Tips about exploring Haifa
Everything is pretty driveable in the North because this is a small country. We split our time between Tzfat and Haifa. There were merits to both, but we wouldn’t stay in Haifa again.
Haifa had the B’hai Gardens, which were impressive in scope but not really our type of garden. We found one great shopping street with Arabic women selling ready-to-eat foods for dinner. Otherwise, we got out of town–and that was not the easiest with Haifa traffic.
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Akko is a great town. We considered moving to Akko instead of Haifa, but were unenthusiastic about being woken up early by the call to prayer so stayed put.
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It was pouring the morning we visited, but still a good day for Akko. The market was opening at 9, but really got going at 11. If you go early, start with the historical tour.
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Go first to the tunnels and buy a ticket covering 5 sites for 40NIS. The tunnels kept us out of the rain and were interesting. These are secret passageways that permitted transport between the port and internal parts of the town.
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Site 2 is the Jewish synagogue. This is well-signed with history and has a helpful movie. The attendant here spoke English and gave us a private tour, elaborating on what we saw on the signs and showing how, for example, a wall inside the city was built with defensive slits for firing weapons. Why? Because the walled city directly across was French, and the Italians and the French didn’t get along. This is a great site for history, as it was a major port and attracted notable figures from many ethnic backgrounds. Akko also has the distinction of being the place Napoleon was defeated.
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Site 3 is the Turkish Bathhouse. This has an audio guide and movies as you move from room to room. Like many movies at historical locations, this one is very 1980’s and includes jokes we didn’t think were funny. However, the site has statues and props that help you imagine what life was like in the bath house.
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We stopped our tour there in search of food, trying for the famous Uri Buri restaurant even though online they did not seem to have reservations available. Check out our page on Food and REstaurants in Northern Israel for more details. We liked it so much we came back for dinner a few nights later!
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The Israeli National Trail merges with the trails of Caesarea and there is plenty of walking and biking room along the shore.
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Good for families: there is a lot of room to run and things to climb on, like Roman seating in the hippodrome, and shells and rocks to look at on the beach.
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The original city of Caesarea was half the size of Central Park. The preserved park today is a little smaller, due to ocean erosion and city building, but it is still quite a sizable park. There are three entrances. The far left entrance (as you face the water) is nearest the theater, which appears to be used for modern events. Just around this area is a paved, handicap-accessible loop with various pillars and columns on display with historical explanations. For those who can walk, the park continues with the hippodrome, remains of city buildings like stores, palaces, bathhouses, and prisons. This is good archeology with lots of mosaic floors mostly intact and a beautiful ocean backdrop. The central portion of the park, where there is another entrance, has more buildings like the central public fountain. Some of the buildings now house modern stores and restaurants. At the far right side of the park is one of the best Roman mosaics ever found in Israel. The artisan included not only detailed human figures, for example, but the shadows they made. The old synagogue is also here, and the connection to the National Trail.
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The gelato shop has several dairy-free flavors: chocolate, passionfruit, lemon mint, raspberry, grapefruit, and date-walnut. They give free tastes. The scoops are on par with American prices, but the scoop is large.
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The caves, reachable by the air tram, were amazing and this is a top destination for the North in our minds. The sound of the rushing water, chirp of fruit bats, expansive views, and beautiful rock are inspiring. A friend’s child said she thought this was the most beautiful place in Israel, and now we know why.
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At the exit there is a restaurant, and just to the left of it –the dead-end street–is the border crossing with Lebanon. This was cool to see too. (The water-based border is also visible; they are buoys. There are some military boats on the Israel side permanently stationed in the area also.) There are also historical placards explaining the train track building and destruction, as well as the science of erosion that led to the grottos’ formation.
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The Rosh Hanikra Kibbutz which runs the tram to the caves was the first place in Israel to do plant cloning, and they are now world leaders in banana plants. Needless to say, there were a lot of banana plantations in the area.
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Tosha bakery–check out our page on food and restaurants in North Israel. This spot is worth a stop if you are in the area.
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Has a beach with a nice promenade with restaurants, beach volleyball, tables for picnics. There were swimmers there even though the waves were rough.
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One of the highlights of our whole Israeli visit was a day at Kibbutz Magal, where a friend of ours from the States was raised. She walked us around the kibbutz but anyone can arrange a tour here. They produce olive oil, almonds (trees in bloom in late February and there were many non-kibbutz visitors driving to see the fields), and irrigation equipment and run an animal therapy service. You can dine in the cafeteria which was where all residents used to dine together before the kibbutz was privatized. When we were there, high school students were getting their lunches.
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