TABOR as approached from the W. presents the form of a truncated cone but as seen from the N. and S. its outline is the segment of a circle. The path up seems ancient, and is still practicable even for laden animals, so that those who wish to encamp on the summit will have no difficulty in getting their bagage up. It is a delightful spot for a day's rest, alike from the toils of a journey, and the disagreeable intrusiveness of villagers. The spreading oak-trees, and open glades between, covered in spring with luxuriant grass, which diversify the sides of the hill; the gray ruins on the summit; and the noble view it commands—all invite the wayfarer to pause and ponder.
Tabor stands out almost isolated on the south-eastern frontier of the hills of Galilee, its base swept by the plain of Esdraelon. On the summit is an oblong area 1/2 m. long by 1/4 wide, surrounded by ruinous masses of masonry, as of an old wall, founded on ledges of the natural rock. Tangled thickets of thorn bushes and dwart oak, with a goodly sprinkling of formidable thistles, half cover the ruins, so that in some places explorations are made with difficulty. In the centre of the area, however, is an open space carpeted with grass and strewn with gay flowers—just the place for an encampment. The hill—for it does not deserve the name mountain—rises 1400 ft. above the plain, which has itself an elevation of 500 above the sea. The view from the top is perhaps more extensive, but not so interesting, as that from the hill behind Nazareth (Rte. 22).
Bædeker (1898) Route 29 page 283