Haifa

I'm a little late on publishing this post. I meant to do this 2 days ago, but I couldn't quite finish it on the bus ride to Safed that was curving around the mountain roads. After standing around in the dark looking for my accommodations, I finally found where I was staying. And of course arrived right before the Sabbath ceremony, which I believe is Havdalah. To my credit, it was long after sundown. I participated as much as I could. As in, I imitated the 2 kids in what they did. I then had to find food. 

Then yesterday, the power went out. This is becoming a pattern. I lost power in Bodrum, Turkey also. Although I'm not entirely sure why, as the weather was perfect yesterday. Oh well, very limited communication was the result. Although I was tracking Chicago marathoners as best as I could. Congrats to all!

I'm currently waiting on the bus that will take me to Banias Nature Reserve. I'll let you know how that goes later on. I hear very good things. Funny story really quick. As I was loading the bus in Safed to take me to Kiryat (where I am now), I was handed a baby. Well not immediately. This woman either asked me to hold the baby or help put the stroller away. At least that's what I gathered. I must look like a trustworthy person, so she handed me the baby. The baby was very easy going as I paid my fare and waited for her mom to board. You don't always have to speak the same language to understand what someone else may need. And it helped the baby didn't start screaming. 

Back to the purpose of this post. How was the second leg of my Israel trip? After Tel Aviv, I headed to Haifa, the 3rd largest city in Israel. Most come to check out the Baha'i Shrine and Gardens, the main focus in the city as you can see from the photo below. And it's quite beautiful. So beautiful that I technically visited it on multiple days. The first day, I hiked all the way to the top and went in at the top terrace to take in the view. And it was amazing. I then went again 2 days later to visit the shrine, which was only open until noon. And then again on my last day, to take the actual tour of the upper terraces and learn a bit about the Baha'i religion. They believe in equality of women and men, which is very positive. But then we almost got into a debate as someone from San Francisco asked about equality in marriage. I'm not sure if the tour guide quite understood. Although I didn't see anything in my reading that talked about marriage. So who knows. 

Baha'i Gardens from the top.

During my stay in Haifa, I also visited a few wineries south of the city. I didn't have quite the success rate I was hoping and I was frustrated at a few points. The first place I visited, didn't offer any tastings. Which was very strange as the place was huge and was clearly open. However, no tastings. What winery doesn't offer tastings? Ones that are closed, that's what. Anyway, my next stop at Tishbi Estate Winery totally made up for it. I spent a good hour getting a wine and chocolate pairing. The host was very nice and knowledgeable. And I made friends with an English couple (who were in the 80s and traveling!) and their daughter who lives in Israel. I'm loving all the random people I've been meeting. I want to remember them as much as possible, so will be doing my best to write about them. I think the gentleman may have been getting a bit tipsy. Although I also may have been. They were very nice and dropped me off at my next destination, Carmel Winery. This was a quick visit, but I got a chance to taste different 4 wines and chat with the Scottish woman working there.  I had 2 more stops to go, but unfortunately had no luck. One was closed and the other one was deserted. I didn't think it was right to help myself, so I left. However, the town of Zichron Ya'akov was super cute. I took advantage and walked around a bit, took some photos, and got lunch before I headed back to Haifa.

Tishbi Estate Winery.

On Friday, I made a quick visit to Acre, the city on the other side of Haifa bay. It was quick due to the Sabbath. I wasn't paying attention to the train schedule and apparently the last train left an hour after I arrived, which was 2:30 in the afternoon. I thought I had hours until sundown. I knew things started to shut down, but figured I'd have at least until like 4:30pm. So I quickly walked to the old city to at least see it and figure out if there are any buses later in the day back to Haifa. I spoke to someone who said there were and I decided to trust them. So I spent a couple of hours wandering around the old city, which had a little Turkish thrown in there to take me back to a couple of weeks ago. I even saw a few kids jump off the city walls into the sea below. I almost expected to see my brothers doing the same. It was cool to see the place that Napoleon couldn't conquer.

The town of Acre.

It was nice spending time in Haifa, but was looking forward to my next destination. My airbnb hosts were one of the best, so far. They were very welcoming and provided so much information about the city and the surrounding area. I even watched a little American television with them and caught the latest episode of Big Bang Theory. I'm glad they thought all the funny parts were funny too.