The new Egypt. Photo by David McKay Wilson.

By David McKay Wilson

On our final night in Cairo, we floated up the Nile on a party boat, awaiting that night’s Sufi dancer to seemingly twirl forever, and a well-endowed belly-dancer to shake her thing to the insistent throb of a seven-piece band.

It was a quintessential Egypt, as we cruised south aboard the Nile Maxim, glimpsing the sparkle of high-rise hotels and pondering history’s parade up the Nile over the past 6,000 years. We’d spent a week in Cairo experiencing the very old and the very new. We immersed ourselves in the dazzle of Egyptian antiquities, marveling at what had been dug up in the desert to reveal the birth of civilization along the Nile thousands of years ago. We’d also found inspiration from activists we met from the January 25 revolution that freed Egypt from Hosni Mubarak’s iron-fisted rule. The glow of freedom still burned in their eyes.

Yet the sweetness of that victory was tinged with a sour aftertaste. For the Egyptian tourism industry, freedom’s just another word for no one’s here to sightsee.

Cairo graffiti. Photo by David McKay Wilson.

That night on the Nile, our group was dining at the invitation of the Egypt Tourist Authority, just two days after the former tourism minister was sentenced to three years in prison for illegally issuing travel-agency licenses. Authority spokesman Ahamed Sobhi told us visits were off 46 percent since the uprising in January and February.  A mob’s sacking of the Israeli embassy just a week before our arrival had complicated matters.

Sobhi said the Authority was still searching for a message to help revive the nation’s second largest industry during the transition to democracy.

“How can I say that it’s safe when something like that happens?” asked Sobhi, noting the attack on the Israeli embassy.

The Tourism Authority has felt the downturn, closing offices in Los Angeles and Chicago while keeping its New York office open. In Egypt, meanwhile, the paucity of tourists has proven beneficial for those who make the trip. With fewer tour groups in country, you have a better chance to have an armed guard from the Tourism Police to accompany your group to historic destinations, as occurred when we toured the Great Pyramid in Giza, and meandered through Cairo’s Khan El Khalili market one sultry evening.

Cairo street scene.

We felt safe on our sojourn, walking the streets of Giza after dark to find the Flying Fish Restaurant in the Agousa district along the Nile, exploring the crowded streets of downtown Cairo, attending a concert at the Culture Wheel under a bridge, and touring the historic sites. Sidewalks in Cairo sometimes get too crowded, or simply disappear, so you end up walking in the street. Crossing four lanes of traffic to reach the Flying Fish tested our sprinting skills.

Cairo traffic.

“You’ve earned your Cairo merit badge,” announced our tour guide, Andrew Simon after we’d safely crossed.

We arrived in mid-September as Academic Travel Abroad, a tour company that also runs excursions for National Geographic and the Smithsonian, kicked off its AuthentiCity program, which brings visitors to destinations around the world. ATA provides top guides to squire you about historic sites, and then introduces you to the players in the arts and politics who tell their personal stories about their countries. We toured the Citadel, the Great Pyramids, the tombs at Saqqara and the Egyptian Museum, where the gleaming antiquities from Tutankhamun’s Tomb are on display in Tahrir Square, a block from the burned out hulk of the National Democratic Party’s headquarters which went up in flames during the January revolution.

But along with the historic sites, we had coffee at the Kunst Café with young activists from Tahrir Square, including an aspiring member of Parliament who was jailed during the uprising. We met with a cultural attaché at the US Embassy, had an audience with the president of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, and toasted to the New Egypt with our tour guides, Jihan Hussein, and Mohamed Fouad, who also participated in the events of January and February.

We saw modern art as well. On the road to Saqqara, we stopped at the arts education complex built by the Fagnoon, the Egyptian painter and sculptor who invited us into his home to see his creations, and then provided a lunch of pancakes, topped with fermented cheese and molasses.

Freedom's just another word for no one here to sightsee. Photo by David McKay Wilson.

The Egyptian tourism destinations, meanwhile, were refreshingly uncrowded, as we traveled to the tombs at Saqqara, the Great Pyramid in Giza, and to Al-Azhar Park out by the university, where lovers strolled hand-in-hand as the mournful call to prayer echoed from nearby mosques. Here there wasn’t a hint of danger. Security was everywhere, including in the barricaded neighborhood that housed the Coptic Museum, and the place where Mary and Joseph brought Jesus during his infancy. With alcohol unpopular among Egyptians, there were no drunks on the street to contend with – only the vendors who would like to figure out away to let you part with some cash in your wallet.

Haggling with vendors is encouraged, and I did my share. To my chagrin, I’d usually end up with the vendor throwing in something extra after we’d agreed on a price, evidence that my bargaining skills needed sharpening.

We stayed at the Safir Hotel, in Giza, where rooms went for $100 a night, a plentiful buffet provided a filling breakfast, the lobby’s free Wi-Fi kept us connected back home, and the pharmacy across the street had an inexpensive over-the-counter remedy called Antinal which put my gastrointestinal track quickly back in order. We witnessed a slice of Egyptian life on three nights at the Safir as locals arrived for a wedding in the hotel’s banquet hall, and a raucous band welcomed the bride and her father as they came down the open staircase in the lobby.

Cairo cafe.

We ate well too, dining one night at the Naguib Mahfouz  Café in Khan El Kalili, then sampling the tasty lamb and chicken at Arabesque at 6 Kasr El-Nile in Cairo.

On the Nile Maxim, we dined on stuffed grape leaves, spicy sea bass and rice, which was stacked up to look like a pyramid. We listened to the Egyptian version of La Bamba. And the Egyptian tourism official told us patience was necessary during these transition times, with several stages of elections planned for November and into 2012.

“These are difficult times, and much of what happens will depend on the elections,” he told us. “But we have hope.”

Contact Academic Travel Abroad

David McKay Wilson has written on travel over the past 30 years as a freelance journalist, with his travel stories appearing in The Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, Hartford Courant, New Haven Advocate, and Gannett News Service. An avid cyclist and skier, Wilson enjoys vacationing in the mountains and by the sea. His articles on public affairs have appeared regularly in The New York Times. He’s currently the nation’s top freelance writer for university alumni magazines, with his work appearing in publications at 81 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown and the University of Chicago.

The post Sightseeing During the Egyptian Revolution appeared first on Everett Potter's Travel Report.

 

Wading for a cure in the Dead Sea.

Born to Shop Editorial Director Sarah Lahey took off for Israel and sent back this report:

Suze – I can't believe you tumbled and broke a toe! If you were here in Israel with me, a dip in the Dead Sea could make it all better. At least that's what I was told by the folks in charge at Mineral Beach.

They also claimed a mud and sea treatment could take ten years off my middle-aged face. Ha!

"Sign me up" I quipped, " I'll cancel my Botox appointment."

With a reputation for working medical miracles, the Dead Sea really isn't a sea at all; it's a big lake loaded with lotsa minerals including potassium, calcium, iron and salt; the salt content alone is more than 30%. It's rumored that the sea was a favorite of Cleopatra, who supposedly claimed it as her own personal health spa. I figured that if it worked for Cleo, who was I to refuse to soak my asp?

After paying 20 shekels, about US$5, to rent a locker (half of that was refunded when I returned the key) I made my way into the crowded changing room. The conversations I heard as I stripped and changed came from ladies who were seeking relief from psoriasis, arthritis, high blood pressure, respiratory and other chronic ailments.

Most of these gals were very, very old, and the communal locker room was very very small; it made Loehmann's look like a five-star spa. One lady warned me not to drink the sea water, as my blood and potassium levels would go berserk and I could go into shock and die within a few minutes. No problem, ma'am.

It was a quick walk down the path to the water. I threw my towel on a chair and slowly waded into the sea. The bottom was rough with sharp shells and rocks, so I immediately lifted my feet, stretched out, laid back and uh, floated. It was a strange feeling, sort of like being on an air mattress, only there was no mattress, just me and the sea!

Sarah Lahey in the Dead Sea.

Half the fun was checking out my fellow floaters. Some brought props for "Kodak moments'' while others appeared to be snoozing. One couple was stretched out on the water, hand in hand, smoking cigarettes; one man was snoring, I think. Unless he was one of the respiratory ailment surfer sufferers… It was quite a scene, and a sedate one. Splashing in the Dead Sea is considered bad behavior.

I'd been warned to stay in the water only 20 minutes, but after about five, I was ready to move on to the next ritual. It was time for mud.

I stood up, reached down, grabbed a handful of the rich black stuff, and slathered it on my arms, legs, face… basically any place not covered by my swimsuit.

Once out of the water, I baked in the sun until crusty, giving the black goo plenty of time to work its magic. As I sat there, I remembered soaking in a mud bath in Calistoga (California) and hating every minute of being buried in mud. This was much more fun! And much less expensive!

About fifteen minutes later, it was time to rinse. The mud dissolved easily in the salt water, but I hurried back to the dreaded locker room to secure a spot in line for a proper shower.

Was this goop and grunge worth the effort? Absolutely! I don't think it erased ten years from my face, but my skin felt great for several days afterward.

Hoping to maintain my healthy glow, I made a quick stop at the Ahava factory store, just across the road from Mineral Beach. Ahava is an Israeli cosmetics company that manufactures skin-care products made from the Dead Sea's mud and mineral-based compounds. It's an internationally known brand, well distributed in the U.S. and online, but a little less $$$ in Israel, especially at the factory store.

I loaded up on skin creams, bath salts and hair products, most of which were on sale. Hopefully, Suze, these gifts will ease your toe woes. Otherwise, you'll have to come here in person, Suze in the ooze.

The Born to Shop Ladies, Suzy Gershman and Sarah Lahey, will lead their next Born to Shop tour in November. Destination: Tokyo and Kyoto. Visit Born to Shop for details.

The post The Born to Shop Ladies: Dead Sea Secrets appeared first on Everett Potter's Travel Report.

WHAT’S THE DEAL: EL AL Israel's national airline, is offering savings for families traveling round trip to Israel this summer.  Children under the age of 12 traveling with two adults between June 20 and August 19, 2010 can fly for less.

WHY IT’S A DEAL: The first child's fare will be discounted by 10%. The second child's fare will be discounted by 50%. The third, fourth and fifth child each receive 25% off the adult fare

As always, the round trip fare for children under the age of 2 years is 10% of almost every adult fare. EL AL offers child-friendly in-flight amenities that include special healthy kids meals and an extensive entertainment system with personal TV monitors at every seat, family programming  newly released films and interactive games.

CAVEAT: Children must be under the age of 12 and traveling with two adults between June 20 and August 19, 2010 Special kids meal must be ordered at least 48 hours prior to departure. Family fare applies to most economy class fares. EL AL reserves the right to cancel promo at any time. Cancellation/change penalties and other restrictions apply. Travel has to be purchased by May 12th, 2010.

DETAILS: Visit ELAL.com or call 800-223-6700

The post SMART DEALS: EL AL’s Family Fare Promotion appeared first on Everett Potter's Travel Report.

A coffee shop on Sheinkin Street, Tel Avivi. Courtesy GoIsrael.

by Ed Wetschler

The best restaurants, clubs, and hotels of Tel Aviv – and even those that aren’t at the top of the heap – always surprise visitors. In part, that’s because visitors aren’t expecting so much shellfish, tattooed skin, and secular attitudes in an Israeli city. In part, too, they’re surprised at how distant Tel Aviv is from the eastern European Jewish culture with which Americans and Europeans are more familiar. Last year Tel Aviv went all out to celebrate its 100th anniversary, and it was a banner year for Israeli tourism. So after all those concerts and other special events, is the party over?

If you’ve read Part I of this two-part report (or if you’ve ever spent more than 20 minutes in Tel Aviv), you know that the party is never over. Here are some tips on enjoying it in 2010:

Tel Aviv Restaurants

Dr. Shakshuka at work. Photo by Ed Wetschler.

Best doctor in Tel Aviv? Dr. Shakshuka, at 3 Beit Eshel Street, in the Jaffa flea market area. This “doctor” cures hunger, not illness, by preparing shakshuka, a rustic, red-and-yellow, tomato-egg dish he makes in a pan over foot-high flames. You can enjoy this delicious gloop at a table outside or in the dining room of Dr. Shakshuka’s “Tripulitan Oriental Restaurant: Home Food,” where cookware and knickknacks hang from every inch of the ceiling. Tripulitan is convenient for Jaffa flea market shoppers and a terrific value at dinnertime.

If you’re searching for the apotheosis of falafel, go to the tiny falafel shop on Sheinkin Street, about 25 yards downhill from Allenby Street and the Carmel Market. The countermen tuck crispy, spiced falafels into spongy pita with fried potatoes and every imaginable condiment. The “small” sandwich costs 13 shekels (about $3); the large is 18 shekels. I watched a soldier on leave standing outside, dribbling hot sauce on his rifle. With food this good, who could keep a rifle clean?

Shrimp anyone? A dish from Kimmel. Photo courtesy of Kimmel.

For sophisticated Tel Aviv dining, Kimmel (6 Shahar Street; 03-5105204) offers an eye-pleasing French farmhouse look, replete with dark wood and baskets and such. Kimmel serves a perfect frozen Margarita, rare meats with a tahini reduction, and exquisite ravioli with cream sauce as well as other savory dishes that ignore Judaism’s traditional wall between meat and dairy meals.

Boya, a hangar-like space in the northern port complex ( 03-5446166), goes even further. The cuisine at Boya includes artful presentations of calamari, mussels, even spare ribs. It’s all sinfully good, too. If you’re a quasi-observant Jew or a vegetarian with occasional lapses, you’re going to face temptation here.

Tel Aviv’s Club Scene

The long and ever-changing list of clubs in Tel Aviv includes Hachalonot Hagvoim (High Windows), a three-level, glass-floored, back-to-belly scene at 113 Ha’chashmonaim St.; Evita, a gay club at 31 Yavne St. where straights are welcome; and Mish Mish, which offers more retro music at 17 Lilenblum St. Indeed, Lilenblum Street is full of clubs that draw good-looking young and/or young-at-heart people who want to dance all night.

Tel Aviv nightlife. Courtesy of GoIsrael.

But if you want something really different, with no hint of Madrid or Miami, check out Nanuchka (28 Lilienblum St.), a restaurant that serves lamb and casseroles in a handsome, early 20th-century house with pop art and poetry on the walls. At 10 p.m. or so, the manager cranks up the music, a younger crowd starts filing in, and people dance, especially in the room with the bar. The music is Georgian party songs, then it’s Sephardic disco, Gypsy Kings, R&B — the best of each — and it rocks.
A pretty young woman jumps up on the bar and starts dancing. Another woman joins her, and the booty shaking gets competitive. Sexy? You bet. By now the crowd is not just dancing, but singing. One of the women comes over to a friend of mine and asks her if she’d like to join them up on the bar ….

Hotels in Tel Aviv

You’ve gotta rest sometime, especially in Tel Aviv. The Hotel Montefiore, a new, 12-room property in a 1920s building on 12 Montefiore Street (near Prince Albert Square), makes this New Yorker wish he were hipper. The restaurant-bar is decorated with fashionistas drinking flavored vodkas and eating chicken tika or mussels with lemongrass. Guest rooms feature burnished wood floors, high ceilings, enough gadgetry to thrill Silicon Valley types, black marble bathrooms, and a bookcase with all kinds of curiosities. The Playmate Book, a collection of the best girlie shots of the past 50 years, speaks volumes of this hotel and this city. Rooms from $280.

Room at the Park Plaza Orchid. Photo by Ed Wetschler.

Best hotel value in Tel Aviv? The Park Plaza Orchid, at 79 Hayarkon Street. Its tres sleek, modern rooms overlook the beach, as do the large pool and high-ceilinged, glass-walled bar, and the hotel offers guests free use of bicycles and a fitness center. At $195, this place offers high-priced amenities at mid-price rates.

INFO

See Tel Aviv, Part I , visit Tel Aviv tourism and Israel Ministry of Tourism or call at 888-774-7723.
##

Ed Wetschler has written for The New York Times, Delta Sky, and other major print and electronic media. He is president of the New York Travel Writers Association.

The post TEL AVIV AFTER THE CENTENNIAL, Part II appeared first on Everett Potter's Travel Report.

The wide, wide beach of Tel Aviv. All photos by Ed Wetschler.

by Ed Wetschler

In 2009 Tel Aviv marked its 100th anniversary with a 12-month, over-the-top celebration. That might seem strange, considering that many places in Israel were settled several thousand years ago. For example, a Who’s Who of ancients fought over Jaffa (aka Yafo), right on the southern edge of Tel Aviv, and in later centuries Arabs, Crusaders, and the Ottomans continued the carnage. Now, they’ve got anniversaries.
Still, the odds that some Jews who planted orange trees north of Jaffa in 1909 would end up founding a large, wealthy, enduring city were slim — yet there it is. And there it was, in 2009, partying nonstop. So now what? It’s simple: The centennial is over, but in Tel Aviv, an essentially secular city with countless clubs, concerts, hipsters, surfers, and connoisseurs of non-Kosher pleasures, the partying never stops. And I’m not just referring to the Jazz Fest or Gay Pride parade or Metallica.
As this burg boogies through its 101st, here are a couple of great things to do by day. Might as well have fun in Tel Aviv until the nightlife kicks in.

Hit the Beach

Hugging the Mediterranean Coast north of Jaffa/Yafo, Tel Aviv has miles of sand lined with hotels, beach bars, and residents in swimsuits and other sportswear. The beach itself is impossibly wide — wider than Europe’s Mediterranean beaches, of course, but also deeper than Miami Beach and the playgrounds of Cancun and the Caribbean.

The locals hit the beach in Tel Aviv.

The locals love this beach, which is no surprise. Other things, though, might surprise the first-time visitor. For example, who knew there’d be so many surfers in Israel? Or parasail addicts? Or Labrador retrievers playing fetch in the surf? Some of the locals engage in volleyball matches; others walk, run, ride bikes, and skate on the walkway that parallels the shore. In Jerusalem you see lots of dark suits; here, you see Speedo.

I recently unwound at a beach bar – yet another popular sport here – near the Dan Hotel Tel Aviv. After ordering a beer, I dug my toes into sand that was so soft and fine that it would screw up an egg-timer, because its tiny grains would tumble through the hole too quickly. The temperature was only 65 degrees on this winter’s day, but even so, a few couples were cuddling on the beach. One was an Ethiopian with a Caucasian Israeli; nearby, two women snuggled and kissed. This is Tel Aviv.

Visit the Markets

Shopping at the Carmel Market (Shuk Ha’Carmel).

Tel Aviv boasts the largest bona fide Bauhaus neighborhood in the world, but if I had just two free hours, I’d spend them at the Carmel Market (Shuk Ha’Carmel), which borders the intersection of Allenby, King George, and Sheinkin streets in the working class heart of Tel Aviv. Terrific street food, brilliant street entertainers–including a kid who’s the Jewish Bo Jangles–and farm produce in vivid green, yellow and red.

Ceramic mezuzahs.

Above all, what knocks me out are the ceramic mezuzahs –in a primarily secular city, no less – crafted by various artists in numerous styles. They are all so colorful and cheerful, in keeping with this town’s vibe, that even a professional doubter like me would hang one on his doorpost.

The Flea Market (Shuk Hapishpeshim) that lies between Jerusalem Boulevard and Yeffet Street in Jaffa has a different ambiance. Sure, there’s produce, but mostly you see shawls, carpets, copperware, chess sets, antiques, Arabic stuff, and Jewish stuff. Funky cafes with hanging plants and good coffee tempt you to lounge around for hours.

The owner of Palestine, wrestling with a repair.

Best day to go there? Friday. Best shop? Palestine, at 8 Oley Zion Street. A man sits on the sidewalk playing tunes like “Dueling Banjos” on a balalaika. Inside, the shop owner wrestles with Deco radios, lamps, and clocks, restoring life to expired beauties. Early 20th-century postcards evoke orange-blossom Jaffa, as do vintage ads and touching black-and-white photos. Well-preserved, antique 26 x 30-inch maps of Jerusalem and Israel cost less than $100. “My prices are the real prices,” the proprietor tells me. “I don’t like to bargain.”

One Friday morning I watched another North American buy some burnished copper pieces and framed photographs there. But how to get it all back home? She made one more purchase: a two-toned, antique leather suitcase.

For more on Tel Aviv.
Contact the Israel Ministry of Tourism at 888-774-7723 or visit GoIsrael.

TO READ TEL AVIV, PART 2, CLICK HERE

ED WETSCHLER, Associate editor of Everett Potter’s Travel Report, has written for The New York Times, Delta Sky, Caribbean Travel & Life, the Official Pennsylvania Guide, and other print and new media. He is president of the New York Travel Writers Association and former editor-in-chief of Diversion magazine. In a previous life he played backup piano for bands like Jay and the Americans.

The post Tel Aviv After the Centennial appeared first on Everett Potter's Travel Report.

Bab Shrine and the Baha'i Gardens, Haifa

by Ed Wetschler

When last we stood on the slopes of Mount Carmel, which rises from the blue sea to give Haifa a humpback, Ziv Cohen and I were bantering about the slim odds of finding much kosher dining in this Israeli city. (See Part I.)
    Does that make you think of Tel Aviv? Think again. Whereas Tel Aviv rocks with all-night clubs and twentysomething beachgoers flaunting washboard abs, Haifa is subtler, more mature in its pleasures.

    What I love about Haifa is its sophisticated, open-minded friendliness; this is that rarest of Middle Eastern cities, a burg with bona fide integrated neighborhoods. I also like the honey-colored buildings that overlook the Mediterranean; the accessibility to biblical and historical sights, and to the hills of Galilee. And, of course, the German Colony.

Dining in Haifa
The Second Coming was coming, or so 19th-century Germans in the Templar Society believed. So they migrated to the Holy Land and established the German Colony near the port of Haifa, hoping to be in Elijah's bailiwick on Judgment Day. Turns out the End of Time got delayed, but by then the pilgrims had built their red-roofed stone houses and laid out a stunning main street more than 90 feet wide.
    Today many of the historic buildings on that tree-lined street, now called Ben-Gurion Avenue, house restaurants. If you choose one of the outdoor tables, you can gaze up, way up, at the gold-domed, night-lit Baha'i Shrine and its gardens, which seem to tumble right down to the German Colony. Families, friends, and couples sit outside and dine or drink; some of the places have recorded or live music.
 

Nightlife in the German Colony.

   Habustan (43 Ben-Gurion Ave.) serves classic Middle Eastern dishes, Havana Plus (#25) offers Med-meets-Caribbean, Casa di Masia (#39) is Italian, Duzan (#35) is French. The options are neither limited nor surprising; they fit in with Haifa's multicultural ambience. Hasdera-1872, a (#15; 04-855-1872), a fine seafood-plus restaurant, occupies a 19th-century building with stucco walls, wood beams, and antique sconces. There's a fascinating glass floor in the entryway that lets you see the old basement, where you can spot dusty, ancient bottles. It was at Hasdera that I tucked into a splendid linguini with shrimp, calamari, and a vodka tomato sauce, followed by a light, Italian-style cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Not exactly your standard Bar Mitzvah meal.

    After dinner, I walked uphill toward the floodlit Baha'i Gardens, passing two middle-aged couples at a table outside Nemo. They were swaying in unison and singing a pop song. Young people at the Waterfall Restaurant smoked sheesha pipes.
    Pretty lighthearted for a town whose modern roots lie with end-of-the-world prophecies. But even though the German colonists' are long gone, their homes converted to restaurants, cafes, and bars, they did leave their mark, and not just on the architecture. Stand before 27 Ben-Gurion Avenue, and you'll see an old sign that still pleads, KOMM HERR JESU.

Bab Shrine and the Baha'i Gardens
Siyyid `Al¡-Muhammad paid a substantial penalty for having inspired some people to question Islam in the mid-19th century: The Iranian authorities killed him. But the new Baha'i religion, with its universalist values (world peace, education, Esperanto) caught on in other countries, and its faithful managed to get Ali-Muhammad's body to Haifa. Today this prophet, aka the Bab, is interred in a gold-domed temple atop Mount Carmel.

Bab Shrine, the Baha'i Gardens, and the German Colony

     A splendid garden with 19 terraces descends from the shrine toward the Mediterranean with flowers, fountains, birds, banyan and cypress trees, and vistas of the sea. Spectacularly lit at night, it's an eyeful from virtually any cafe seat on Shderot Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion Avenue).

    But you don't want to just see it from afar; you want to get in there. I took a brief tour through the exquisitely manicured gardens to the shrine, one of the most sacred sites in the Baha'i faith. There I met two Baha'i youngsters, a man from Jamaica and a woman from Australia, who were serving as guides.
    "Are you really happy here, living in temporary quarters in a Hebrew-speaking country so far from home?" I asked the Jamaican. "Very happy," he said with a gentle smile.
    Inside the shrine, people sat on a carpet in a simply decorated room, reading. Beyond that was an interior chamber with flowers and candles. All very quiet, calm, peaceful.
    "That room is where the Bab is resting," the Australian whispered.
    One-hour tours of the grounds are free; visit GanBahai.   

Hotels in Haifa

Dan Carmel Hotel.

The Dan Carmel Hotel, perched on a high point of Mount Carmel near the Baha'i Shrine, offers modern style, a spa and fitness center (free for guests), a swimming pool, and breathtaking views of Haifa Bay.

Akkotel.

    A new, 16-room boutique hotel in nearby Acre, Akkotel (1153 Salah al-Din St.), occupies a medieval building. The designer has made excellent use of the old stone walls as well as indigenous textiles and crafts. You're never more than a few hundred feet from the Crusaders' fortress, the sea, and plenty of ridiculously delicious market food. Moreover, rates for a double start about $160, making this handsome hotel one of the best values I've ever encountered.

Haifa's Seven-Day Program
The city's tourist board, tired of playing third fiddle to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, has designed a Stay Put itinerary that features Haifa, the ruins of Herod's sprawling city of Caesarea, Druze villages in the hills of Galilee, Nazareth, a thriving wine center, the Sea of Galilee, etc. Of course, the smart money stayed away July 7-10, when Haifa was jammed with people riding in or watching the European Mountain Bike Championship.

    If you're in town during a major international event, head for the hills — the hills of Galilee. Hotel Spa Mizpe Hayamim is a world-class spa and a member of the Relais & Chateaux group. The choice of spa treatments is encyclopedic, and I might add that my room was only a smidgeon smaller than Manhattan's Central Park.

Vered Hagalil calls itself a "guest farm" but is actually a dude ranch. Not only have I enjoyed the riding there (excellent horses and instructors), but this ranch offers guests a bumper sticker you'll actually want to put on your car. It says: SHALOM, Y'ALL.

For more information:

GoIsrael

Tour-Haifa

ED WETSCHLER, Associate Editor of Everett Potter's Travel
Report, has written for The New York Times, Delta Sky and Caribbean
Travel & Life. He is the former editor-in-chief of Diversion
magazine and consulting editor for Caribbean Escapes. He is the current
president of the New York Travel Writers Association.

The post Haifa Wants More Respect, Part II appeared first on Everett Potter's Travel Report.

By Ed Wetschler

“Haifa is the most beautiful city in Israel,” says guide Ziv Cohen as we gaze at the Mediterranean from a high terrace. And he’s right. Looking around, I’m reminded not of Jerusalem, with its ancient golden stones, nor Tel Aviv, where town meets beach, but of San Francisco. Except that here, the water is warmer and calmer, the sky is bluer, and there are more Jews. Well, sort of.

“It’s hard to find a Kosher restaurant in Haifa,” Ziv once told me. Right again. This is the most integrated city in Israel and maybe the entire Middle East — a town with multi-ethnic neighborhoods, cultural institutions like the Arab-Jewish Center, and easy smiles.

But beautiful and friendly though it is, Haifa doesn’t get as much buzz as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Jerusalem has more holy sites, and Tel Aviv, the hippest vibe east of Madrid, not to mention an abfab centennial. Just the same, Haifa is my favorite Israeli city, the Goldilocks mean between ancient, sacred Jerusalem and modern, secular Tel Aviv. It’s sophisticated, physically stunning, home to must-sees like Elijah’s Cave and the Baha’i Shrine, and the ideal base for visiting Acre (Akko) and the Galilee.

In a heroic effort to snare more attention, new tours and packages are making all this more accessible to visitors who aren’t traveling by cruise ship. But first, the backstory:

This view of Haifa Bay from Mount Carmel is pretty much the one that Elijah would have had. Photo by Ed Wetschler.

Elijah and the Carmelites

If you went to Sunday school — any Sunday school — you know how important Elijah was. This biblical prophet browbeat the ancient Jews into maintaining their piety, he was the precursor to the Messiah, and he’s venerated in Islam for having preserved monotheism at a time when paganism looked like a swell idea. Not for nothing is he the one prophet God carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Elijah slept here. Now this grotto is a shrine below the main altar of a Carmelite church. Photo by Ed Wetschler.

Elijah lived awhile in a cave on the slopes of Mount Carmel, so during the Crusades, some Roman Catholics decided to travel to the Holy Land and live in caves on that same hill. Muslim troops eventually ousted them, but in 1836 the cave dwellers’ spiritual heirs, the Carmelites, returned to build Stella Maris Church and Monastery. So now you know how the Carmelites got their name.

Stella Maris’s octagonal chapel features a swirling depiction of Elijah en route to heaven, but the real attraction lies below the main altar: there, you can step into what is said to be Elijah’s cave, a low-ceilinged grotto just big enough for a smaller marble altar, a few candles and photos, and a little crucifix.

That cross would offend observant Jews and many Muslims, so you might expect Elijah’s cave to set off yet another dispute among religions in Israel. Yet it hasn’t, maybe because these religions are busy enough disputing holy sites in Jerusalem. Or maybe it’s simply because Haifa is so laidback.

But even if an observant Jew would hesitate to enter a church, this grotto is still a place associated with Elijah — Eliyahu Hanavi — for whom every Jewish family at every Passover seder pours a glass of wine. Had this man not preached at the time of Ahab and Jezebel, there might well be no Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. So I entered the grotto. I paid my respects to the great prophet.

And then, God forgive me, I ate shellfish.

An Acre of Crusades

How do you earn an honorific like “lionhearted”? King Richard I did it in 1191 by slaughtering 2,700 Muslim prisoners of war

Tough guys, those Crusaders. But Richard I was not the first over-assertive kid on the block. Armies have fought over Acre (aka Akko), the ancient port a few miles from Haifa where Richard killed the POWs, for centuries.

Alexander the Great conquered it from the Kingdom of Israel in 332 B.C.E., after which Egypt, Rome, and then Mohammed’s followers played bloody games of musical chairs. The Crusaders seized it in 1104 and spent much of that century building fortifications that were “impregnable,” except that Salah al-Din (Saladin) still managed to boot them out in 1187. Richard the Lionhearted regained Acre in 1191, and now comes the fun part.

From the outside this World Heritage Site looks like a modest Turkish enclosure that’s only a few hundred years old. But what you’re looking at is buildings the Turks and Arabs erected buildings on top of the Crusaders’ fortifications and quarters, so when you descend belowdecks, you don’t see ruins; you see sturdy chambers and large halls that lay undisturbed for almost 1,000 years. And for bonus points, the subterranean layout keeps the place relatively cool in July.

The Crusaders could have used some cooling off: The Templars, Hospitalers, and other Christian factions all earned “F” on their report cards for Works And Plays Well With Others. Each claimed a different section of the fortress, and sometimes they actually fought each other for space. This did not exactly help them in their efforts against their official enemies, so sure enough, the Muslims evicted them (again) in 1291. Or more precisely, slaughtered them.

Today you enter a large open courtyard, mere centuries old, with two stories of graceful arches. Then you go inside, where a stone in one room sports a Fleur de Lys, another features the sign of the Hospitalers, etc. It’s not hard to tell who hung out where.

The grandest Knights Hall, the Refectorium, features a surprisingly high Romanesque ceiling supported by Cyclopean pillars and ten-foot-thick walls. Somewhat less authentic is the bar and klieg lights; today this grand space is used for concerts and parties. In the 1940s, though, this was no place for partying; the British executed Jewish independence fighters here.

I walked from room to room through low, tight tunnels, stared at the tombstone of a Crusader who died in 1290, imagined warriors battling boredom and lice, and emerged just as a muezzin was calling the faithful to prayer. A lot of Arabs live in Acre, and the real estate directly outside the exit from the historical site is owned by al-Jazzer Mosque. The mosque rents shop space there to locals who sell pita, pastries, coffee, fish, fruits, hummus, shawls, spices, souvenirs. I tasted a fragrant cinnamon roll, a Middle Eastern pan chocolate, a pistachio loaf….

Al Jazzer mosque rents space to vendors at the exit of the Crusaders’ fortress at Acre/Akkor. Photo by Ed Wetschler.

The mosque itself was built by Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzer, an 18th-century Turkish governor who, like Richard I, had a nickname. Al-Jazzer’s, unfortunately, was “The Butcher.” I ask Ziv why the pasha was called The Butcher. “Al Jazzer,” he replies slowly, diplomatically, “was a very negative person.”

Go to Haifa, Part II.

More Information

Visit GoIsrael and Tour Haifa.

ED WETSCHLER, Associate Editor of Everett Potter’s Travel Report, has written for The New York Times, Delta Sky and Caribbean Travel & Life. He is the former editor-in-chief of Diversion magazine and consulting editor for Caribbean Escapes. He is the current president of the New York Travel Writers Association.

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