They say love is ageless… Here in Safed, on the site of the 14th century post house of the Galilee... Imagine the girl running to the stone building, her heart beating, waiting for the caravan arriving from the port of acre on its way to Damascus, bringing with it scentsof distant places, voices From a far and perhaps… Perhaps also a sign of life form her beloved. She climbs the stone arch to see further away. Facing the miron mountain she so loves, her heart is heavy today. Nosign of a caravan. She knows the roads are challenging and the journeygrueling. Caravans don’t come every day. And perhaps has her beloved seen the great sea and forgotten? But here… a cloud of dustgathers on the road.A horseman approaches… carrying a postal package. No one knows the course of love, But on that very spot which housed the ancient khan turnedpost house, new loves are born at the Ruth Rimonim hotel.

They say that on full moon nightsone can hear the sound of thecamels’ bells…In the evening hours, caravans laden with soft silk fabrics,

precious perfumes, hampers overflowing with delicious fruit, leaving behind a scent of jasmine and cinnamon arrived in thegrand khan of Safed.

Here, in this haven of pure air and enchanted landscape, the travelers would stay the night to rest. At first they would unload the goods they brought from Damascus and quench the thirst of the horses, mules, donkeys and camels. Then they would assemble under the arched ceilings of the stone building to share a meal and the stories of their fascinating journeys, then lie on sacks to sleep the night. At dawn they would load the best of the Galilee’s grains and gourds of the finest oil produced by the locals from the olive trees growing on the mountain slopes, andwould start back to Damascus.

The very spot where the mamluk sultan Baybars chose to erect, over 700 years ago, the beautiful khan renowned throughout the east, today houses the striking dining room of the boutique hotel Ruth Rimonim Safed. The walls still boast the stone rings to which the pack animals had been attached. The travels of these ancient caravans still enchant the place and on full moon nights, look at the mironmountain and listen… perhaps you will hear the bells ringing…

Memories of Myrrh and Cinnamon Myrrh and frankincense, balm and clover, cinnamon andspikenard, the essence of persimmon and the myrrh oil…

These names evoke ancient scents of mysterious beauties,princesses in ancient palaces and sensuous desert maidens. All along human history, men knew how to arouse passions with the natural substances found around them. They crafted scents from flowers and plants which enabled women to set men on fire, which opened the gates of heaven and the hearts of gods in rituals, which were used in healing, sorcery, burial and cosmetics. They turned matter into scent, then into money. Lots of money. The perfume trade in the ancient world developed notonly the economy, but also the trade routes. Along the perfume roads fortresses and khans were erected, to provide shelter for the perfume traders. The khan erected by the mamluk sultan Baybars in Safed, overlooking mount miron, is one of them. Here at the khan, caravans carrying the precious perfumes and rare and finest raw materials to and from damascuswould stop. Next to the khan the traders would hold a perfume market whose scents reach our very days: the remnants of the market are spread throughout the ancient olive orchard in the gardensof the Ruth Rimonim hotel in Safed.