A Visit To Rosh HaNikra, Israel On The Mediterranean Coast

Once every two weeks or so, my husband and I drive about an hour west to visit our 14 year old son who is in sleep-away Yeshiva in Nahariya. Fortunately Nahariya happens to be on the Mediterranean, and so after years of being starved of the ocean views that I crave, I am now happy as can be, as each visit we generally go for a drive and visit a site somewhere in the vicinity. This time we decided to visti Rosh HaNikra, which is less than a 15 minute drive (10km/6 miles) from the Yeshiva, and one of my very favorite places in Israel.

Rosh HaNikra, “head of the grottos” is on the border between Israel and Lebanon, located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a white chalk cliff face which opens up into spectacular grottos which are accessible by a tram. i have actually never been on the Rosh HaNikra tram, known as a cable car to some, and hopefully we’ll have the chance to do it in the future. This visit we just enjoyed the view and inspected the border, and with lovely cool and sunny weather it was a perfect little outing. Come join me for a little visit…….

The Rosh HaNikra grottoes are cavernous tunnels formed by sea action on the soft chalk rock. The total length is roughly 200 meters, and they branch off in various directions with some interconnecting segments. A tunnel was built by the British for the Haifa-Beirut railroad line, and in 1968 a second one was dug, both connecting the grottoes with each other and allowing access along the former route of the British railroad. For many years though, the only access to the grottoes was from the sea and swimmers and divers were the only ones capable of visiting.

In 1968 a 400 meters long tunnel was dug between the grottoes and slightly above sea level, and soon after the tram was built to take visitors down from the top of the cliff to the tunnels. With a 60-degree gradient, this cable car is advertised as the steepest in the world. Today, lets enjoy the spectacular view, and hopefully in the future I’ll share photos of the grottos.

Gorgeous, right? See those fishermen out there?

Can you imagine, gorgeous coastline like this and not a hotel or tall building in site? That tented area is a banana field. Nahariya is at the very top of the photo.

The new boardwalk that takes you down to the tram entrance.

Visitors and the tram.

A vintage molded concrete wall, gotta love it…..just wondering if the tram was always yellow or they just added that color recently, see the tram, yes a bit hard to discern.

Ah yes, and the border, here it is folks, well at least the gate that leads into the area that is on the border, or something like that……either way there is certainly no entrance beyond this point for civilians.

I hope you enjoyed this little slice of Israel, truthfully, because Rosh HaNikra is so far North (not the most Northern tip of Israel, that is on the east side of the country) many people come for a visit but somehow never quite make it here…….if you are planning a visit, don’t miss it, trust me!

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