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Blogs from Haifa, Haifa District, Israel, Middle East
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Haifa or one of the best decisions I've made
Published: July 11th 2011Middle East » Israel » Haifa District » Haifa
July 2nd 2011
So I went to Haifa yesterday and it was beautiful. I think that it is probably the most beautiful city I’ve seen so far in Israel. The whole city is built into the mountain ridges. It looks like the buildings are rising out of the sea when you look down at it from Mount Carmel. From what I saw, Haifa rises up around Mount Carmel from the port. On the south side of the ridge is the less affluent areas and a major cemetery. I took the train up around nine and arrived at ten. I visited the Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery and Church and the Baha’i Gardens. The Church was beautiful with a lot of history behind it. It was amazing to see some of the ruins from the Byzantine Church. What was also very ... read more
June 28th 2011
Good thing we were with locals for our stay in Haifa, because otherwise we wouldn't have had a fantastic hike down a valley in the middle of the city. Apparently you can buy a map of Israel with all the major hiking trails on it. When you're walking, there are colour coded trail signs so that you don't get lost, so you don't even need the map if you know where to go. Iftach, Alitta's friend who we stayed with, brought us to one such path only 10 minutes from his house. We walked past a primary school and then began our trek down into a valley, which is quite steep. When we got to the bottom of the hill, deep in the valley, we saw the natural spring where Iftach had planned for us to ... read more
Change of Scenery - Tel Aviv to Haifa
Published: June 28th 2011Middle East » Israel » Haifa District » Haifa
June 27th 2011
It turns out that Israel is not like Canada at all. Not that I thought it was, but when I've driven across Canada it can take 2 or 3 days before the scenery changes. It takes less than an hour on a train for a change of scenery in Israel, and that's not even a high speed train. I've gone from one beach to another, from Tel Aviv to Haifa, but the cities couldn't be more different. Maija, Alitta and I took the train together this afternoon. Maija had to meet up with her aunt, who didn't have room for all three of us to stay, so we said our final goodbyes, I thanked her for meeting me at the airport and showing me around Tel Aviv, and off she went. We will likely meet up ... read more
April 26th 2011
We spent some days in Haifa. There we did many things! We went to the Bahai center. It is a beautiful place with many elaborate gardens with fountains. There are statues of hawks, peacocks, and eagles. There are breathtaking colors...and at the end...is a beautiful golden shrine. All the gardens are symmetrical to represent how everyone in mankind is equal. We also went to a theater festival, but most of it was rained out by a huge storm with thunder lightning and hail! We were still able to see two plays, though, and they were great! The first one was called “Japanese Garden.” It was a play using mostly no words with dancing and electronics to show the serenity of a Japanese garden. The other show was “Jack and the Beanstalk.” It was amazing. Even though ... read more
Haifa - the end to this trip to Israel
Published: March 11th 2011Middle East » Israel » Haifa District » Haifa
March 8th 2011
Today was my last day in Israel and for the first time it rained. Maybe the sky was sad that I had to leave? I had a very slow day. The Ketubah lady picked us up at 9. For those of you who don’t know a Ketubah is a Jewish marriage contract that basically spells out the responsibilities of the groom if the marriage fails. In today’s world, there are egalitarian Ketubahs that include provisions for the bride and the groom, the groom and the groom or the bride and the bride. They can be in various dialects of Hebrew, English or a mix of the two. They were nice, but not overwhelmingly beautiful. Our Ketubah is beautiful, but it is a standard document. I don’t know if Jess and Matt will want the customization that ... read more
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March 7th 2011
Jack had meetings all day, so I headed back to Tel Aviv by train to go the the Art Museum and the Port. Traveling by train in Israel is easy and cheap. A round trip ticket from Haifa to Tel Aviv is 53 schekels or $15 and only takes an hour. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is wonderful. There was a huge exhibit (159 photos) of Yossi Breger - "And there was evening And there was morning, One Day". It was terrific and I was sorry that Jack wasn't with me. They also have a small, but very high quality collection of paintings from the Impressionist period through today. There were some wonderful paintings by artists I had never heard of, Alexander Archipenko, Max Pechstien and Keevan Dongen. There was a pen and ink collection ... read more
March 4th 2011
This morning after sleeping in a comfortable bed, I had a long shower and then a beautiful breakfast with cappuccino. I had gotten used to Turkish coffee and while I'll continue to drink it at home, it can't compete with cappuccino. Jack had meetings, so I went for a walk. The only activity available in walking distance was the Educational Zoo, so I visited the monkeys, tigers, lions and ring-tailed lemurs. The "educational" signs were all in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Haifa is the city with the best relationship between Jews and Arabs. I met Jack and Si, the head of Jewish Family and Children Services of Greater Boston, for a tour of the Bahai Gardens at noon. The gardens were built to honor the first prophet of the religion. There are about 6 million members ... read more
January 16th 2011
I take the train to Haifa, which only takes about an hour and twenty minutes. It's Friday afternoon, and by the time I arrive in Haifa, the streets are pretty deserted, and no shops are open. There's only very few restaurants open, most of them Arab-owned. I eat a falafel in Wadi Nisnas, a very old and picturesque Arab quarter. There's a maybe 18-20 year old guy hanging around, who speaks American English, but also Arabic, with the locals. I'm not really sure if he's Israeli or American and Jewish or Arab, but he looks like Adam Sandler's aborted conjoined twin fetus grown up with the worst acne I've ever seen on anybody and an overbite that would put every Dutch person to shame. He wears a shirt that says 'American National Guard - established 1645' ... read more
When Saturday becomes Sunday...or something like that...
Published: December 7th 2010Middle East » Israel » Haifa District » Haifa
December 7th 2010
I had the shock of my life last Friday. I went on a full day tour of the Mount of Olives (many sacred Christian and Jewish sites, primarily the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested) and when we got back to Old Jerusalem I noticed incredible hustle and bustle and running around. At one corner there was a "traffic jam" where a group of Muslims was rushing off to the Temple Mount, a group of Christians, carrying a large wooden cross were finishing up their pilgrimage on the Via Dolorosa, and many Jewish people were rushing off to prayer at the Western Wall. I enjoyed the irony of the moment and marvelled at how these three religious groups have many "intersecting" points. The true shock occured when I left the Old City and decided to ... read more
May 16th 2010
The winter has past and spring time has begun! Spring time here is very beautiful, its green everywhere and the trees look absolutely amazing, filled with flowers and colours. Its about 30 celsius degrees now a days. Almost to hot to be outside, the shade is definitely my favourite spot, but that is maybe because Im still wearing jeans and tshirts. I think im in denial, I dont want the heat to come just yet. Im still in the University and I still have schoolwork, so the whole summer feeling isnt helping much. In beginning of June I have my final exam and only after this will I accept the summer being here and will I start going to the beach more often and walk around in shorts and a top, go eat lunch outside and ... read more
