Alexander River - from Ma'abarot to the
Mediterranean Sea
a wintry Friday gives a small amount of light
hours
for travel, and leads us towards a trip next to the house on Alexander
river. A quick hitchhike with one of my family members to Kibbutz
Ma'abarot's gate, going under the bridge, and suddenly, we find
ourselves on the bank of Alexander river which flows strongly.
The foaming river water reveal the source of some
of our dirty water, but the area is plenteous with duck, fish and birds
with impressive wing spans, that shows that the pollution is pretty low
around here.
The first part of the trip, goes west (the rivers
flows towards the sea) on the riverbank along a kilometer, amazingly
trim. This section is a good example to the change a little money and a
lot of good will can make.
The section is
set with comfortable walking roads along the lake bank,
and a little higher, which allows an easy trip, and good view on the
birds here. A small metal bridge which crosses the river towards
Ma'abarot gives a panoramic view of the river and a peek to the birds
flying in our height.
After this nice
section, the road continues on a paved narrow road,
along the riverbank, between wide agricultural areas and orchards (who
said there are none in the center of israel?), fun facilities for kids
and benches for a rest which seem a little unsuitable in the middle of
the park.
We continue
with the road, 3 kilometers until we
reach the well known turtles bridge. On weekends, the locals gather
there and feed the turtles that live under the bridge. It looks like a
massive construction effort was done on the southern riverbank and a
great view tower was built there. But we leave the view for the next
visit of the turtles, and continue down the river.
After a few hundreds of meters, we arrive to a banquet garden. A nice
view balcony is built there watching to the river, but the continuation
of the road is a little unclear...Some cyclists leads us to the path
under the train bridge, then north, along the railroad, and after half
a kilometer, left again, back to the riverbank.
In this area, the river joins with another one,
creating a wide water stream. North of us, there are some pastoral
groves and blooming daffodils. Another kilometer down the river and a
small park is revealed, to the feet of a hill and a ruined place on it.
This is Samara ruins which is called over the Samara family which owned
the area in the past. The hill is decorated with blooming in the colors
of yellow, red and white, and from it, the view of the curve of the
river is seen, the Mediterranean sea and a strange structure to the
north, which was used in the past to raise snails for sale to the far
east.
We continue along the river, and after half a
kilometer, we pass under a bridge which carries the heavy traffic of
road number 2. We finally arrive the last section of the river, where
it flows into the sea. An interesting phenomenon on this part, is the
southern riverbank which is covered with sand dunes in contrast with
the northern riverbank which is covered with gravel rocks. It seems
like the southern winds on this area, and the sand which moves north,
goes with the river to the sea and leaves the northern riverbank with
the gravel rocks.
To
finish the trip, we use our cellular phones,
call home and ask for someone to come over and pick us, right on time
for lunch. A trip close to home is indeed a good thing.
Trip summary - From kibbutz
Ma'abarot to Alexander river, through a riverbank example, the turtles
bridge, Samara ruins and the
end of the river.
Difficulty level - easy and flat.
Month of travel - January
Summary - An easy and fun trip, with a lot of interesting
points. Problematic road markings after the turtles bridge but not too
bad.
Links - Alexander
river national park site Alexander
river on Wikipedia Interesting
sites along the river
Keywords - Alexander river, the turtles bridge, Samara ruins
