You will never guess where it is: a mixture of world culture and nature in a small country in the Middle East

Photographer Noam Chen has been traveling around his native country for ten years, taking fascinating pictures of local nature and cities. Landscapes in the frame — magical forests, Mediterranean beaches, deserts and wild waterfalls — make his homeland an exceptional place, unlike any other country in the world, and at the same time a storehouse of world culture and a mixture of nature, resembling a dozen different points on the planet at the same time.

Noam's homeland is one of the smallest states on the planet. On its territory is the lowest point on earth and the oldest city, under which all the world's religions were born. And although the history of this place is three thousand years old, the state is only 70.

As you probably already guessed, we are talking about Israel — a unique oasis of world history and culture in the Middle East.

Apart from being one of the most historically important places on earth, Israel is such a natural wonder whose landscapes can easily compete with the most picturesque places on the planet.

Here I have selected those pictures, looking at which you would never guess where it is."

Noam Chen

Salt marshes of Bolivia? No, this incredible Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth.

It looks like a postcard from Holland — these are magnificent flower fields in the south of Israel.

It's easy to confuse it with a classic European town — but this is the main street in Jerusalem, the capital of the country.It looks like a Greek church on the Mediterranean coast. There is a way out to it in Israel, but this picture shows the Church of the 12 Apostles on the Sea of Galilee.

A Northern European town under the cover of snow? This is actually what Jerusalem looks like in winter (yes, it also snows there).

Cyclamen in the forest in the center of the country.

An ancient town on the Adriatic coast? That's not it, it's old Jaffa — within walking distance from Tel Aviv.

Such sunsets are common on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Orthodox Church in the Ein Kerem district in Jerusalem.

Turquoise water in the grottoes of Rosh Hanikra looks like Maltese caves.

The ruins of Ancient Rome? Beit Shean National Park.The Bahai gardens in Haifa are easily confused with the backyards of royal palaces in Luxembourg.

The Monastery of St. George in the rock in the Judean Desert.

No, this is not another photo of an abandoned castle in Scotland. These are the ruins of a Crusader castle in the Galilee area.

Reminiscent of the American metropolis of the center of Tel Aviv.Closer to the colorful mountains of Peru and China, a unique colored sand in the Negev desert.

Being in Galilee, you might think that you were in a village in Switzerland.

Not far from the Galilee are the Golan Heights — there are even waterfalls there.The ancient Colosseum in Caesarea National Park.

A picture from Africa? These cranes will go there after stopping near the park of Lake Hula.

A desert in the Middle East? This is what the northern part of the Negev Desert looks like in spring.