Haifa

Haifa was our first stop in Israel. We went there directly after landing in Tel Aviv.

Haifa is the third-largest city in Israel and is located on the Mediterranean coast about 55 miles north of Tel Aviv. Settlement history here spans over 3,000 years and it has been a seaport of some note all that time. Like much of Israel, Haifa has been conquered and ruled by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Israelites, Phoenicians, Persians, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, and the British. This was something of a recurring theme in Israel.

Haifa is an important business center for Israel. Besides the port, Haifa has some great academic institutions, Israel’s oldest and largest high-tech park, heavy industry, petroleum refining and chemical processing. Haifa is one of Israel’s mixed cities with an Arab-Israeli population.

The view looking up at Mount Carmel from near our hotel. Haifa is built on the slopes of Mount Carmel. Haifa is home to the Baha’i Faith and you can see the 19 terraces of the Baha’i Gardens.

The next view is from the top of Mount Carmel where you can see the gardens, the city, and the port which has a lot of ships waiting to dock.

Our hotel was in the German Colony area, right down near the port. The Germans were evidently close friends of the Ottomans and got into Haifa on the ground floor. The photo below is an old German farmhouse that was near our hotel.

We spent several hours walking the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood of Haifa. It was very picturesque with narrow roads, old stone buildings, passageways, pomegranate and fig trees, grape vines, and lots of bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. But I should add that in addition to walking, we ate and drank our way around Wadi Nisnas. We tried falafels, pizza, coffee, paradise (dates with pistachios and other nuts), and more. In the photo below, we tried multiple cooked vegetable and meat dishes at this shop. The woman in black is the owner and cook and she also served us lots of samples.

The last photo was dinner on our second night at Shtroudl Restaurant. We had a handful of salads, pita bread, chicken skewers, stuffed zucchini, beer, wine, and dessert.