Mon. Nov. 7th Haifa, Israel
By Jain
We are still in Haifa and will be here until 8:30 p.m. Tonight is a late night departure since most of the tours leaving the ship this morning will take 11 or 12 hours, so we need to wait for their return.
About mid morning, Jay and I left the ship to explore Haifa Bahai Gardens. Haifa is quite hilly and the Bahai Gardens go one kilometer up the side of Mt. Carmel and have 19 terraces. We took the metro that is more like a funicular up to the top of the gardens for the price of 7 shekels ($1 USD). Then we joined a tour group to walk down the next 600 steps, through the terraced gardens.
Our group size was about 50 people and I would guess at least ⅓ shouldn't have been attempting to negotiate the 600 stairs. Let's just say there was a lot of heavy breathing and moaning (remember this walk is downhill... upstairs there would have been need for ambulances.)
Haifa residents must have really strong legs because every place you look there are lots and lots of stairs. Just going to the grocery store would keep you in shape. I bet this city has its share of Orthopedic Surgeons who keep very busy with knee replacements.
Anyway…. back to the gardens, they were stunning, beautiful (kept by a mere 100 gardeners) and just as manicured as Butchart Gardens in Victoria Canada. Not a huge variety of flowers but the gardens are beautifully designed with luscious lawns that look like carpet, exquisite rock gardens, gorgeous fountains and walkways. At the top of the Gardens the views of the whole city and port are incredible. At the bottom terrace there is the Golden Domed Shrine for the Bab Prophet Herald, the founder of Baha'i faith.
Tomorrow we are off to Port Said, Egypt. Port Said is at top of the Suez Canal. It is a sea day because we can't get off, due to some recent developments politically. It's kind of a "oh well" since many past ship reviewers have said there's no sights to see there anyway.
Our Captain explains Port Said will not be a stop, because we are passing through a high risk (HRA) where piracy has occurred in the past. He says as part of the security plan to protect all guests and ship, during the darkness all guests should have on only essential lighting in their cabins. Guests are asked to close all curtains and turn off all lights. (I wonder if this means the casino will be closed?)
See you tomorrow when the Captain has scheduled a mandatory security drill at 15:00. I am sure then I can tell you more.
We are still in Haifa and will be here until 8:30 p.m. Tonight is a late night departure since most of the tours leaving the ship this morning will take 11 or 12 hours, so we need to wait for their return.
About mid morning, Jay and I left the ship to explore Haifa Bahai Gardens. Haifa is quite hilly and the Bahai Gardens go one kilometer up the side of Mt. Carmel and have 19 terraces. We took the metro that is more like a funicular up to the top of the gardens for the price of 7 shekels ($1 USD). Then we joined a tour group to walk down the next 600 steps, through the terraced gardens.
Our group size was about 50 people and I would guess at least ⅓ shouldn't have been attempting to negotiate the 600 stairs. Let's just say there was a lot of heavy breathing and moaning (remember this walk is downhill... upstairs there would have been need for ambulances.)
Haifa residents must have really strong legs because every place you look there are lots and lots of stairs. Just going to the grocery store would keep you in shape. I bet this city has its share of Orthopedic Surgeons who keep very busy with knee replacements.
Anyway…. back to the gardens, they were stunning, beautiful (kept by a mere 100 gardeners) and just as manicured as Butchart Gardens in Victoria Canada. Not a huge variety of flowers but the gardens are beautifully designed with luscious lawns that look like carpet, exquisite rock gardens, gorgeous fountains and walkways. At the top of the Gardens the views of the whole city and port are incredible. At the bottom terrace there is the Golden Domed Shrine for the Bab Prophet Herald, the founder of Baha'i faith.
Tomorrow we are off to Port Said, Egypt. Port Said is at top of the Suez Canal. It is a sea day because we can't get off, due to some recent developments politically. It's kind of a "oh well" since many past ship reviewers have said there's no sights to see there anyway.
Our Captain explains Port Said will not be a stop, because we are passing through a high risk (HRA) where piracy has occurred in the past. He says as part of the security plan to protect all guests and ship, during the darkness all guests should have on only essential lighting in their cabins. Guests are asked to close all curtains and turn off all lights. (I wonder if this means the casino will be closed?)
See you tomorrow when the Captain has scheduled a mandatory security drill at 15:00. I am sure then I can tell you more.
Sent from my Galaxy Tab® S2
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