Timna valley - Eilat

The landscapes of Timna valley, about 30 km north of Eilat, are most unusual and breathtaking, and the place is well worth visiting.

The Timna valley is U-shaped: yellow sandstone mountains surround it from three sides, and red volcanic Mt Timna is in the centre. The "U" opens eastward, towards the Arava road. One of the most famous sights in Timna is The Mushroom, a red sandstone rock so shaped by wind and water that it indeed looks like a gigantic mushroom. But besides this "natural sculpture", there are many more amazing formations in Timna. Here and there you can see arches, "tables", "mushrooms" of different sizes, and other shapes for which no word yet exists. "Solomon's pillars", carved out by water erosion, are another instance of this art of nature.

If you go on a hike in Timna (which is best to do in winter, when the heat is not so exhausting), you will see how rich in colours is the Timna sand. Although predominantly red, the sand can be yellow, orange, grey, dark brown, black, light green or blue -- the latter two are usually found near copper mines. One of the hiking trails goes through the Pink Canyon and exposes much of interesting geology of Timna.

The traces of ancient civilizations are, too, very interesting to look at in Timna. Copper mining was known there at least from the 18th century B.C. Later Egyptians, who conquerred the area, made Timna a very important source of copper. There are many ancient copper mines in the valley, some look like holes in the ground, others are caves hewn in stone; in some places, there are remains of copper-smelting ovens. There is a place where you can see Egyptian rock drawings. At the foot of Solomon's pillars there are remains of an Egyptian temple, and above them are two figures, one of them a pharaoh, engraved in stone by Egyptians.

In addition to all the above, visitors of the Timna park can watch a film about copper mining in Timna, see copper melting demonstrations, fill bottles by multi-coloured sand and mint a Timna copper coin.