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| After the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem, Haifa was a welcome respite. It's major claim to fame apart from being an important commercial port is its proximity to Nazareth, and its important Baha'i Temple. The Baha'i Temple in Haifa is the holiest site of the Baha'i Faith, it also has the largest and most beautiful hanging gardens in the world. Being spring, all is in colourful bloom. |
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| But, and there is always a BUT, the Gardens were closed. That meant no pleasant ascent of Mount Carmel through pleasant greenery and lovely flowers, but an equally arduous ascent along public stair cases which seemed endless and steep. Well, one does it anyway... |
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| ....and one is rewarded with a panoramic vista of Haifa and its port. |
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| The ornate gates of the Hanging Gardens of Baha'i Temple...and they were closed up here as well. |
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| At the base of the Hanging Gardens is a German Colony, which today forms the culinary centre of town. The one main street leading through the German Colony is lined with restaurants. |
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| These guys were the originators of the German Colony |
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| Here is the Short Story of the German Colony. Only the buildings seem to have survived the early settlement. |
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A typical house along the main street of the German Colony.
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Haifa, as mentioned earlier, was a welcome rest in between hectic schedules of travelling from one port to the next literally overnight. One goes to sleep in Jerusalem, and wakes up in Haifa etc etc.
I actually visited a Lebanese garden terrace restaurant in the German Colony for a scrumptious indigenous dish (don't ask me what it was - but it tasted very well), to recover from the exertions of climbing Mount Carmel via the 'back stairs' - and riding the cogwheel train back down to sea level again.
Last stop in Israel - tomorrow is the first stop in Turkey.
