Fodor's Expert Review Citadel Park

In Talmudic times, hilltop bonfires here served as a beacon to surrounding communities, heralding the beginning of the lunar month, the basis for the Jewish calendar. In the 12th century, the Crusaders grasped the strategic value of this setting and built the Citadel. The Muslim sultan Baybars conquered it in 1266, leaving only the scattered pieces you see today.

The Jewish settlement outside the Citadel's walls grew and prospered during and after the Crusader era, becoming a center of Kabbalah studies. When the departing British Mandate forces left the town's strategic positions to the Arab forces, the remains of the Citadel again became a battleground between Jews and Arabs.