Tag: Spring

Early morning dip in Ein Bubin

Posted on by ahlanpalestineinfo

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Bisan chilling next to Ein Bubin after an early morning dip in the cool and clear water. (Photo by: Malak Hasan)

Something we hear often from people who visit Ramallah, is that there is nothing to do other than explore the city and its many restaurants and bars. “We finished exploring the whole city in one day”, they always say.

While we understand that Ramallah is a small city in comparison to other places we have all been to, we feel the need to make the distinction clear: Ramallah the city is different than Ramallah the governorate, which includes 94 villages, all within a 40-kilometer radius. This means that by renting a car for a couple of days during your visit, you can tour and explore Ramallah’s nature and beauty in the amazing villages just few kilometers away.

One of these amazing places we recently discovered and explored for you is the Ein Bubin natural spring in the village of Deir Ibzi, 10 kilometers west of Ramallah.

Arriving at the natural spring

Go to: Mapquest to find detailed maps of Palestinian villages. Adjusted by Ahlan Palestine to show exact directions to Ein Bubin.

To arrive at the spring is fairly easy even for people unfamiliar with the area. You can either rent a car and drive to the village or find public transport in the city center. But if you opt for a rental car, just drive out of the city center on the main road leading to Betounia. It is a beautiful 10 kilometer ride where you will get to see the beautiful nature of Palestine, its lovely homes and the simple lifestyle which is very different than in the city.

We highly recommend you stop at one of the supermarkets or stores on the way to buy something for breakfast. We like buying from the local stores in every place we go to because this is the best way to support them. Bisan and I bought Labaneh (strained yogurt), traditional Taboon bread, cucumber and tomatoes.

We did not know we arrived in Deir Ibzi until we asked someone on the way. He also directed us to finding the exact entrance to the spring. It is exactly between a school and a supermarket called Barafili, you should be able to find it easy but if not just ask people around for directions to Ein Bubin. Palestinians are very helpful and friendly and you wouldn’t find trouble finding anything if you ask people.

Bisan and I drove down an unpaved road for maybe another 10 minutes until we hit a blocked road. The Israeli occupation closed off the main entrance to the spring with a yellow metal gate, which meant that we had to leave our car and hike down to the spring. Anyways, the hike was a lovely addition.

The yellow gate is often closed by might be open sometimes, therefore, if you find it closed just park your car, walk straight and hike down to the spring.

A mistake we made was that we headed left at the yellow gate and ended up walking down a steep hill all the way to a main road next to the illegal Israeli settlement of Dolev. However, we realized with the help of a friend that we should have walked straight from the yellow gate to the spring. We hiked back up and then straight from the yellow gate and down another hill. This time we could feel that we are back on track.

The road was unpaved but surrounded with all kinds of trees and plants. It was becoming more and more green as we went further down, a sign that we are getting closer to a water source. It was very quiet and surreal. We could only hear the insects buzzing and birds singing. Suddenly, Bisan and I heard the sound of flowing water. We couldn’t be more happy and Bisan actually made a funny squeaky sound.

We climbed up to the spring and found the most amazing thing: a big pool with clear water surrounded by a berry tree and endless grape vines. We put our things down and took our shoes fast in preparation for the best part yet: swimming!

The pool is not really deep but deep enough for a jump and a good splash.

Honestly, it seems difficult to describe how amazing we felt the minute we jumped into to the spring. There is something magical about swimming in the nature surrounded by green landscapes and complete silence. The sun was reflecting off the pool and few birds would fly down so fast to the pool to take a sip of water or maybe snatch an insect they saw floating at the surface of the water.

We sat at the side of the pool just enjoying the scenery but jumped back into the spring as soon as we dried up. We spent another two hours chilling and relaxing and then we took some time to explore the surrounding area and caves. We then hiked back up to where we left the car and headed back to Ramallah within 15 minutes.

Ahlan Palestine tips for the best experience:

  • Leave early to the spring to enjoy the place for yourself, before other people show up.
  • Grab some breakfast to eat when you arrive at the pool because you will be far away from the town and from our experience you would want to spend some good time relaxing in the area.
  • We recommend you do not go alone. Go with friends or at least a group. Due to the tense political reality and the pool being in a location between the illegal settlement of Dolev and the village of Deir Ibzi, some Palestinians have reported being harassed by the Israeli settlers who visit the pool.
  • Do not forget to bring a towel and some extra clothes because you will want to take a dip in this beautiful pool.
Our usual 360 at the beautiful Ein Bubin natural spring

Breakfast at Ein Zarqa

Posted on by ahlanpalestineinfo

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Bisan enjoying her morning tea with mint and fresh vegetables.

Last week, Bisan and I decided to visit a place called Ein Zarqa in the village of Deir Ghassaneh near Ramallah. It was not a planned trip but ended up being one of the most beautiful locations we have visited in a while.

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when my friend Khaldoun, originally from Deir Ghassaneh, posted a slow motion video of a rock being thrown into this beautiful crystal clear spring. The sun was reflecting off the beautiful splash and I was intrigued right away. I called Bisan at night and said lets go see this place. Bisan being the craziest travel buddy said yes with no questions asked!

She picked me up at 6:30 in the morning and we drove outside Ramallah in the direction of the town of Birzeit and Nabi Saleh village. While the location of the spring itself is not far from Ramallah, finding it was difficult due to the lack of clear signs. We drove all the way to Deir Ghassaneh village, because that is where we thought the spring is located. But after asking around, we were told to go back to Beit Rima, the village just before Deir Ghassaneh to find the easiest entrance into Ein Zarqa. The Deir Ghassaneh road is extremely steep and bumpy.

Going back to Beit Rima, we asked some of the drivers at the taxi station to show us the way and honestly we do not think we would have made it without their help (Tip: Do not be shy to ask people about directions). After we failed to find the right path, one driver offered to lead us to the closest street leading to the valley.

While we managed to arrive at the spring in a small car, we think that it would be much more stress free to rent a bigger car to avoid falling into one of the many holes in the unpaved road. Along the way we stopped multiple times to take in the amazing scenery. We were surrounded by what seemed like a million Olive trees. The valley below was filled with beautiful flowers and plants and the fog was clearing just as we arrived offering us to see the sun rise into the sky.

Again, there was no sign to indicate that we arrived at the spring, but we found a huge white cement water tank with the words “please take your trash with you”. That was enough for us to know that we arrived at the spring.

Our breakfast date in 360

Having left at 6:30 in the morning meant that we were able to enjoy the area by ourselves. The place is usually packed by visitors but arriving in the morning hours will guarantee you enjoy hearing the birds sing and the water without human interruption. We took sometime to drink in the view, which was honestly breathtaking! The minute we stepped out of the car we could hear the spring running. We took out our food basket and surveyed the area around and finally decided to climb the cliff overlooking the spring and have our delicious breakfast, which Bisan had prepared in the morning, watching the sunrise and hearing the water flow so peacefully.

We had our hot black tea with fresh mint and devoured the vegetables with the ever delicious Jerusalem Ka’ak and Labaneh. After taking few amazing shots and recording some videos, we decided to go back down and venture into the valley to see what we could find. As the weather was getting warmer, we realized that we have made the best decision to come early. Two families joined us but we were not bothered because we had enough time to enjoy the tranquility.

Miss Bisan enjoying her fresh pick.

We walked a bit into the valley and could see the hike trail directions marks and we knew that this trail is something that we will be doing very soon. Bisan being the knowledgable person about plants, started picking some herbs and plants and I was taking more videos of the two of us.

After walking for another hour we decided to head back to the car and drive to the village of Deir Ghassaneh that has amazing architecture mostly in the center of the Old town. The day did not end here but we will have to share that with you soon in another post so stay tuned!

End