Haifa, חיפה

I've been wanting to write about Haifa for a while now. It seem like the forgotten Israeli city sometimes, with Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv getting all the attention. No doubt that Haifa, Israel's third largest, lacks the history and spirituality of Jerusalem and the cosmopolitan flavor of Tel-Aviv, but it's a great city in it's own respect. It's a working class city and it's got some grimy areas, but it also has long stretches of Mediterranean coast and views of northern Israel that reach to the borders of Lebanon. In fact it's the views and the beach that brought me to Haifa. So I though I'd give a photo-tour of walk I took a few days ago and let the pictures tell the story.

I, being an poor immigrant, live in a fairly grimy neighborhood on a street that recently underwent a bohemian revival. Bars/cafes, second hand books and clothes, jewelry and antiques, street art/graffiti and of course a falafelria. Oh, and a fair amount of dog, cat and bat droppings. No seriously, there's bats that shit all over the place. But, just few minutes away by foot are some really beautiful sites.

Masada St. in the Hadar area

View of the sea from Masada St.

Passing under the Baha'i gardens, one of Haifa's main attractions.

After the Baha'i area, there is a small sculpture garden.

Most of the statues seem to be either equine...

or naked...

hmm...

Perhaps clothing is just really hard to sculpt.

Nice new apt. buildings in the French Carmel area

Stella Maris church

View of down-town Haifa from the Stella Maris area

Bat Galim neighborhood - one of the first Jewish settlement in Haifa. I'll be making my way down to that small bay on the left.

Cable-car to the beach - the easy way down

The alternate route down

A touch of Greece in Israel

Some old chapel with Stella Maris in the background

Stairs to the sea...

Stairs carved into a boulder

Bat Galim promenade

About a 15min walk to the organized beach

Time for a Goldstar - on draft no less!

A nice place to watch the sun set

Heading home through Bat Galim

Street fountain in the Qiryat Eliezer neighborhood

Baha'i shrine from the German Colony

Back in Hadar

Hope you liked my tour. All told it was about a 6 mile walk. I'm definitely planing some more trips soon. One great thing about Haifa is that there are so many natural setting within the city limits. Like all of Israel, there's lots to see packed into a small place.