Travelling Starfish

Cast your minds back a couple of weeks.  I ventured out to see the sites in Haifa and unfortunately was disappointed!  On a way too hot day where I actually wasn’t feeling too well, I ended up going to Haifa and came up empty handed.

Well, I’m back with  a vengeance and have decided to give it a go again to see the infamous Baha’i Gardens.  My journey started out a bit better – temperatures have cooled slightly and I’m not coughing constantly.  I made an earlier start (and one that wasn’t on a Sunday) so the train was fairly quiet.  I also did a bit more planning this time.  I went onto the Baha’i website and wrote down directions to get to the bus once I arrived in Haifa – I learned my lesson last time not to rely on anyone for directions.

An hour on the train and I was there – flashbacks to my adventure there a few weeks ago haunted me slightly but I didn’t let that phase me.  I pushed forward.

German Colony

Like I said, this time I did my research.  The map looked simple – to grab bus #23 which headed up to the lookout point – I just had to turn right and then left at the first roundabout.  Five minutes later, I turned to the left and couldn’t believe my eyes – the “gardens” were staring me in the eye.  I couldn’t believe it!

Rewind 3 weeks ago and I wonder how people were so confused on where I was asking to go?  The blank stares now confuse me!  This wasn’t a small park, it was the city’s focal point! As I reflected and waited for the bus, I realized that I was actually in the German Colony area of the city – old looking buildings all converted into cafes – very Israeli.

I grabbed the bus and made my way up the hill (well, mountain).  When I arrived, I was 30 minutes early for the English free tour.  There was a Hebrew tour starting right away so I thought I’d join that – I figured I could always follow along and if I wanted to just go off on my own I could – that’s allowed I’m sure (keep reading…)!

The Baha'i Gardens in all its glory

We got led into a small area while the tour guide told us some of the rules. I figured with all the tours I’ve been on through the years I knew what he was mentioning – drink lots of water, keep close, etc etc.  We went to the first area and to be honest I got bored already.  Check out the video to see what I mean – the gist of what the guide is saying is about how there are gardens here and in Acre and a bit about the history of the Baha’i.  Since I was a bit bored, I started walking ahead.

As I snapped away, I took the scenery in and thought about how this place means so much spiritually to the Baha’i people around the world.  It was beautiful so I kept walking.  I noticed some gardeners and I snapped a couple pics of them too – what a job that must be in the heat and with the enormous incline!

Working hard

Suddenly one of them asked me if I was a Baha’i.  I said no then I turned around and someone from security asked me why I was on my own.  Ah oh!  She told me that people weren’t allowed to tour the gardens on their own, only with guides (remember that tip!).  I had no idea – obviously!  This is when I implemented one of those little life lessons I’ve learned to master over the years – play dumb!  I did just that and instead of escorting me off the property (which is apparently what they are supposed to do) she told me to wait for the tour group to catch up with me.

After a bit of a telling off from him too, we continued.  There are lots of different buildings in the gardens that are only open to those of the Baha’i faith – including the International Baha’i Archives (that looks like the Acropolis) and the Centre for the Study of the Texts (which houses texts that are special to the Baha’i faith).  The gardens and buildings all cost over $100 million to build and apparently has all been due to contributions from Baha’i followers around the world.

Me at the Baha'i

You may notice something strange in the photos I’m in – it’s over 30C and I’m wearing a sweater.  Well, I was told that when you visit the gardens women are required to dress modestly and cover their shoulders – so I did.  However, many women in my group were sleeveless so I’m not too sure that this rule still holds.

The tour ends just before the holy shrine of the Ba’b where you watch a short video in a quiet (and air conditioned) room.  This is about the Baha’i faith, its history and information on the Baha’i World Centre.

To end this post, I will answer one question.  Was it worth it to go back?  I can safely say YES.  Haifa may not be the most exciting of cities but these gardens are definitely something to see.

Enjoy, Miriam

So you all may be wondering how my little trip to Haifa went?

To remind you all, I invested a lot of time trying to figure out how to get there and what to do when I arrived.  I found out the best way to get there from Tel Aviv was by train (mainly for the comfort factor) and there were 3 main sites (The Baha’i Gardens, The German Colony and Mount Carmel).

So here’s how the day went (Caution: beware of my dry humour) & the lessons I learned…

I woke up last Sunday AM feeling about 75% well.  I haven’t been feeling the best the past few weeks.  Summer colds are never fun but especially with the heat here (a topic for another blog) it’s been really hard to recover.  I thought I was on my way so I decided that getting out & about may be a good thing vs sitting in a hot and humid apartment.

Since I work on Sundays, I woke up early to handle a few emails, get a few areas of work completed and then started the process of getting ready for today’s adventure.

I left the house at about 10am – not too bad I thought considering all the work I completed.  I headed to grab the 83 bus (goes from Jaffa to Azrieli/HaShalom train station).  Let me put it this way, this 15 min bus ride ended up being one of the highlights of the day.

Once I got to the train station, I got my roundtrip ticket for the Haifa journey.  I found out as soon as I reached the platform that I apparently missed the last train to Haifa by a minute or two – a sign of the luck that would follow me throughout the day .  Another 25 minutes later and I was finally on the train.  When I boarded I knew there was trouble.  We were only on the 2nd Tel Aviv stop and already there were hardly any seats on the train.  As I said in my last post, typically the train is quite comfortable and relaxed – not today!  From this, I learned lesson #1:

Lesson #1: Under no circumstances at all should anyone take the train in Israel on a Sunday.  Sunday is the day that soldiers go back to the army so it is swamped with soldiers and just people in general.  JUST SAY NO!!!

Luckily, I found a seat but knew that it was going to be a very squashed and unpleasant one hour journey.  Thank goodness for Apple’s little invention called the iPod.  I found some of my favourite tunes and tried to chill out.  I was supposed to be on a bit of a travel adventure.

No one really got off the train until we made it to Haifa so it wasn’t the nicest of rides as I expected.  C’est la vie.  I got off at the Haifa Mercaz (Centre) stop as from the map I looked at beforehand, it looked like the right place to be.

Lesson #2: Maps are a good tool but my advice is, just like ex-boyfriends, maps can sometimes fool you when you least expect them to.

Random Haifa

I stepped out of the train station expecting to be in the middle of Haifa (it is called the Haifa Centre stop!) amongst signs pointing me in the direction of where I needed to go to get to the Gardens – my first stop.  The reality was much more disappointing!  I came out in the middle of an industrial park with the only sign stating “Welcome to Haifa Port”.  I was very confused and very hot!  The humidity was worse here than in Tel Aviv – something I didn’t think was possible.  So I decided to go to the next method of requesting for information – ask!

I walked up to one of the train attendants who I could see spoke English and asked him, “how do I get to the Baha’i Gardens?”.  The glazed look on his face made me know that I was in for a bit of a rough ride during this day out in Haifa.  This attendant became the first of 5 people (yes 5!) I asked the same question to who gave me the same glazed stare of confusion.  I was thinking to myself, “this is the top site to see in Haifa and no one seems to have a clue where it is”.  In all my travels, I can honestly say this was a first.

Well, I wasn’t going to give up so quickly.  I went up to the taxi rank and asked around to see if someone knew how I could get there.  Again, glazed faces.  The, one kind soul told me to come into his taxi van – he said he wasn’t headed to the gardens but could drop me somewhere that would get me close to it.  I obliged.

Haifa

Lesson #3: Don’t always listen to taxi drivers as they may not always give you the best advice.

He dropped me off on what appeared to be a main street and told me that if I continued about 10 minutes down on foot, I’d get to the gardens.  By this stage, it was already 1pm and I needed to sit down and have a bite to eat.  So I did.  The absolute highlight of my day was the restaurant I found – Cafe Egoza.  I had a lovely lunch with an iced coffee and everything only cost 45 shekels.  Since I thought I was nearly at the infamous gardens I was starting to relax and get excited for the day ahead.

Lesson #4: Don’t get too ahead of yourself!

As lesson #3 says, don’t always listen to taxi drivers.  When I paid the bill at the restaurant, I thought it was wise to ask the waitress about the gardens just to double check I was heading in the right direction.  When I asked, she looked at me with a different stare – not glazed but worried.  My first thought: “ah oh”.  She continued to tell me that I was actually on the wrong side of town – DOH!  I couldn’t believe it.  She told me if I carried on walking for 30  minutes (not 10!) I would get to the bottom of the gardens but it wasn’t where the entrance was and it would mean I’d have to walk uphill (a steep hill!) for quite some distance.  By this stage, it was nearly 3pm and if I’m honest I started feeling a lot unhealthier than I did first thing in the morning.  Actually I wasn’t feeling well at all.

Lesson #5: If you are having so much bad luck on a travel adventure, sometimes its best to surrender and move on.  There is always tomorrow and another chance to come back if it’s worth it.

I decided that I’d walk a bit further on just to see if the time to get to the bottom of the gardens was a bit under 30 minutes even if it wasn’t 10.  I started walking through this part of Haifa which I now believe is likely the dodgy bit or possibly even the “Haifa ghetto”.  All that was around was some very low budget, dirty shops with a number of little food stands all conveniently located around drippy air conditioner units from above.  Not my cup of tea.  I honestly started feeling a bit nervous too.  With no gardens in sight, it was time to go.

Lesson #6: When trying to get back to where you came from, always try and retrace your steps.

I turned around and started to head back to the station.  Haifa is very hilly – ups and downs all over the place.  The last thing I wanted to do (especially with not feeling well and in this heat) was to get lost and have to walk back uphill again!  I think we’ve all been there before and I wasn’t really in the mood for that today.

En route back to the train station

So I took time to remember my tracks.  Between that and asking a few kind people on the street, I made my way back to the station quite quickly.  At least I was able to validate my fantastic navigation skills – a positive for an otherwise struggle of a day.

So what is the moral of this tale? Well, I’m not too sure really.  I guess planning in advance is important but sometimes you need to realize that even with the best plans, there is always room for events to happen that are outside your control and you need to be prepared for that.  Also even if you are going to the main tourist site, people still may not be able to help you find where you need to go.  Finally, listen to your gut and if you feel that seeing something isn’t worth the sweat (literally) or the pain (literally) abort.  If its something that you really want to see, you’ll make time for it on another occasion.

I hope you found my little non-adventure adventure in Haifa entertaining!  At least someone can laugh about it now!

I’ll be heading back to Haifa at some point to actually see the 3 sites I set out to.

Keep reading my blog and tell me some of your travel nightmares in the comments section.  I’d love to hear all about them!

Miriam x

Since I’ve been in Israel, I’ve been interested in seeing more of the country.  Sure, I’ve seen all of the main sites in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem but in such a small country that is so rich in history, there is so much on offer.

Haifa is Israel’s third largest city and is just over an hour away from Tel Aviv by train.  Since I’ve been staying in Tel Aviv, I’ve been meaning to go there but work commitments and other trips have just gotten in the way.  So last week I decided to make the trek up there.  Before I went I did a bit of research so I could maximize my time.  While I was planning I had 3 main questions I needed answered:

1) Should I stay overnight or just do a day trip?

2) How do I get there?

3) What are the top things to do while I’m in Haifa?

Here’s what I found out from a bit of desk research:

1) Day trip or overnight stay?

For this one, not only did I surf the web but I also talked to a few people.  Since I knew that Haifa wasn’t far away from Tel Aviv I wasn’t convinced I needed a night in a hotel.  I also looked around at hotels in the area through a few sites like Expedia and Hotels Combined.  They both provided a few different options for accommodation but my frugalness won and I decided to just do a day trip.  For those considering a trip to Haifa and do want to stay over (unlike me), it’s a good idea to look for a hotel that’s close to the area you’ll be spending most of your time in.  I heard the nicest hotels are in the area of Haifa that is closest to the sea (Mount Carmel).  Just an FYI.

2) How do I get there?

There are a couple ways to get to Haifa from Tel Aviv.  There is always the bus and Egged provides a bus directly from the central bus station in Tel Aviv (bus 910 leaving every hour). The cost is about 52 shekels round trip (US$13).

As I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the biggest of fans of the central bus station in Tel Aviv and any opportunity to avoid going into this part of the city is a welcomed one.

There is also a train service from Tel Aviv to Haifa.  The journey takes just about an hour and costs 55 shekels round trip (so US$13.75).  So for 75 cents more and a savings of 30 minutes and the chore of going to the bus station, I think I’m sold.  I also like travelling in the trains here as they are fairly comfortable and typically quite clean.  Train it is!

3) Most importantly…what can I do in Haifa?

Considering this is Israel’s 3rd largest city – behind Tel Aviv and Jerusalem – there must be a number of things to do here too.  This is where my internet research really kicks in.  I find out that the top 3 sites in Haifa are the Baha’i Shrine and Gardens, The German Colony and Mount Carmel.  All actually sound quite interesting so I dug a bit more.

The Baha’i Shrine and Gardens is a holy site and Haifa’s most striking landmark.  It’s apparently located on the edge of the city center and is the second holiest shrines of the Baha’i faith.  If I’m honest, I didn’t even know what the Baha’i faith was before I heard about the gardens.  To enlighten you, the Baha’i faith was founded by Bahá’u’lláh, a Persian nobleman from Tehran who, in the mid-nineteenth century, left a life of princely comfort and security and, in the face of intense persecution and deprivation, brought to humanity a stirring new message of peace and unity.

The essential message of Bahá’u’lláh is that of unity. He taught that there is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity. The Faith’s most distinctive accomplishment by far, however, is its unity. Unlike every other religion — not to mention most social and political movements — the Bahá’í community has successfully resisted the perennial impulse to divide into sects and subgroups. It has maintained its unity despite a history as turbulent as that of any religion of antiquity.  For more information on the Baha’i faith visit their website.

The gardens in Haifa were completed in 2001 and are a memorial to the founders of the faith.  What I love about Israel sometimes is that there are surprises around every corner.  Obviously this is a country that has a lot of spiritual meaning to many different religions but it is beautiful to see how pilgrims from various faiths embrace this holy land and match it to their own beliefs.

The German Colony is 2nd on the hit list.  It was founded in 1868 by the German Templer Society (a religious Messianic sect).  They believed that the Christian Messiah would come to life in the Holy Land by the new millennium . Under Turkish Rule they founded in Palestine seven colonies.  Here they built  dwellings, workshops and a community center in a traditional architectural style.  All of this one can see in the recovered German Colony in Haifa at Ben-Gurion Street , the former Carmelstrasse .

Last but not least, Mount Carmel is an area that is quite beautiful.  It is (as you would expect) a mountain and it overlooks the sea.  There are also some spiritual sites located here like Elijah’s tomb but part of the reason why I’ll be visiting there is to take in some sun & sea.

So now that I know how to get there and what I’m going to do, I guess I’m ready for my little Haifa adventure!

Now that you know all about “the before”, check out my next post to find out all about “the after”!

Enjoy x