Haifa and Rosh Hanikra

 

This image shows the Bahai gardens in Haifa. Haifa is Israel's third-largest city, and is located on the coast, about an hour north of Tel Aviv. The Bahai religion has its world headquarters in Haifa, and these headquarters are renown for their Shrine of the Bab (the Bab is the prophet of the faith) and their elaborate gardens, both of which are pictured here. Haifa is built on a very steep hill, Mt. Carmel, and the Bahai gardens are cultivated on a series of nineteen terraces. I have never seen gardens so exquisitely maintained, or with such a variety of plant-life. They go on and on and on... it's amazing. We wish we could have spent more time here, but the gardens are not easy to traverse, particular with two young children. So we were happy to explore a few small sections during our visit to Haifa this past weekend.

The apartment we stayed in in Haifa was about halfway up Mt. Carmel (roughly parallel to the shrine pictured above), and had a great view of Haifa port and the Mediterranean. Alexander had fun watching from the porch as all sorts of tankers, tugs, cruise ships, military boats and pleasure boats slipped in and out of the harbor.

Aside from the spectacular view, perhaps the best feature of the apartment was the perfect "Benjamin-sized" sink in the bathroom.

 

One highlight of our trip was my Mother's Day swim in the Mediterranean. I had been waiting for this swim for a while, and it was fantastic!

Another highlight was our trip to Rosh Hanikra, which is the northernmost point on Israel's coast, on the border with Lebanon. Rosh Hanikra is known for its grottoes, which are caves carved into the chalky stone by the ocean's waves. A cable car took us down to the grottoes. We spent some time walking through the tunnels, listening to the waves, peeking out through the caves to see the bright ocean beyond... Here are a few images from inside the grottoes, including a video of Benjamin, who was mesmerized by the incoming water.

And here a few more shots taken outside the grottoes. I was a bit envious of the kayakers who paddled right into the caves before heading back down the coast.

 

The rock outcropping in the image below is the actual border between Rosh Hanikra, Israel, and Lebanon. There is always a feeling of intensity when you stand on a border between two countries (though it's interesting to consider how odd that is, since borders are often such arbitrary lines etched across the landscape. Standing at a border, it's hard not to consider how odd it is that military checkpoints, barbed wire, and fences prevent us from moving to a location a mere ten feet away). It's obviously much more intense to stand on a border between two countries that do not have the most easy relations, such as Israel and Lebanon. When spending a beautiful spring day in a place like Rosh Hanikra, which has such striking natural beauty, it is difficult to comprehend the layers of animosity that have motivated human beings throughout history to draw up lines across which many are not free to pass.

 

After our great days in Haifa and Rosh Hanikra, we headed out of the city, hoping to take a hike in the Carmel Hills before traveling on to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, once we finally located a promising trailhead, we ran into some heavy machinery and an Israeli soldier, who told us we couldn't continue on the trail because they were removing some sort of "radioactive" material from it. I am not kidding. For his part, Eric wasn't so sure about the radioactivity. His conspiracy theory is that they were putting up a portion of the "Iron Dome" missile defense system somewhere up on the hillside. I guess we'll never know, but either way, the military wasn't going to let us continue our hike. This is the only picture we got from that brief walk:

It was unfortunate that we missed out on a good hike, but I suppose that left us more time for lunch. On the way back, we stopped in Zichron Yaakov for what turned out to be a great meal of tacos and pasta salad. Here's Alexander sampling his first mint lemonade.

 

And after lunch, Eric went across the street to the local barber and got a new haircut!

We tried to get Alexander in the barber's chair, but he would have no part of it! At any rate, we a good trip up north, and as always, it's nice to be settling back into our routine "at home" here in Jerusalem.