HAIFA, ISRAEL
Israel, “The Holy Land” sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, will provide many sites of religious significance. Its length is 248 miles, and its width varies from 8 to 68 miles. It is a new country as of 1948, but has a history going back 5000 years. Israel is a land of contrasts considering its past, present and future, populated by exiles from over 70 nations, with mystics and technocrats, believers and agnostics, holy sites and hatreds.
Haifa, described as the “San Francisco of Israel” because of its luxurious suburbs on Mount Carmel, is a short distance across the bay from the ancient Arab city of Acre (Akko or Acco) with its walled town, and Crusader remains, site of the order of the Knights Hospitaliers.
Our hosts, the Carmel Yacht Club, have arranged a tour of Haifa on our arrival day, a full day tour to Galilee, Nazareth, Jordan River, Golan Heights, and more, and a tour of Acre and up the north coast the next day.
Haifa, Israel’s third largest city is built on three levels. The downtown level city has quaint old stone houses, which alternate with modern glass walled towers.
Red tiled roofs of the German Colony dating back to the Templar period of the mid 1800’s, and the bustling commerce and produce markets present the flavour of contrasts of the old new and historical. The Hadar district midway up Mount Carmel offers well-kept pedestrian malls and colourful shops. The Carmel district at the top features elegant tree lined streets and stately residential neighborhoods. Walking down the steps of Haifa from the top to the bottom of the mountain gives a vista of the city taking you through the Bahai temple and gardens, the “Nuns of Nazareth” school. Other sites include the cave of the Prophet Elijah now a pilgrimage centre, The Carmelite Church and Monastery, and the Kababir, a Moslem community of inhabitants belonging to the Ahmadiya sect, integrated into the city.
The trip through Galilee will tour through some very famous places for Christians.
-Nazareth is supposedly the area where Joseph and Mary lived before going to Bethlehem and than into exile in Egypt. After returning from Egypt, they returned to Nazareth and Jesus is said to have grown up there. There was too much turmoil in the Jerusalem/Bethlehem area for them to settle there. The Basilica of the Annunciation preserves the outline of the 12th century Crusader church.
-The Mount of the Beatitudes where Jesus delivered the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ and recited the Beatitudes
-Sea of Galilee is a fresh water lake of 21 km from north to south and 12 km wide at it’s broadest point. The lake contains 22 species of fish and fishing is still the important industry it was in the time of Jesus. Strong gusty winds from the surrounding wadis (dry river beds) can whip the normally tranquil surface into turmoil in a matter of minutes. This, of course, is where Jesus performed the miracle of ‘calming the sea.'
-Capernaum, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee is the closest to a permanent base that Jesus had during the Galilean ministry.
-The Jordan River runs into the Sea of Galilee on the north and out on the south
-The Golan Heights on the east side of the Sea of Galilee is a high, basalt plateau. The fertile volcanic soil of the southern part gives way to wild pastureland in the north.