New Year's in Haifa and northern Israel

Over the New Year's weekend, Dawn and I went on a "Babymoon" to Haifa and northern Israel for 3 nights. We toured the National Science Museum in Haifa, where Josh also saw the Body Worlds exhibition. We also toured the impressive Bahai Gardens, terraced gardens in the middle of Haifa spreading up the western slope of Mt. Carmel. I think the gardens are more impressive as a whole than when you are walking in them, but maybe if you didn't have to go down 700 steps just to go from the top level to the middle level, more attention could be paid to the garden itself. We were with a large group as well. Nonetheless, the gardens are beautiful. We also visited Stella Maris Monastery, near Elijah's Cave, and returned to sea level via the cable car at sunset. Beautiful. On our last day, we took the train to Akko (Acre) and toured the underground Crusader city and a mosque built by "the Butcher," the cruel Ottoman ruler in Akko of the late 1700s. Akko was the Crusaders most important port during the Crusades, and the city was successfully defended (with British assistance at sea) from Napoleon's attempted invasion in 1799.

From Akko, we took the bus to Nahariya, and a taxi from there to the grottoes at Rosh Hanikra, on the Mediterranean coast and the border with Lebanon. During the British Mandate period, a train line went from Europe through Palestine to Egypt. During Israel's War of Independence, the tunnel was sealed by Jewish resistance fighters of the Hagana Brigade. The grottoes themselves were narrow with low ceilings and there is definitely the potential to get wet, especially if the winds pick up. One of the rock formations looks like an elephant trunk.

We stayed at St. Charles Guest House, also known as the German Guest House, run by an order of Catholic nuns, who are amazing. The guest house has a large garden with benches and numerous orange trees. We even had fresh squeezed orange juice!