Amir

If you are looking for a hotel for your stay in Amir, the Shvil Ami promenade can add a distinctive touch to your choice of location: it brings together a personal remembrance, Bible verses set into the ground, grapevines on stone pergolas, and activities on the Jordan River. This puts a walk, a picnic break, and water-based pursuits in view as different interests, without turning them into a fixed itinerary.

The Shvil Ami Promenade: Remembrance and Design

The Shvil Ami promenade is named after Ami Peled, a student who died in a traffic accident in 1990 while cycling from Kibbutz Amir to Kfar Blum. The naming refers to a specific personal story.

Bible verses mentioning the Jordan are set into the promenade’s concrete surface. Stone pergolas with grapevines line the path. The writing as part of the path’s design, and the combination of stone and grapevines, create different accents; the text explicitly places the Jordan at the center.

Walk and Picnic

Shvil Ami is also suitable as a walking route for visitors with strollers. There are shady spots beside the promenade that are suitable for a picnic. If you would like to do both, you can plan the walk and picnic as two parts of the same visit.

Activities on the Jordan River

The stretch of the Jordan River along the promenade is also used for kayaking and rafting. A zipline runs above the Jordan River from Kfar Blum to the Shvil Ami promenade. This makes water activities and the zipline a different focus alongside walking and picnicking. If you plan to include one of these activities, check the current access and operating conditions in advance.

Archaeology in the Wider Destination of the Northern District

In the wider destination of the Northern District, Tel Hazor and Tel Megiddo add to the region’s historical perspective. Tel Hazor is a biblical tell with significant remains of a city with biblical associations; visits focus on the Upper City. Solomon’s Gate, a gate with six chambers and two towers dating to the 10th century BCE, is part of Tel Hazor. A Canaanite palace was used by the kings of Hazor in the 14th and 13th centuries BCE. The Late Bronze Age palace is considered the most elaborate in Israel and one of the most significant in the Levant.

Tel Hazor also preserves significant remains of an underground water collection system, an advanced engineering achievement adapted to the geography for water storage. An excavated shaft is 45 meters deep, with steps three meters wide carved into its walls. Tel Hazor’s fortifications are also considered the best example of their kind in the area from southern Turkey to the northern Negev.

Tel Megiddo is also a biblical tell with significant remains of a city with biblical associations. The Early Bronze Age temple complex is exceptional for the number of its temples, the continuity of cult activity, and documented ritual practices. The orthogonal city plan dates to the Iron Age; it has few parallels in the Levant.

Discover more destinations: Beit Hillel, Bethlehem, Avnei Eitan, Kibbutz Ginnosar, Maagan, Kerem Ben Zimra, Yehud-Monosson, Ein Gev.

Back to the wider travel overview: Israel.