Larry's Photos: Haifa

Photos of Haifa

I visited Haifa on May 15, 2012, a day off while in Israel volunteering with Shevet Achim. Haifa (Hebrew: חֵיפָה‎) is a beautiful port city on the Mediterranean coast in the northwest of Israel, the third largest metropolis of that nation. Haifa residents say - only half joking, "Jerusalem prays, Tel Aviv plays, but Haifa works." In addition to its busy port, Haifa is a center of manufacturing, technology, and education - home of the University of Haifa and Technion. Haifa is also the founding center of the Baha'i faith and a site of pilgrimage for people of that faith.

The city is built on and around Mount Carmel, the site of the Biblical contest between Elija and the Prophets of Baal recounted in I Kings 18:19-46. The harbor and mountain geographically defines "lower" and "upper" cites. These are connected by the "Carmelit" (Hebrew: כַּרְמְלִית‎), a funicular system (where two balanced vehicles are pulled by cables) unusual for being totally underground.

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