Kerem Maharal
On the south part of the Carmel, in a valley beween the woods, stands a castle,
in the middle of a small village named - Kerem Maharal.
The name of the village is after the famous Rabbi Leib Liwa, so called Maharal,
from Chekoslovachia. He's one of the heroes of Kabbala, for being able to
form a creature: "The Golem from Prague". When the immigrants from there
came to Israel, they called their village after their heroe.
In the center of the village stands this castle, erected by a Rich, Cruel,
and Large Arab family called El-Mahdi. They continued to fight Israel after
the 1948 war, and were bombarded by the baby IDF, born only days before.
They escaped a night before the last final attack, and therefore were saved.The
story is long, and you're welcome to read what Sefi Ben-Yoseph has written
about this place (at my cubic).
Today in the castle lives a rather weird family, who kames money from the
visitors, apart from being a luxury furniture shop. Near the castle there's
a mosque.
How to get there:
On the old road to Haifa, one junction northern to Furidis, turn east to
Kerem Maharal & Makura.
What else to see:
-
There's a wonderful view of all the zone from the K.K.L. Tower, in the woods
to the north of this little road.
-
Makura - is a private castle/farm, with no entrance. Are they hiding something
(apart from the factory making millions and millions from the mineral water
fountain)?
-
There's an ancient volcano (now asleep) in the valley near Kerem Maharal,
and it's nice to look down from the woods and see the gray hills down there.
Where to eat:
-
At "Logos" Farm there's a restaurant, suggested by Dror Halachmi. In the
center of the village, take right about 700m.
You are welcome to look at the picture:
Please look at the map: