The Hills of Haifa

Haifa is Israel's third largest city and perhaps its prettiest. The city is built on the steep slopes of Mt. Carmel and has three distinct vertical levels. In light of its hilly topography, and also its reputation as Israel's most open-minded and progressive city, it's not surprising that San Francisco is one of Haifa's sister cities.

The bottom level of the city, next to the sea, includes the port and nearby downtown area. The port was quite active during Byzantine times, but then fell into disrepair after conquest of the town by the Crusaders in 1100 and then by the Mamluks in 1265. The modern port was constructed in the 1920s and '30s  after the leading port in the region at Akko became clogged with silt and was no longer able to accommodate larger ships. As the country's new major port, Haifa served as the gateway for many Jewish immigrants.  Today, Haifa's port is Israel's largest, although its prominence is under challenge by the southern port of Ashdod. Perhaps most important of all, there is a friendly and delicious Chinese restaurant near the port, where – after many hours of anticipation – Jeremy enjoyed a leisurely dinner devouring noodles, wonton soup and stir fried duck. (Talia ate some egg roll and then fell asleep.) We had a very nice discussion with the Chinese owners, who have lived in Israel for nearly 30 years.

Haifa's middle terrace includes the historic Wadi Nisnas district – with its narrow streets, pretty street art, and vibrant Arab community – where we ate a delicious lunch of hummus, smoked eggplant with tehina, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, and fresh hot pita bread. (Jeremy did not eat lunch, claiming he would hold out until the Chinese food at dinner.)

The middle level also contains the busy commercial Hadar district, which houses many Russian immigrants, who make up one quarter of Haifa's population.  Check out the random and unexplained picture of the Moscow skyline on a prominent street corner. 

The Carmel district sits at the top of the city - with great views, a cosmopolitan vibe, the city's major hotels, and some pretty swanky homes. We took the Carmelite - Israel's only subway system and one of the world's smallest, with only four cars, six stations, and a single 1,800-meter long tunnel - from the bottom to the top, then spent the rest of the day walking all the way back down. This sounded easy but turned out to be fairly exhausting, since the roads tended to wind both up and down in a long, zig-zagging route. As we trudged down yet another long, busy street in the heat, Jeremy huffed “What kind of parents would make their children walk all day?!” We joked that the Chinese food at dinner would be fattening, so it would be good to get some exercise before eating. Later, when confronted with the longest urban staircase we've ever seen, Jeremy suggested that they should replace the staircase with a giant slide.

Like many places in Israel, Haifa has a long and complicated history. The city is not mentioned in the Bible, but is referenced in 3rd century Talmudic texts as a small village of fishermen and farmers. Haifa prospered under Byzantine rule, and in the 9th century, the town featured several shipyards and established trading relations with Egyptians ports. Haifa also flourished as a glass production and dye-making center. But the Mamluks razed the city in the 13th century and left it in shambles – Haifa did not come back to life until three centuries later when the Ottomans took over.

In more recent times, Haifa has witnessed a variety of conflicts – between the British Mandate and the Jewish underground, between Jews and Arabs during the battles of 1947-48, and between Mizrahi (mainly Moroccan) Jews and Ashkenazi (European) Jews. There were also several significant terrorist attacks from 1999-2003, and in 2006, the city was hit by more 90 Hezbollah rockets.

Despite all this tumult, the city today has a reputation as a peaceful mixed community where Jews and Arabs are in regular contact and make genuine efforts to promote coexistence. We had previously met a Haifan couple (in Tel Aviv) who expressed their belief to us that their fair city represented a hopeful example of harmony.

The city also has a reputation as a blue collar, hard-working town. As the saying goes, “Haifa works while Jerusalem prays and Tel Aviv plays.” Haifa has shifted its focus in recent years from heavy industry to high-tech, and its high profile industrial park – the country's oldest and biggest, which is referred as the Silicon Valley of Israel – hosts a number of global companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Google, Yahoo and IBM.

Eden and I both agreed that our favorite memories from Haifa will be the stupendous views, and the twisting jumble of streets in the Wadi Nisnas. When we asked the kids what their favorite part of the day was, Talia gave her stock response (the ice cream) and Jeremy quickly asked when we could go back to the eat at the Chinese restaurant.

(Coming soon to a Bruner family travel blog near you: Photographs of the Baha'i gardens and shrine, Haifa's most distinctive landmark, currently under renovation.)