, or look -- in other words, a lookout.
Safed's known history began in A.D. 66, during the time of the Second Temple, when Flavius Josephus started building a citadel on the mountaintop in the center of Safed. In 1140, the Crusaders again built a fortress on this...
more local info
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Montfort Castle
Perched on a mountaintop in the wild, densely forested northern tier of the Western Galilee, Montfort was originally built by French Crusaders;...
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- Landmarks
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Ascent Institute of Safed
An outreach organization for Jews who are interested in studying Jewish tradition, law, Jewish spirituality, and mysticism, the Ascent Institute...
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General Exhibition
While many of the houses in the artists' colony may be closed in winter, the General Exhibition, which shows a wide range of work by many Safed...
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