Israel
Haifa

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    • Day 12

      Haifa nach der Zollkontrolle

      May 18, 2022 in Israel ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

      Um 15 Uhr gings los zum Hafen.
      Nachdem alle, wirklich alle Fshrzeuge komplett leergeräumt und der gesamte Inhalt durch ein einziges Röntgengerät geschoben war, sind wir nun dabei das von Günzburg mitgebracht Bier gegen ein lokales zu tauschen.
      Wiedet eine Aufgabe aus dem Roadbook abgeschlossen.
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    • Day 13

      Werkstattsuche

      May 19, 2022 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      Nachdem wir auf unsanfte Art vom Parplatzwächter zur Abfahrt aufgefordert wurden, haben wir unseren defekten Vito durch Haifa Richtung Nazareth abgeschleppt.
      Auf der Suche nach einer Werkstatt wurden wir in einer arabischen Siedlung am Straßenrand fündig. Im Nu hatten wir ca. 15 Helfer um uns.
      Wir bedankten uns bei den Kids der Familie für die Hilfe mit ein paar Spielsachen und einem Fahrrad.
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    • Day 24

      Haifa: Celebrating My Birthday

      April 11, 2022 in Israel ⋅ 🌙 63 °F

      For years now, as our travels have picked up, I’ve had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday in different countries. This year I’m in Israel on this special day.

      I won’t tell you how “young” I am, but there is a 6 and a 4 involved … you can put the numbers in whatever order you deem appropriate 😄

      I love the Italian specialty restaurant on the ship — Toscana. So that’s where we went tonight. A cake and serenade by the staff were part of the occasion. Thank you all for making my day one to remember.
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    • Day 25

      Haifa On Foot

      April 12, 2022 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

      And when I say on foot, I mean this was a 17,787-step day of meandering around Haifa … from the waterfront … to the crest of Mount Carmel … back down to the waterfront … and all the way in between.

      The Carmelit is Haifa’s funicular/underground metro. With only six stops, the system runs between the city’s most important centers. We walked out of the port and headed to the station at Paris Square, in the city’s downtown center … a 15-minute walk in all. After purchasing single-ride tickets from the vending machine, we were on our way up to the last stop … the Gan-Ha’em Station.

      First, a walk along the Louis Promenade, which took us to the top of the Baha’i Gardens, which are sculpted into the mountainside. Along with the Shrine of the Báb (aka the Golden Dome), they are a symbol of the city. I had looked into booking the guided tour that allows visitors access to the entirety of the grounds and the shrine, but the gardens are closed today. So, we had to be satisfied with a glimpse from the promenade that overlooks the property.

      We had no specific plans on where to go or what to do today, so we just wandered and ended up wherever our feet took us … the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art … the Haifa Zoo (it was obvious that the animals were well taken care of from the way the caretakers talked about them, but the facility itself is in need of a facelift).

      More meandering eventually brought us to a small, hole-in-the-wall kind of place — Falafel President — that was doing brisk business. We joined the locals and ordered two falafel sandwiches, which we ate at one of the tables on the sidewalk. Excellent. Then, onto Golda, the gelateria we had spotted earlier for a delicious, creamy Belgian chocolate treat. Excellent.

      Thus fortified, we began the 45-minute trek down to the port.

      Haifa is situated on hilly terrain. The roads, instead of going straight down, follow a zigzag pattern along the mountainside. Pedestrians in the know take the “step routes” which make for short cuts that go through quiet neighborhoods and narrow alleys. Luckily, Google Maps routed us down via these steps because I had not been able to get my hands on a map of the color-coded routes. Along the way, we enjoyed murals and other bits of art.

      Thus, we wrapped up our visit to Israel. Tomorrow we have a sea day before our first port of call in Turkey on the 14th. I know our feet are going to appreciate the chance to rest up.
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    • Day 7

      Mayday Beach day

      September 2 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

      Slept in till a whopping 2:45am. Fell back asleep at 7:00! Thankfully.
      We then went to brunch and the beach for a few hours. Sooo relaxing.
      For dinner, things start to open up after sundown. So we went to a yum shawarma place. Nothing like real shawarma 🤤
      Now, at 11:45 pm we will head back to the airport to catch a flight to Croatia 🇭🇷
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    • Day 17

      Haifa - Teil 2

      September 11, 2019 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Wir waren an dem Tag die einzige Touristengruppe (mittwochs ist grundsätzlich geschlossen) und hatten daher die Gärten für uns. Die Gärten erstrecken sich über eine Länge von fast 1 km und es sind über 100 Gärtner täglich mit der Pflege beschäftigt.

      Die Gärten waren sehr gepflegt und sahen wunderschön aus. Bei jeder Terrasse haben wir eine kleine Pause im Schatten gemacht und Daniel hat uns etwas über die Gärten und den Bahai Glauben berichtet.

      Nach der Tour haben wir uns gestärkt und mit einem Eis belohnt. Den Tag haben wir dann mit einem Sprung ins Mittelmeer ausklingen lassen.

      Liebe Grüße
      Chris und Stephi
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    • Day 18

      Haifa

      February 19, 2022 in Israel ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      Israel's 3rd largest city and largest port. The city dates back at least 3,000 years. It is built from the Mediterranean Sea with it's port and beaches up the north slope of Mount Carmel: you know, the place where Elijah had a bit of a fiery debate with the priests of Ba'al.
      Arguably the most impressive place in Haifa are the Bah'ai Gardens in the 1st picture. These terraced gardens are the approach to the shrine where the founders of the Bah'ai faith are buried.
      The 2nd picture is of a typical house in the German colony here, located at the foot of the Bah'ai Gardens. The colony was founded in the 1860s by German Protestants. This group was a driving force in the economic development of the region. The 3rd picture looks down the main street to the pier at its foot.
      The last picture is a market street not far from the German colony.
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    • Day 18

      Ancient Caesarea

      February 19, 2022 in Israel ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

      Ancient Caesarea (also Caesarea Maritima), just south of the modern town was built by Herod the Great and named for Augustus Caesar. Begun by Herod in 22 BCE, construction continued until 9 BCE when he finished the harbor (called Sebastos) that was built from nothing. That is, there was no place along the coast usable as a harbor. When it was built, it was the largest artificial harbor of it's time, rivaling even Alexandria in importance.
      Caesarea served as the provincial capital during Herod's reign and for some centuries thereafter. It was also an important place in the development of Christianity.
      The 1st picture looks across Herod's palace. The palace was on 2 levels. This picture looks across the upper or public label of the palace. The 2nd picture looks down on the lower or private level of the palace. This was built around an open courtyard with a pool that can still be seen in the center. Towards the bottom of the picture are some of the mosaics still in situ.
      The 3rd picture is the Roman theater, and the 4th picture is of some of the decorative elements from the original building.
      The 5th picture is the Herodias hippodrome, taken from one end. The original was twice as wide, but the Mediterranean (just visible to the left) waves washed out that portion. The last picture is a portion of the original wall along the hippodrome racecourse that has been set up to give a sence of the opulence Herod was famous for.
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    • Day 24

      Haifa: Caesarea National Park

      April 11, 2022 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

      From our previous visit to Haifa, I knew the train station was walking distance to where Insignia would be docked today. Not that we were taking a train. Rather, I knew the path to get us out of the port on foot was in that direction. Instructions from port security — and an escort by Javier, Insignia’s Chief Purser, when we ran into him along the way — made getting to the port entrance easy peasy.

      Short of taking a tour, renting a car was the easiest way to get ourselves to Caesarea National Park, about 40 km from the port. Luckily, Suncar (on Jaffa Street) was just a 15-minute walk from the port. Soon, we were breezing down Hwy 4 to Hwy 2 to Rte 6511.

      The park has a beautiful setting on the Mediterranean coast, between the Crocodile and Hadera rivers. I’m not going to go through the entire history of the area … anyone interested can look that up. Suffice to say that Phoenicians were living here as far back as 586-332 BCE. Other empires and kingdoms took over in the years that followed … and then the Romans came in 30 BCE. They awarded the land to King Herod, who built a large port city and named it Caesarea in honor of Octavian Augustus Caesar … Herod’s way of saving his neck from the chopping block.

      We entered the ruins of Caesarea through the perimeter fortifications and slowly made our way to the harbor area and the Visitor Center, which was open today. The museum inside is small, but the short film gave us a brief glimpse of how Herod built the city. Then, we wandered out towards the harbor, following a meandering course that took us through the ruins of the palace, vaults, public latrines and baths; along the length of the hippodrome where chariot races were held; and on to the Herodian Amphitheater.

      We enjoyed our visit to Caesarea National Park … except for being disappointed in the amphitheater, which has been restored with modern materials and now sports a performance stage that doesn’t fit the ambiance one bit. The Mediterranean served as a beautiful background for the ruins, the brilliant sun and blue sky adding to our pleasure in the day.

      All in all, an enjoyable day that more than made up for yesterday’s frustrations in Ashdod.
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    • Day 14

      Haifa and Ashdod Israel

      May 11, 2022 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

      Still in isolation. There was nothing pretty or redeeming about these ugly commercial ports and nothing to see, even from our balcony, as we can’t leave our room. But we are very glad we are not missing too much as we had our great 2019 trip that included both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv/Jaffa. Very sorry to miss the Baha’i Gardens in Haifa. Maybe next time!
      Staff are being very nice to us in lock-down but room service is getting really boring. Lisa tested positive for COVID on the 13th and so they moved her to a separate room down the hall from John.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Haifa, Bezirk Haifa, Haifa distrik, Districto de Haifa, منطقة حيفا, Hayfa dairəsi, Beziak Haifa, Хайфски окръг, Distrig Haifa, Districte de Haifa, Haifský distrikt, Haifa-distriktet, Distrikto Ĥajfo, Distrito de Haifa, Haifa ringkond, Haifa barrutia, استان حیفا, Haifan hallintoalue, District de Haïfa, Slyst Haifa, Meẖoz H̱efa, Okrug Haifa, Հայֆայի մարզ, Distrik Haifa, Distretto di Haifa, ハイファ地区, ხაიფის რაიონი, 하이파 구, Haifos apskritis, Haifas apgabals, Хаифа, Daerah Haifa, Haifa distrikt, Hajfa, ہیفہ ضلع, Districtul Haifa, Хайфский округ, Haifa Destrict, Hayfa Bölgesi, Хайфський округ, حیفا ضلع, Quận Haifa, חיפה דיסטריקט, 海法区

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