Haifa 7-9th November 2010

The bus from Tel Aviv to Haifa was only an hour and a half but in that time the scenery had become much greener. I got to the bus station and after more security and bag checks I jumped on the local bus to try and get to the train station that a hostel was nearby. When asking where I needed to get off it became apparent that less people speak English in the north than in Tel Aviv. I was told by one girl that the last stop was the train station. And the driver said he would let me know when we got there. After 20 minutes or so the bus stopped outside the port building the driver looked up mumbled something in Hebrew and then after a few seconds closed the doors and drove on….after another 20minutes it became obvious something was wrong as we seemed to be going out of town. We then reached the last stop that turned out to be another bus station. Seemed the girl who gave me instructions had substituted train for bus and the driver had been mumbling to me in Hebrew 10 minutes earlier in Hebrew that I was at my stop…..thanks drive!!! Another 6 sheckle bus ticket saw me get off in the right general area of town and find my hostel.


The “Port Inn” was a proper hostel infinitely better than “Petra hostel” in Jerusalem. Got a dorm room and then went for a wander in town. My first impression of Haifa was that there wasn’t much there just construction sights and office buildings. The whole town is built on the side of a hill so most of the walking was up hill through winding streets….After 2 hours of trying to find a decent looking place to eat I decided out of frustration I would eat at the next place I saw….I was in for a treat.

The next place I saw was a Kebab shop in the Hadar area of town……I don’t know what it was called but it was as moving an experience for me as anything I saw in Jerusalem…THE BEST KEBAB EVER by a country Mile….Israel is the undisputed king of the Kebab league now….I feel the need to devote some words to this:

A huge portion of meat donner in pita bread with humus, salad lumped on then and then more meat + curry and yogurt sauce on top ..this was exceptional by its self….., but If you ate in the restaurant you got a side plate of veg buffet for free and could help yourself to some amazing dishes to go with the Kebab….Mediterranean style aubergine, cauliflower..corriander with lemon, 5 different sauces ,chick peas salad and chillies + a bunch of stuff I had never seen or tasted the likes of before….I piled my plate high somewhat sheepishly hoping I wasn’t taking liberties, only to be handed another free side plate with falafels in a creamy sauce…… The combination of flavours was incredible… I was in Kebabylon for 15 minutes!!!…it was spicy too, at the end of the dish the seeds of one of the stewed peppers caught me out and were blowing my head off…. had to wait 5 minutes to recover feeling in my face …..ah man what a revelation! why aren’t end of night kebabs in Britain that good????…..I went to pay, feeling the whole experience was worth at least a tenner or even more, to be charged just 20 sheckles ( around 4 quid ) for the pleasure….outstanding….I will be highly surprised if I find another Kebab as good as this one anywhere in the world! Kudos mystery named Haifa Kebab restaurant…. Kudos to you!

That evening in the hostel I got chatting over a beer to a guy from DC who was on a bit of a religious pilgrimage round Israel by bike. A nice enough guy was interesting seeing how his experience of the holy land as a Christian differed from mine as an agnostic …

Next morning the previous nights chilli surprise was catching up with me and I was up early and in considerable pain…I don’t know why I have to “spice it up holmes!” all the time…..its hardly what the body needs after 2 weeks of digestive trouble…..ah who am I kidding I regret nothing!!

After some coffee in the hostel I set off to go on a free tour of Haifa centrepiece. The Baha’I gardens…Baha’I is the world youngest recognised religion and was started in the 19th century in Persia and the profit was known a “bob” (corruption of Arabic for gate) . The follows of Baha’I had built the gardens around the shrine of “bob” in the last 20 years to mark the place where he lived out his life in exile….The gardens themselves were on 18 terraces and looked a bit like a Chelsea flower show display meets Vegas mini golf course on steroids.

There was a free tour every day at 12pm so I set off in search of the entrance at the top pf the hill. Haifa streets seem to run from side to side up the hill with no clear cut through. After 30 minutes of hot uphill hiking I made it to the mid way point where I met a “helpful” taxi driver who told me the tour started at 1130 and I had 2 miles left to walk but he could help me out with a good price for a ride…..I knew this was bull shit and 15minutes later I was a t the gates with 15minutes to spare…what an asshole! You expect that kind of thing in Egypt and can even go someway to understanding it when people are really struggling for money …but this guy was obviously a con artist and could have potentially ruined someone’s day if they turned back because of his info…douchbag!!

Ah well rant over the garden themselves were impressive and got some good photos of the sea view around Haifa…….definitely worth the hike although bob’s shrine was under restoration so you couldn’t see it ….I seem to be having bad luck with that sort of thing ( see Berlin instalment)


After leaving the gardens I decided to try and find the beach for a swim…according to my map there were 2 beach areas, the closest of which took me about 45minutes to walk to… when I got there was no beach per say and swimming was prohibited.. My legs were killing me but I decided to start walking down the coast top see if the beach got any better… with no one else around on the trail and the sun shining down over the med I felt in splendid isolation and ended up walking about 5km down the shore to the next beach area…this involved an inadvertent trespass in some railway land…I decided to ignore what looked like warning signs as they were in Hebrew and feign ignorance if questioned….after about an hour or so I had to climb under a locked gate to reach the legal part of the beach…….it was worth the walk….when I did reach the bathing area (that seemed to be scattered only with the odd group of Russian pensioners ) my Dogs ( feet ) were barking ( sore ) so I dived right in . The water was crystal clear and the perfect temperature…so refreshing felt fantastic after putting in the effort to get there…after a couple of hours of sunning I got the bus ( same one I got the day before) back into town and then went back to Kebabylon to eat with the dude from DC ( on my wholeheartedly enthusiastic recommendation) … That evening had a few more beers in the hostel and got chatting to a couple of Canadians and a Mexican guy…..exchanged some good travel anecdotes and I have to say “the port inn” is one of the coolest hostel I’ve been to in a while. The travellers I met there were a different cut to the majority of partiers I had met in Europe over the summer ,most people had been or were going to India/SE Asia so I got some good advice for the next part of the trip.

With my budget in mind, I managed to call it a night around 11pm after declining an invite to the pub from the hostel staff …..Am I getting a bit more responsible ???? Hmm seems that way, its amazing how the urge to drink/party declines at the same rate as your budget…..

Next morning had a good conversation about anthropology + politics with the Canadian guys and then got the train back to Tel Aviv airport to await my flight…..


To get to India I had to fly back to London for a couple of days then get a flight from Heathrow to Mumbai ( long story but worked out cheaper to do that than fly direct from Israel)…..the security on the way out of Tel Aviv was tight…I had to unpack all of my stuff while the staff searched for traces of explosives in my bags, and asked me the same questions I had been answering all week at every train/bus station….after a 5 hour flight I was back in the UK and getting a night bus from Victoria to Crystal palace at 1am in the bitter cold. 2 days to sort everything out for the next 6 months now and then I’m off again…….next stop India …..watch this space



Middle East Summary

Well I’ve wanted to go to Egypt and Israel ( along with the rest of the middle east I didn’t get to ) for a long time and I have to say this trip was awesome. Was the perfect training exercise for the next extended leg…spend a week getting used to Egypt then a week of intense solo travelling on a budget in Luxor/Cairo/Alexandria then headed to Israel for a bit of a breather around the time I was hitting the first ( and worst )Fatigue wall of the trip Saw some amazing stuff +met some cool and interesting people.

The desert landscapes, and historical sites were obviously a highlight ,esp. pyramids at Giza and Sinai + Negev deserts, but also the trip was interesting from a modern cultural perspective. The experience of Egypt and Israel was vastly different ( bearing in mind I didn’t visit the West Bank properly in Israel). Egypt had the hectic third world vibe I had been wanting to experience while Israel in many ways was like being in a Hebrew speaking North Virginia in terms of the infrastructure, though the constant security checks and kids in uniform walking around with guns was a constant reminder that all was not well beneath the surface….

Would have loved to go to Petra but that will have to wait….maybe a trip to Syria/Lebanon/Jordan for a couple of weeks at some point in the future….overall I feel like this leg in the Middle East was a good taster of an area that’s is as politically complex as it is beautiful…………..