Haifa

You meet all types traveling. I only spent one night in Jerusalem after returning from Jordan and left for Haifa the next morning. The night before and after the Jordon trip I took a bed in a four person mixed dorm at Abraham Hostel. The Hostel, although a bit institutional, is set in a great location and offers a lot for the budget backpacker style traveler. I’ve stayed in many hostels and most of the time they are ok if not surprisingly good. However, sometimes you wind up sharing a room with a strange bird.

The first time I checked in there was only one other person in the room. It was a middle aged American who looked very Middle Eastern and had an unusual name that I didn’t really catch. He had a slim build, dark skin, sculpted facial features and wore a stylish star of David necklace. He stated that he was from Arizona and was very nice and friendly. He immediately struck up a conversation but I couldn’t really follow all that he was saying. I took him for being a New Age philosophical type. He struck me as being a bit odd and harmless but made me a little uncomfortable at the same time. He was one of those types who will latch on to anyone who will listen and can be hard to get away from once he starts talking. What annoyed me most, during one conversation, was how he would poke me on the shoulder as an expression when making a point.

Later that evening a woman booked on the Jordan trip checked in kind of late but I figured it would be a decent night’s sleep before getting up at 6 am. At half past midnight someone checked in for the 4^th bed and quickly dozed off into a snore with coughs in between. I noticed the odd American was not around. He showed up very late and fell asleep in his clothes.

The second time I checked in the snorer was gone but the odd American was still there with his three large duffle bags wearing the same clothes. He had told me before that he has dual citizenship and is in the process of moving to Israel. There were also two new Asian guys who were totally cool. They were the kind of people you want to meet in a hostel. The three of us went to sleep at a reasonable time.

About 3:30 am the odd American comes in and starts going through all of his stuff seemingly for no real important reason before retreating to the bathroom then his stuff again. This went on until around 5 am when he went to asleep in his clothes. After about 3 or 4 hours he got up as I was preparing to leave. Needless to say when I got very little sleep the two nights I stayed in a shared dorm in Jerusalem and the peculair roommate had me motivated to move on.

Jerusalem has an intense vibe and one I can’t say feels all that comfortable to me. I suppose it just takes some getting use to. My friend Alon says he doesn’t feel it at all but he grew up there. There still remains some sites I’d like to see in the Jerusalem area so I’ll likely return for a couple of more nights at some point in the next couple of weeks.

In Jerusalem I hopped an express bus to Haifa, back to the coast, north of Tel Aviv. It took less than two hours. The bus dropped me on the outskirts of town. It was a little confusing as to which local bus to take to reach the general vicinity of where I wanted to stay but I figured it out. I hadn’t booked anything and planned to walk around with my Lonely Planet guidebook for accommodation.

I got off in an area known as German Colony with a row of limestone buildings housing hotels and street side bar restaurants. Above the German colony is the very impressive Bahai Gardens that stretch up the side of a large hill known as Mt. Carmel. Just below German colony is the port area.

My Lonely Planet guidebook directed me to a quiet side street with a guest house run by Nuns. They were full so I went across the road to a guesthouse with and unimpressive front. What sold me was the hidden courtyard which gives it a nice charm. No dorm for me. 220 Shekels ($65 usd) got me a very nice clean room with all the amenities. It’s also very quiet.

Today I went on a long walk through Haifa amidst the Bahai Gardens and over to the Maritime Museum to check out an old Israeli submarine.

I especially liked the Bahai Gardens. In a nutshell the Bhai Faith is head quartered in Haifa. Bahai’s are an all-inclusive sort of religion that believes all of the great religious figures, be it Mohammad, Jesus, etc appeared as the right teacher for the time. Bhai is fairly new and wasn't founded until the mid 1800’s to signal in the coming of another great teacher. The garden grounds house a temple in honor of the leading founder as well as some impressive looking administrative buildings. It's all built in a terraced fashion up the side of Mt Carmel rising near its top. The variety of plants, trees, cactus and flowers are very diverse. Everything is maintained immaculately.

Aside of the Bahai Gardens Haifa is a small port city, a working town. A day is enough to see pretty much all one would want to see. It’s a mix of Arab’s and Jews that seem to get along just fine but aren’t particularly friendly. When it comes to social graces Israeli’s are a mixed bag. Some are as friendly and helpful as can be, most are ok, and some are kind of rude, even if they are working in the service industry. Many Israeli’s could stand to improve their customer service skills.

Tomorrow it’s a short trip to Nazareth where I’ll be getting into the Jesus thing for a few days by roughly retracing some of his steps.