View from inside Caesarea
We had been expecting light rain on Friday, though we were surprised with a heavy rainstorm Thursday night. This was particularly noteworthy as our room started flooding during the night. Nothing spells fun quite like seeing water seeping into the room from the bathroom. The bathroom had a door to a balcony… and the door, let’s just say… was not sealed and had about an inch opening at the bottom. Luckily we were all still awake and didn’t have to wake up to sopping clothes. It also meant that the rain predicted for Friday was mostly gone. (*Side note- the hostel was otherwise very pleasant and clean and I would definitely stay there again… and just hope it doesn’t rain).
Though it was not raining, our plans for touring the Bahai Gardens had to be switched to the next day since they had preemptively closed the gardens due to the predicted rain. So we headed even more north (to the border of Lebanon to be exact) and spent a lovely afternoon at Rosh Hanikra. Rosh Hanikra is a beautiful seaside spot with lots of grottos and caves that you can walk through and enjoy the beauty.
Me and Becka at Rosh Hanikra
At the Lebanese border
Heading down to the Rosh Hanikra grottos in the tram
Beautiful, huh?
Inside one of the grottos
On our way back down to Haifa we stopped in Akko. Mostly just going to check out the Old City and see what we could see, we were very pleasantly surprised with, what I think has been the best meal of my trip so far. We were all pretty hungry so we just barely started walking in to this little snack shop looking place to grab some falafel or something, when the owner of the shop says, “no no, follow me to my other place.” So we follow him down the street where he has to unlock his “other restaurant,” and turn on the lights. We’re seated in an empty room with several more tables and chairs. We didn’t receive any menus, but like magic, food just started appearing. Item after delicious item was brought to us. All the typical Middle Eastern cuisine- olives, salads, hummus, pita, falafel, chicken, lamb patties, and more. It was so delicious we all walked out of there about to pop.
The feast. This isn't even all of it.
A very ominous looking Akko
That night we went to a progressive temple for Shabbat services, and had what I can only describe as being the most enjoyable service I may have ever been at. The term “progressive” in Israel sort of encompasses varying degrees of Reconstructionist/Reform/Conservative styles. We were all crammed in to a somewhat small room (~45 people), and the happiness and energy that filled the room were all wonderful. There were several musicians- guitar, violin, hand drum, flute, and everyone else sang with such ruach (spirit) that you just got a wonderful feeling of how happy everyone was to be there. I knew a few of the songs, but those that I didn’t I was generally able to sing along to by the end.
Saturday we went on the tour of the Bahai Gardens, which is a very sacred place for the Bahai religion and also a very beautiful place- if you’re ever in Haifa, you must go. The gardens ascend up the mountains and have various levels that you can sit in, look at the view, and otherwise enjoy.
View of Bahai Gardens
View of Haifa from the top of the gardens
View of a portion of the gardens looking down
Yesterday was my last day of Ulpan. I am both happy and sad. Happy to know I’ll be starting my art classes soon, but sad to know that my formal Hebrew classes have ended (and now I’ll have to try extra hard to learn Hebrew), as well as to say bye to my very wonderful Ulpan teacher.
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