A nature hike trough Lajish, central Israel

This area's ground is composed by a first layer of hard rock. Below this layer a soft layer that is easy to excavate. That's the reason that more than 3000 (three thousand) man-made caves are found in the Lajish area. The caves served as cemeteries, olive oil mills, columbarium's, etc., and in times of trouble served as shelters. They were built beginning thousands of years ago and in use till the end of the crusader's times.  

The famous Guvrin Caves National Park (recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage) are part of this but I will refer to them in a special post. The ruins of Tel Lajish, an ancient Judean fortified city will also be postponed. The soil was not cultivated during generations and only sheeps and goats used the land. The population was minimal. After the 50', the population grew, woods were planted by the Jewish National Fund and the earth began to be used intensely

This cave was recently found during a development project that had to be modified accordingly.

This cave system was also recently discovered and covers an area that I estimate as big as a football field. I called them "system" because they are composed of multiple rooms, passages and occult windows for ventilation. The cave was a olive oil mill 

A grinding base and a wheel from some other press

pressing stones

Olive oil was very expensive so a special channel recovered the oil that could drop from the ceramic containers. Till the Roman invasion Israel was an exporter of olive oil, dates and wine. 

An old flock side by side with a new forest.

A sycamore tree

Acacia (שִׁטָּה כְּחַלְחַלָּה) is an Australian shrub introduced by the British a century ago. Now it grows wild. 

Chladantus flowers grow in the wild and also in my balcony.

A native poppy

Native chladantus and poppys together in this difficult soil

Sour fig plant is native to South Africa. Very invasive, can be seen specially near the coast. 

I met this plant in South America and in many Mediterranean countries. As a boy I used to write rubbing the leaves on the walls.  

The Cardoon is a very independent plant and full of spines. It keeps his distance from humans and humans from it. 

Nursery of a kind: grapevines. Like many Mediterranean countries Israel produces a lot of good wines.

Cactus invaded from the Americas recently (3-4 hundred years). There use is as an edge row to keep some animals in and others out. A variant without spines was developed by the Volcani Center near Tel Aviv. The fruits, called here "sabras" are sold in the supermarket and by the roads.