Haifa, Israel

Our second port in Israel was also not on the original itinerary--these ports were added after Holland America canceled our Egypt ports.

 
Haifa looks interesting as we sail in. We would visit the garden, the Bhai Gardens of Haifa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on the side of Mount Carmel, with the domed building at the top of a long slope up the hill later in the day.

 
We started the day by taking the train into Telaviv and once there the first item on the agenda was to find a money changer so we could take a local bus to Old Jaffa.

 
It's a modern city that could be just about anywhere in the world.

We struck up a conversation with a young woman resident and her parents who were visiting from the US. She advised us to get off at the Flea Market stop. As we approached Jaffa, this fountain dominated a traffic circle.

 
There were some stands with produce and fish, but mostly this was a permanent, full-time flea market with all types of used merchandise.

It was heavy on the rugs in this section.

A mad scramble to find out what's in the boxes.

 
Knobs galore...

 
Fabrics and clothing were inside.

 
Hey, who are those two geezers in the mirror?

 
Old arches are preserved in the middle of a modern neighborhood.

As we walked toward the waterfront area, we were struck by this huge field of yellow.

A slackline performer dressed in green entertained the kids.

 
We settled in for our picnic lunch of breakfast sandwiches and fruit by the water.

 
After lunch, we climbed the stairs into Old Jaffa. (The J is pronounced as a Y.)

 
Very charming narrow alleys with both businesses and residences.

 
We'd seen this lighthouse from the water's edge where we had lunch, but it looked different from up here.

 
We assumed that the gutter arrangement directs the rain water into cisterns below.

The sign on the wall above the blue car explains the road here.

 
The road was built by the British, who blasted through Old Jaffa in 1936. Above this sign was this interesting tile.

; 

 
We continued across the road and reentered the narrow alleys.

 
We'd come to an art district. The art was displayed out in the open on the walls.

; 

People had created living spaces on their roofs and archways.

 
This live 10-foot tall orange tree is an art instillation.

Some interesting sculptures decorate the roof garden of a museum.

 
We saw a number of churches and a few mosques.

 
Looking back toward Telaviv.

 
We took the train back to Haifa. The trains have wi-fi and plug in stations for every seat.

 
We asked a young woman about a bus to the Bhai Gardens. She was getting into her car and gave us a ride on her way to her destination. Very nice.

The fountains are extensive.

 
The gardens were divided, so we scurried out of the garden and up the very long stairway to the top so we could at least see the top part before it closed at 5pm in about 30 minutes.

  
The top of the garden has a different feel. Here is an interesting succulent garden with some large ant nests between the plants.

  
The olive trees and date palms planted up here make this more than just a pretty garden. The mulch that I was standing on is terra cotta gravel. While it was certainly a nice garden, we were not sure about whether it deserved a UNESCO world heritage site designation.