Beit Guvrin Caves and Army Base

Wednesday we became amateur archeologist exploring several caves in the Beit Guvrin area where numerous quaries produce limestone for cement and for the typical natural stone faces of many houses found throughout Israel. The Soreq Cave, the first of many we visited, was founded by accident in 1968 by miners blasting away the stone with explosives. The site quickly became a nature preserve as it contained beautiful stalactite and stalagtite formations that have been forming for millions of years underground.

Stalactite is above and hang down like icicles and
stalagmite is below and sticks up from the ground.
After hundreds of thousands of years they
can meet and become columns.

Into the Columbarium Caves at Beit Guvrin -
Maresha National Park

This cave was used in Byzantine times as a place for
nesting pigeons. Pigeons were used for many purposes
such as a food source for the people, sending messages
and collecting the droppings for fertilizer for the crops. Centuries later, the Jews used these caves to hide in.

The last cave we visited was the Bell Cave which is VERY large with ceilings over 60 feet high and an entrance that is easily accessible. This cave was a quarry which was excavated at different times in history, and dates back to the 4th century B.C. Because of its fantastic acoustics and grand design, today this cave is used for many unique occassions.

After "Cave hopping", we were invited to an Israeli Army base in the Beit Guvrin area to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with soldiers and officers.