Kind of a cloudy gray looking day today. Larry and I had breakfast in the Grand Pacific Dining Room...practically by ourselves. We were seated in a cozy window seat deck on the seventh looking out into the city of Haifa (third largest city in Israel)...the city was a mixture of very modern skycrapers and several story apartment buildings. Larry ordered up an omlet with ham, mushrooms, and cheese, toast, juice, grits, and pears. I had oatmeal and fresh melon. We enjoyed watching the train go in and out of the city and the cars and buses that were scurring back and forth. Haifa is the best natural harbor in Israel and the word haifa means beautiful coast. Haifa also has a mixed population of Arabs and Jews, who take pride in living together in visable harmony.
Larry and I had decided to do a walking tour of the city today. On the way through customs, a tourist guide told us about a free bus that would take us through the city for an hour and half trip. We caught the 10:30 one that was pulling out. It had a young college student who worked as a guide. We had a lively conversation with her most of the ride and she enjoyed telling us about her homeland, Israel. She told us that all Israli students serve in the military....males for three years and females for two. Generally after they have served they travel to some place in the world. After that they start their college education that they themselves customarily pay for. So most do not start into the work forces until they are around 27 years old. Most students have a double major because jobs are limited.
Flags were flying everywhere because they were getting ready to celebrate their countries birthday.
Upon arriving back at the dock we decided to ride the bus again to the top of Mount Carmel and walk back to the ship. We got off the bus and walked to the Bahai Gardens and Shrine.
We climbed and went down an unbelievable amount of stairs the whole day.
The Shrine with its gold dome is flanked on both sides by stunningly landscaped gardens built on 19 terraces with fountains and roaming walkways.
This area proved a panoramic view of the city and its harbor. After taking many pictures Larry and I started our walk down the street where stunning homes and gated houses lined the sidewalk.
The road wound around the hillside where we came to a park that a gentleman stopped us to tell us to be sure to walk through. It was called the Sulpture Garden and we would have surely missed it if he had not told us about it. Against the stunning views of Haifa, the bay and the mountains of Galilee, twenty-nine bronze scultures lined the lawns. It was a beautiful walk.
The statues were fantastic!
We went down a lot of stairs to find a sign stating " Virginia". Larry went in to have a conversation with the owner of the business, a haircutter named Virginia. He ended up getting a haircut from her. She was delightful to talk with, she spoke mostly Hebrew intermixed with English.
On down many hundreds more steps and we reached the bottom of the Bahai Gardens.
The gardens are considered holy grounds so we had to pass through a guarded gateway.
Continuing on down the hill we walked through the German Colony. So many sights to see and so many different cultures on one sidewalk. We made our way to the busy street that we had watched during breakfast and headed to the ship. What a great day! Our first taste of Israel. We could hardly wait to start our 7:00 am tour of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea in the morning.
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