חופש בחיפה

Tuesday morning Jon ditched school and we made our way to Haifa, a city on Israel's northwestern coast. We began our day at the Bahai Gardens, a massive terraced enclosure that is home to the Bahai religion's headquarters, in addition to being the burial-place of their first prophet (the Bab) and destination for Bahai pilgrims from all over the world. The gardens themselves are set up on eighteen terraces that descend along a hillside toward the city, and include not only beautiful landscaping but fountains, buildings, and sculptures as well. We didn't learn much about the notoriously tight-lipped Bahai or their faith, but very much enjoyed their penchant for gardening. Unfortunately, that the gardens use steps (around 1400 of them) made walking deceptively simple - the rest of Haifa is far hillier, steeper, and altogether more difficult to navigate than even a city as hilly as Jerusalem, whose rises and falls we long ago acclimated to.

We next went to Haifa University and the neighboring Mt. Carmel National Park, where we hiked though surprisingly dense undergrowth and tree cover, as well as along rocky cliffs that looked out over the city below. On top of seeing lots of breathtaking views, we also saw herds of goats, many kinds of birds, and salamanders in every nook and cranny.

Our third stop of the day was the beach. While it was too cold to swim, we did walk along the coast and enjoyed watching others, more brave or more foolish than we, take the plunge. There were also many people surfing and just enjoying the weather and view.

After interrogating our hotel's concierge, we determined that it is far harder to find kosher food in Haifa than in any city we've yet visited this year (outside of Morocco. Maybe). Eventually we discovered a Chinese place in a nearby hotel, and were very glad we did! They had options outside the usual peanut-chicken and won-ton soup, and the service, presentation, and atmosphere were all delightful after a long day on our feet.

Wednesday was an altogether more restful day. After a great brunch at the hotel we did some shopping in nearby stores, and visited a park full of bronze statues. The statues were very lifelike, aside from fact that the artist forgot to give them clothes even though they were playing tennis, catching fish, and roller skating. Or maybe that is lifelike, and we're just not living the right sort of lives.

After the park we went back to the beach to eat a lunch pillaged from breakfast. We then walked to Castra, which our concierge had told us was an artists' market. Jon had foolishly imagined bustling stalls and artists busy as work crafting innovative and different pieces, and so was a little disappointed when we found ourselves at a mall that contained art stores. Still, we did find an exhibit of dioramas that told the history of the Jewish world, from Adam and Eve through to the modern day, using dolls, styrofoam, children's toys. Once done learning about our past via dismembered and disfigured playthings we made our way to the bus station and returned home.