Haifa Bahai
Directly north, if the weather is good, beckon the heights of Rosh Hanikra, the majestic white cliff, checkpoint on the Israel - Lebanon border. Further east towers the snow capped peak of Mount Hermon. Traditional, contemporary, sophisticated, relaxed, Haifa is a winning combination. Theaters, museums, cinemas, elegant hotels, air-conditioned shopping malls, pearly- beaches - we have it all. Haifa is a party for the kids, for the family, for you.
haifa Vista
Buy
Haifa's mountainous location makes it quite unfriendly for pedestrian, therefore shopping avenues are rare . The shops that can be found in the city center offer a cheap and essential variety.
On the Other hand, Haifa has a well known reputation in Israel for its wide variety of malls and shopping centers such as the kiryon, kastra center, Kanyon Haifa and 'lev hamifratz'. Grand Kanyon is considered to be the newest and biggest mall, including international brand names such as Armani, Lacoste Benetton and Zara among local brands and a wide food court.
Eat
The city's selection of restaurants includes mostly cheap but tasty falafel counters and Arabic restaurants, located in the port area (lower city). 'hazkenim', 'michel' and 'orion' are some of the authentic and recommended counters. The local Turkish variation of turning kebab, Schwarma, is also very common and can be found in 'hazan' chain and 'jibli'.
Drink
Central Mount Carmel offers a decent selection of mid class restaurants, cafe's and bars, such as Fusion noodle house 'Giraffe', Japanese 'Tatami' and trendy cafe's such as 'Greg' and 'tut'. 'Frangelico' and 'barbarossa' Nipples are consindered to be the most popular bars in the city's chic carmal area while the legendery old fashioned 'Maayan Habira' on the lower part of it city is more popular among adult crowd
> Landmarks
* Bahá'í World Centre, on Mount Carmel's northern slope. Comprising the golden-domed Shrine of the Báb, terraced gardens and administrative buildings, the World Centre is the holiest site of pilgrimage for the members of the Bahá'í Faith, as well as the faith's central administrative center. The gardens are stunning and well worth visiting if you are in Haifa. Tours must be booked, although they are free, and are limited (tel. 04-8313131).
* Cave of Elijah - Elijah is considered a prophet by both Judaism and Islam. The Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. According to tradition Elijah lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel during the reign of King Ahab.
* Stella Maris, a French Carmelite church, monastery and hospice. This is the founding place of the Carmelite Order, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Located atop Mount Carmel, there is a hiking trail connecting it to the Cave of Elijah below.
* German Colony - in 1868 members of German Templar Society (not to be confused with the Knights of the Templars) purchased land that was far from the city and set out to build the first planned agricultural community in the Holy Land. Many of the original templar houses have preserved and undergone restoration in the last decade of XX century. Now the main street of the former colony (Ben Gurion Boulevard) is a promenade, with many restaurants and coffee shops. The City History Museum and the local Tourist Board are located here.
* University - located at the top of Carmel, the campus was originally designed by the architect of Brasilia and UN building in New York, Oscar Niemeyer. Newer buildings were added later. The top 30th floor of the Eshkol Tower, provides an incredible view of almost the entire North of Israel. The campus is also a home of Hecht Museum with its rich archeology and art collections.
* Druze Villages - 30min by sherut or longer by bus to the top of Mt. Carmel Haifa isn't the best known city in Israel, but it is the third largest city and despite my love for Jerusalem, if I had to choose another place to live, then Haifa would be it. Besides it being built around Mount Carmel, it also touts one of the most beautiful sites that Israel has to offer - the Bahai Temple and Gardens. But there's more to Haifa than just that - unfortunately, not a whole lot, but still... let me see if I can pique your interest.
From the bottom upwards:
Haifa is built on a mountain on the sea, and the mountain is located
on a small a peninsula near the north of the country. Being surrounded
by water, it became a port city, and therefore it has a large shipping
industrial area - including a large high-tech park on the western and
northern sides. On the eastern side of the peninsula, there is a small
bay which also is mostly industrial. More recently, the most western
part of Haifa (which is the part that faces the Mediterranean ocean)
has introduced a slew of fancy hotels and a large shopping complex to
boost the tourist and sea bathing crowds. There's a really nice
beach-side area which you can walk along, and the beaches themselves
are far cleaner and less crowded than in Tel Aviv. From the beach,
there is a cable car that takes you all the way up to the top of the
Carmel at the Stella Maris Church. This has been recently renovated so
it's quite an attraction.
The lowest part of Haifa is known as 'the city'. Due to its business
nature, there's not a whole lot one can do there, besides going to the
new shopping and hotel area. However, when you enter Haifa from the
south, and you wind your way around towards the port, at one point,
you'll reach a large boulevard on your left. If you turn onto that
boulevard you'll suddenly see the Bahai Gardens looming up in front of
you, with the stunningly beautiful Bahai Temple at its pinnacle. In
the daytime, the gardens are rich and lush and colourful to look at.
In the evening, it's all lit up and the Temple sparkles like a jewel.
More about that later.
The middle part of Haifa is known as "Hadar" and this is where most of the commercial parts of Haifa are located. There are lots of interesting shops and restaurants there, but they don't really cater to the tourist trade, and are mostly for the locals. Mind you, you'll find plenty of great and inexpensive places to eat there, if you're interested, but there's not all that much of interest there for most tourists. The top of Haifa is known as "The Carmel". This has more tourist places to visit, such as the Haifa University Towers, the Technion (Israel's University of Technology), the Hecht Museum at the University (mostly antiquities and archeology), the Haifa Museum of Art, the Haifa Music Center, the refurbished German Colony (which is an architectural and historical experience) and as I mentioned before, the Stella Maris Church, which is actually a monastery of the Carmelite order (can you guess where they got their name?). If you walk across the road from Stella Maris, you'll see a statue of Mary, which stands in front of Abdallah Pasha's villa. Not far from there is a place considered to be Elijah the Prophet's cave.
Just running around the Carmel area is fun. There are lots of great restaurants there (including my favourite Chinese one), and to the south, there's a pedestrian garden that runs along one side of the hill which gets filled in the evenings with people wandering from one end to the other. During the summer, artisans put up their booths along the edges and sell their wares while music is played by all sorts of musicians - just lovely. And since Haifa is quite high, the summer evenings are usually dry and cool compared to the hot sunny days. There's also a large park right at the top of the Carmel with an open-air stage that has concerts most summer evenings, and even if you can't get a seat, you can walk along the street and hear most of what's being played. Moving between the top and bottom: Since Haifa is on a hill, you may find that driving is a bit precarious, what with winding roads and very limited parking. However, if you don't want to drive, there are buses that will take you anywhere you want to go, as well as very good taxis. Of course, if none of that appeals, I've already mentioned the cable-car from Stella Maris to the beach area. But if you want, you can also go from the city to the Carmel in only 8 minutes by taking the Carmelite. No, I don't mean being carried on the back of a nun - what I'm talking about is a funicular subway, which is probably one of the few of its kind in the world. This fun and interesting way to get from one point to another was opened in 1959, and while it was closed for several years due to disrepair and lack of funds to fix it, it's now open again for your convenience and enjoyment. The Carmelite has six stations - the lowest one being "the city" and the top most being the Carmel.
Since this is a subway, it goes totally underground. And because it climbs a hill, it's very step-like in its build, traveling at an average of an 8o angle. The tunnel is 2000 meters long, and climbs a total of 268 meters from the city to the Carmel and travels an average of only 28 kilometers per hour. Before the renovation, there were drivers on these but now they're totally automatic and computerized. Throughout the tunnel there is only one set of tracks except for a spot in the middle where there are two sets. It is at this point that the two trains (one going up and the other going down, of course) pass each other on their journey. If you're ever in Haifa, I recommend you go on the Carmelite just for the experience, even if you don't need to get from one spot to another via this type of transport. Just a bit more on the Bahai Temple and Gardens: This is one of the few centers of the Bahai religion, and the architecture is reminiscent of the Taj Mahal in India. The tours in the gardens and temple are informative and eye opening re a belief system that is not widely known and the gardens provide an amazingly beautiful and aesthetic experience to the visitor. There's a marble building with a gold dome that is the center of the buildings and the terraces slide down the mountain in total grandeur, including man-made waterfalls and sculptures made from marble as well as from the flora. The whole thing was renovated and re-opened in 2001 and while it was impressive before then, now it is totally amazing. You'd just have to see it to believe it.
General extra stuff:
I've mentioned transportation and places to see. I also mentioned that
there are hotels at the west side on the beach. There are also some
big (read: fancy) hotels at the top of the Carmel, as well as lots of
smaller ones dotted throughout the city. You can find a place to stay
in any price range, from as low as US$50 all the way up to almost US$
200 (or more) per night at hotels like the 5 star Dan Panorama on the
top of the Carmel! There's even a Carmel Forest Spa you can stay at
(for well over $300 per night).
All Over (or overall):
Haifa is just a really lovely place to visit. While it may not be as
exciting as Tel Aviv, or as rich in history as Jerusalem, it really
has lots to offer and lovely places to visit. (What's more, the
drivers in Haifa are Israel's absolute best - in fact, it's the only
place in all of Israel where the drivers will actually stop to let you
cross at a zebra crossing - seriously!) Of course, when you're on the
Carmel, the climate is cooler than lower down, and on a hot summer
night, a walk around the Carmel will be refreshing. All in all, Haifa
is really a lovely place to visit, and if I couldn't live in
Jerusalem, that's where I'd be living today. The Bahai gardens are
breathtaking, the cable-car and Carmelite are fun ways to get from top
to bottom and back, and the atmosphere is warm and friendly. No, it's
not perfect but it certainly is worth a day or two of your visit.
Despite its being less touristy than other places in Israel, I'll
still give it five stars and highly recommend it to any visitor to
Israel.