Haifa


I take the bus to Israel's major northern city.



Breakfast at Kibbutz Kfar Giladi was wonderful. Avocados are a favorite and many people spread it like butter on bread. Hanoch told me his uncle helped develop the growth of subtropical fruits in israel, like mangoes and avocados, and there is an apple named for him.

Hanoch dropped me off at the bus stop in Kiryat Shemona. A lot of soldiers ride the buses with their rifles, so I felt "safe" but the gun barrels kept pointing at me. Yikes.

Haifa is very hilly. I took a bus up to the Bahai Gardens. It was a bit confusing trying to talk with people who really didn't know English. In the end, I got to the gardens, but only to a limited area of them. This is the Bahai World Headquarters and it is on a steep hillside in Haifa. On the top end of the property, they have recreated the Parthenon.

I had quite a time trying to find the Carmelit, a funicular subway here in Haifa. I wound up skirting it for a half hour. I might as well have just walked. I had a nice lunch of pasta and roast goose, and then I met up with Uncle Moshe, the oldest member of my family here in Israel. He and Aunt Hannah live in a cozy apartment--it's hard to believe they raised two kids here. One wall in the lounge is covered in hanging mandolins. Uncle Moshe was the head of music education in Israel for years. He has a story behind every mandonlin. Hannah is a gifted artiest and her paintings and sculptures also adorn the apartment.

They are in a nice part of Haifa. There are also some parts of the city that seem a bit run down--the only time I have noticed a lot of that here. Also, a lot of store signs in Russian here. Israel has absorbed more than one million Russian immigrants, who are more Russian than Israeli at this point, and have brought some Russian-style problems with them--prostitution, drugs, and mobsterism.

The bus ride back to Kiryat Shemona was also two hours back. It was a nice way to see the northern countryside. Click on the links below to see more photos.

Click here to see the Bahai Gardens
Click here to see Haifa.
Click here to see Uncle Moshe and his mandolins.

Posted: Wed - March 30, 2005 at 02:03 PM        

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