Is there biking in Jerusalem?: Early Spring in Beit Guvrin

This post has been delayed by 6 weeks! When we (Amit, Thomas, Theresa and I) went to Beit Guvrin (in central Israel) in mid-January the sight of spring was truly spectacular. Just the week before, we'd evacuated Jerusalem and the snow for the kibbutz on the coast near Netanya. At Beit Guvrin spring was springing with spectacular almond blossoms (something like a white cherry blossom) and fields blanketed with early red wildflowers -- anemones and ranunculus. The birds were chirping. (It would be 4 more weeks before we really heard the birds in Jerusalem.) (Photo credits: TT)

The fields at Beit Guvrin

Fields, looking west

Anemone

Almond blossoms

Iris

About Beit Guvrin

Beit Guvrin is a national park that covers an area that includes the ruins of a town from the Second Temple Period (500 BCE - 70 CE) and a Roman city. Bell-shaped caves are the defining feature of the area. Mostly made of chalk, the caves were relatively easy to dig out. Over the years the caves were dug for columbaria to house birds, for burial caves, and for their chalk to make roadways.

A & T in a columbarium

descent

inside a columbarium

down into a columbarium

is that a toilet in there?

Sidonian burial caves

standing in a bell cave, looking at the bats way up in the ceiling

inside a large bell cave

The caves would be dug from the surface (ground level), with a small hole and then gradually hollowed out as the radius was expanded below the surface. The chalk would be lifted up out of the caves. Obviously, we didn't enter these caves from above. At this point, many of the caves are accessible from one side that is at ground level -- when this happened, I'm not entirely sure (as in is this only the case because the caves have been excavated that there is an entry at ground level?) And, how the bell caves were used isn't entirely clear either. Did they just excavate the chalk or did they also host summer parties in the cool shade of the caves?