Kohav HaYarden (Belvoir)

Kohav HaYarden (or Belvoir) is "modern" compared to many of the sites we visit on Saturdays. This impressive Crusader fortress was built in 1168 by the Hospitaller Knights. They purchased the land and build the fortress on the edge of a plateau in the eastern lower Galilee, overlooking the Jordan Valley, not far from Beit She'an. In the 1180s (CE) the Muslim forces led by Saladin defeated the Crusaders at the battle of Hittim (1187), and conquered Jerusalem and Acre. The Hospitaller Knights held out in Belvoir under siege for a year and a half before finally surrendering in 1189. In 1220, the ruler of Damascus sent men to destroy the fortress to prevent it falling once again into Crusader hands. The site was excavated and reconstructed by M. Ben Dov in the late sixties.


It's a very imposing site. The reconstruction is tastefully done and it is easy to pretend you are back in time of the Holy Grail, knocking two coconut shells together and speaking with an outrageous French accent.
This is the front entrance to the fortress. The doorway was made of limestone.
An impressive moat surrounds the fortress on three sides. The Muslims broke in from the Easten, non-moated side.
It was very hazy this morning, out there in the distance you can see Jordan and the Gilad mountains. The boy now knows what he was named after.
There are lots of very nice walls and passages left intact.
This is the kitchen.
This is the water cistern. They saved all the runoff during the rainy season. It seems it was enough to last at least one and a half years.
Does anyone know what kind of creature this is? We saw these running around the rocks below. They look cute and furry.

There is a raptor sanctuary on the north eastern side of the the fortress. These vultures are protected, neither can fly, but they attract other raptors and there are quite a few families living in cliff face.

From the time we arrived till we left we were, of course, the only visitors at the park. How does the Park Authority survive?