Haifa travel guide
In 1750 the Bedouin Sheikh Dahar el-Omar destroyed a squalid coastal village because its inhabitants neglected to pay homage. The town lay in ruins for eight years, until, having made his point, the sheikh rebuilt it and improved its natural harbor. Haifa grew from that unpropitious beginning, and has since evolved into a bustling port city and maritime center.
From blue collar to high-tech
Today Haifa is Israel’s third-largest city, a busy working port where Jews and Arabs live in relative harmony, and one of the centers of the nation’s renowned high-technology industries – Haifa residents are proud of their industrious image.
The heights of Haifa
From its original cradle on the narrow coastal strip between the Mediterranean and the Carmel range, the city has marched up Mount Carmel, settling itself lazily among the gentle slopes, and is now built on three levels. Haifa itself has a population of more than 300,000, while half a million people live in the metropolitan area.
Learning and culture in Haifa
Despite its industrial base, Haifa is a highly cultured city with a large number of museums, a theatre company, and two universities – Haifa University and the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. The latter is the country’s oldest university, opening its doors in 1924, a year before the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The Technion has also become one of the world’s leading science and technology universities. Many of Israel’s foremost high-tech entrepreneurs are Technion graduates, and two of the university’s professors were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004.
Places to visit in Haifa
Mount Carmel
The Carmel Center (Ha-Karmel) is where most of Haifa’s hotels are located, along with some of the city's most attractive homes and exclusive shops. Here, at the very apex of towering Mount Carmel, panoramic scenes of the city, sea, and mountains burst into view at every turn. Lining Shderot ha-Nasi are shops along with sidewalk cafes and restaurants specializing in kosher, Chinese, Italian, and Middle Eastern foods. Atop the crest of Mount Carmel loom the contemporary features of the University of Haifa, its distinctive tower thrusting resolutely against the sky, while also in these upper reaches are the Mane-Katz Museum (dedicated to the Jewish-French Expressionist), the Museum of Prehistory & Haifa Zoo, and the Tikotin Museum, for Japanese art.
The Carmelite Monastery
Stella Maris Road
tel: 04-833 7758
Mount Carmel levels off into a promontory, and this is the site of the Carmelite Monastery, world center of the Carmelite Order. Situated at the end of the mountain, the church commands one of the most spectacular views of the city. The site was selected in the 12th century by a small band of Crusaders who settled there to devote themselves to asceticism, solitude and prayer. In the 18th century the church was built, over a grotto associated in the Jewish and Christian traditions with the prophet Elijah and his disciple Elisha. The interior dome depicts events in their lives, and a small museum displays local archeological discoveries.
Elijah's Cave
reached along a footpath from the Carmelite Monastery
The prophet Elijah is said to have rested and meditated here in the 9th century BC, before his momentous encounter with the Baalists on one of the peaks of the Carmel range. Some Christians believe the cave to have sheltered the Holy Family on the way back from Egypt, and know it also as the Grotto of the Madonna.
Haifa seafront and port
Haifa has some glorious beaches and because of the shape of Israel’s coastline, Bat Galim Beach is the only one in the country facing north, making it the best for surfing. From Carmel Heights, the cable car will take you down to the seaside Bat Galim Promenade. From here it's an easy walk to the National Maritime Museum and the Museum of Clandestine Immigration; while hugging the waterfront several kilometers farther south is the Railroad Museum, housed in an attractive old Ottoman building.
Baha'i Gardens
tel: 04-831 3131
Dominating the Mount Carmel hillside, the Baha'i Complex includes the world's longest hillside gardens, as well as the golden-domed Baha'i Shrine and the palatial Seat of the Universal House of Justice (Baha'i World Headquarters). The gardens spread out spectacularly along the north-western slope of the mountain and have a classically European ambience, with stone balustrades, fountains and stone eagles. But it's the panoramic view of Haifa Bay and the Mediterranean Sea stretching serenely to the horizon that is the gardens' crowning glory.
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