We were lucky enough to spend a couple of hours exploring the Gilboa last week. The sun was shining and it was breathtakingly beautiful (see below!). We didn't have the time to hike, but we picked up a delicious (kosher) takeaway lunch from the Artichoke restaurant (supporting the local businesses!) at the bottom of the Gilboa and enjoyed eating it at picnic tables (there was also a nice children's play area there, shaded in the trees) at Katef Shaul - Shaul's shoulder. This area is incredible to see - especially if you bring your Tenach with you, and read the stories of Shaul that occurred right there!
After a brief explore there we headed to Har Barkan where we walked some of the trail - and where we spotted these pretty purple flowers emerging in lots of places. The trail we were on was actually the famous Purple Iris trail, and during the proper Winter months of January and February you can see many of this amazing flower! We plan to return!
We were interested to learn more about the pretty purple flower and amazingly, Joanna Maissel of 'Nature ' Nosh' wrote this interesting blog about them!
As she wrote, 'Sitvanit comes from the Hebrew word stav, which means Autumn (Fall). Literally the Autumn of the first rains - a beautiful name for a beautiful flower.'
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