Delilah of the Valley of Soreq

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And here endeth my multi-post saga of the great train journey up to Jerusalem through the Valley of Soreq.

But not without recalling a Bible story --
 "And it came to pass afterward, that he [Samson] loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah."

Yes, the famous story of Samson and Delilah -- how she tricked him into revealing the secret of his super strength, how she revealed it to the Philistines, and how they cut off his hair and weakened him.
Read it in Judges 16.
Then see more about Samson  and a bit about Delilah.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Two trains share one track

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When the train leaving Jerusalem, going west, gets to this signal #60, it is time to pull over on a side rail and stop for a few minutes. 

Suddenly you see it -- the "locomotive" of the other train coming in from the opposite direction, heading east up to Jerusalem.

The other train whooshes by!
Then we get back on the main track and resume our journey westward toward the Mediterranean.
This is called a passing loop (UK usage) or a passing siding (US).

 I like the sharp curves like this that let you see the front part of your own train.
The train does a lot of meandering and you hear and feel the clack clack as it rounds the bends. 
In this wild and secluded section of Nahal Soreq (the Brook of Soreq), the mountains on both sides of the narrow valley and the stream below did not leave room for the railway builders in the 1880s to build more than a single track.
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See more about this beautiful journey in yesterday's post.
And another post about A bridge over the river Soreq.
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Train up to Jerusalem -- almond trees blooming

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February 16 was National Almond Day, or so the American calendars tell me.
And indeed when I rode the train up to Jerusalem yesterday the almond trees were blooming like crazy!
Must be the rare winter heat wave Israel is having this week, with temperatures in the mid 80s (30 C).
On both sides of the train, in this small section, is the famous terraced agriculture of the Arab village Battir inscribed in 2014 as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Wikipedia tells the curious history like this:

In the 20th century, Battir's development was linked to its location alongside the railroad to Jerusalem, which provided access to the marketplace as well as income from passengers who disembarked to refresh themselves en route. During the 1948 war, most of the villagers had fled, but Mustafa Hassan and a few others stayed. At night they would light candles in the houses, and in the morning they would take out the cattle. When nearing the village, the Israelis thought Battir was still inhabited and gave up attacking. The armistice line was drawn near the railroad, with Battir ending up just meters to the east of Jordan's border with Israel. At least 30% of Battir's land lies on the Israeli side of the Green Line, but the villagers were allowed to keep it in return for preventing damage to the railway, thus being the only Palestinians officially allowed to cross into Israel and work their lands before the Six-Day War.

One almond tree among many olive trees.
This was the sunny view at 8:55 in the morning.
(You can enlarge the photos for a closer view, don't forget.)

The same spot but at 4:30 pm, on my way back, when most of the valley of Nahal Soreq was in the shadow of the mountains.

It is a fabulous train journey, meandering partly through a steep canyon with Soreq River running at the bottom, parallel to the railroad tracks!
I'll show you more of that part soon, inshallah.
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(For ABC Wednesday F is for fabulous.)
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Snow followed by almond blossoms

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Those puffs of white and pink?   
Yes!--they are almond blossoms!
The trees on the mountain are starting to bloom.
Click once or twice on the photo and feast your eyes. 

And to think, just 25 days ago that same view across the valley looked like this.
Covered in snow. 

You can't help but love the Jerusalem Hills. 
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(A post for Our World Tuesday.)

Bridge over the river Soreq

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Recently you saw the modern train station in Tel Aviv and also the inside of an Israel Railways train.
Now let's take that train up to Jerusalem.
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When the Tel Aviv-Jaffa to Jerusalem railway was opened in 1892, it saw the Middle East's first train.
The journey of 82 km (50 miles) then took 4 hours.
Today it is "only" about one hour and 45 minutes.
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One single track goes all that way, with a few places where one train can pull over and wait for another train coming from the opposite direction to pass.
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While my train stood off to the side, near the old and now roofless Bar Giora train station, a group of school kids came by, on their spring hike through the Soreq Valley to see the almond trees in bloom.
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A delight to see the kids out in nature!
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But I was overjoyed to see that they were crossing a BRIDGE, something to post for Sunday Bridges meme!
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The metal bridge is narrow, enough for just one person, and appeared to be less than two meters above the fast-flowing Nahal Soreq river.


The Soreq drains the Jerusalem Hills west of Jerusalem and ends in the Mediterranean Sea.
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