2023-07-24 08:50:21
Haifa: For the relaxed
“Middle East Conflict? Not with us!” You hear that again and again in Haifa, which is considered the most relaxed of Israel’s major cities and the first to be governed by a female mayor. The majority of the population is Jewish, but there is a larger Arab minority that is present in everyday life, from the mosque to the falafel joint.
Below, near the sea, lies the former German colony, a district founded by southern German Templars with sandstone houses from the 19th century, all of which have been extensively restored, some with German aphorisms carved into the facade (“Up to this point, the Lord has helped”). The Templars are gone, their homes now mostly cafes and restaurants where Jews and Israeli Arabs eat and drink side by side, smoke hookahs or sit behind laptops. The atmosphere in the port city is pleasantly peaceful.
Of course, Haifa’s “Wonder of the World” also contributes to this: the Hanging Gardens of the Baha’i, which rise in terraces behind the German colony on Mount Carmel. The spiritual religious community of the Bahai has its headquarters in Haifa, complete with a golden-domed temple in the middle of the lavish garden. This is largely open to visitors of all religions – including atheists, of course. The manicured borders, the trimmed hedges, the gleaming white gravel paths under the blooms of hibiscus and bougainvillea are indeed a place of peace and harmony.
Source: Infographic WORLD
At the top, the view extends over the entire city and far across the Mediterranean Sea, even as far as Akko in good weather. This enchanting place has even convinced UNESCO, which is otherwise rather critical of Israel: Since 2008, Haifa’s gardens have officially been a World Heritage Site.
Tel Aviv: For hedonists
Every metropolis has its own sounds. In Hamburg the screeching of seagulls, in London the ringing of Big Ben – in Tel Aviv the clack-clack of matkot balls on the kilometer-long city beach. Young and old alike hold the small oval bats in the air and hit the ball to the opponent. Next to them are muscle gods and their girlfriends or boyfriends, along with Israeli women soldiers in uniform and sunglasses on the beach promenade.
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A little further south, in the Jaffa district, young Israeli Arab women stroll along the waterfront, with or without a headscarf. Their male companions may be friends or older brothers – they don’t act as macho “protectors” at all, but like everyone here, they watch the hustle and bustle on the beach: swimming, sunbathing, outdoor fitness on the equipment course, chilling in the lounge bars.
And even, assumed by a surprising number of people, reading! After all, there is a mobile free library on the beach promenade, with Hebrew and Arabic books in the compartments, as well as novels in almost every world language. If you don’t let traces of suntan oil stop you from browsing, you can pay homage to a special treat here: hedonism with brains.
Have fun: Life rages on the wide beaches of Tel Aviv
Quelle: Getty Images/Moment RF/kolderal
Tel Aviv visitors are never alone for long on the beach and enjoy being drawn into conversation, from towel to towel. Because what is there not to comment on: for example the architecture of the city, which was only created in 1909 by the ground-breaking ceremony and has long since risen to become the liveliest metropolis in the country. In 2023 it will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage title, which is primarily due to the concentration of Bauhaus masterpieces that is unique in the world, thanks to the Jewish architects who were expelled from Germany in 1933.
Most locals like this historical heritage, but the skyscraper parade that grows into the sky behind the beach divides opinions: while some complain about the ugliness of the high-rise buildings, others praise Manhattan on the Mediterranean Sea as a symbol of modernity.
Of course, the beach crowd and the rather revealing play of the mostly male bodies are also commented on. It is no accident that Tel Aviv bears the (by no means secret) title of “Gay Capital of the Middle East”. In clubs and bars, but above all on the beach – especially on the Hilton Beach – gays from all over the world cavort in a joyful and fearless atmosphere that would be unthinkable elsewhere in the region, i.e. with the Arab neighbors.
Of course, tolerance in Tel Aviv also means that there is a separate beach for orthodox Jews very close to Gay Beach: an area separated by walls and a visual barrier that stretches down to the sea, where devout Israelis enjoy the happiness of the beach during the day. In the hours after midnight, when the Orthodox have left the field, the stretch of beach is regularly in the hands of lovers and lustful couples – who then indulge in other pleasures than the Matkot ball game.
Akko: For Orient fans
The notorious Crusaders resided within the city walls and the old town fortress in the coastal town of Akko until they were expelled in 1291. The Ottomans, to whom Akko’s mosques and the bazaar district are to be thanked, later demolished and built over part of the Crusader area.
It is now being uncovered again – vast, pleasantly shaded halls beneath Romanesque and Gothic arches, in which the muezzin’s call echoes in time and space. Akko is literally history as stratification; no other city in Israel today has such a diverse, primarily oriental character.
Influenced by Arabic: the old city of Akko in Galilee
Quelle: Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye/newscom/Picture All.
That’s what makes her so attractive. For example, when strolling through the covered arcades of the Old City Bazaar, which is full of small shops and spicy scents – and by no means as stressfully commercialized as the Old City of Jerusalem, which is flooded with tourists and pilgrims. Akko is a leisurely place, including the port, where excursion boats chug into the sunset and where the best seafood restaurants in Israel are to be found.
Above all, the “Uri Buri”, named after its Jewish owner. It was the city’s most popular fish restaurant for three decades, and in 2021 it was destroyed by arson during religious unrest. Undeterred, Uri Buri renovated it with his Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Russian collaborators and reopened in 2022. His motto: “Coexistence is possible. We cook against hate.” And how! His tuna in yoghurt and onion sauce and his caramelized St. Peter’s fish are sensational.
Rosh Hanikra: For adventurers
Israel’s northernmost point on the coast is right on the Lebanese border: Rosh Hanikra. The Israeli Navy ensures that this sensitive area remains calm and that travelers can stop without risk. Finally, here, inside the white limestone cliffs that reach down to the sea, you can visit the famous grottos of Rosh Hanikra, in which the Mediterranean Sea gurgles from emerald green to azure.
Fantastic view: In Rosh Hanikra the sea has carved grottos and caves into the rock
Quelle: pa/Newscom/Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye
A cable car descends steeply with a gradient of 60 degrees. The railway line built by the British in a tunnel down there in the interior of the rock during the Second World War, which once reached Beirut, no longer exists. And another tunnel, built thousands of years ago under Alexander the Great, is also history. But it is precisely this historical force, together with the wow backdrop of the grottoes, that makes this stretch of coast so special.
Cheerful kids on school trips are regularly among the visitors here – Jews and Arabs who shout and chat in Hebrew and Arabic and laugh together. An image from an advertising brochure? Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that. Peaceful coexistence is definitely a reality on Israel’s Mediterranean coast.
Caesarea: For history lovers
Founded by the Phoenicians, Caesarea was a place of bread and games in Roman times under King Herod in a maritime setting. In the hippodrome, for example, angry bulls were let loose on galloping horses and their riders. Today, it’s the coastal city in Israel where the region’s prehistory is best – and most deeply – explored. Which is to be understood quite literally, as the preserved remains of the old harbor fortifications give an idea that Caesarea once had the largest deep-sea harbor in the ancient world.
The excavation sites are now a huge open-air museum. The former hippodrome was expanded into an amphitheater and is used for cultural events. The aqueduct on the beach is well preserved. Herod’s palace, once feared across the region for its cruelty, has shrunk over time to an ensemble of columns, steles and capitals through which the Mediterranean wind whistles today. And the remains of the massive Roman temple have become a popular selfie backdrop.
History lesson on the Mediterranean: The Roman aqueduct in Caesarea reaches down to the beach
Quelle: Alamy Stock Photo/Vladimir Gerasimov
Since the area, complete with bathhouse ruins, a minaret from Ottoman times and a completely modern restaurant, is quite extensive, visitors do not get in each other’s way here, even the Babylonian language variety from the many guidebook megaphones fades away in a pleasant way.
Pop concerts and operas or dance theater performances are regularly given in the renovated Roman hippodrome. Locals still rave to German guests about Pina Bausch’s dance production “Nelken”, which was performed here in 1991. Eric Clapton sang in the ancient amphitheater, as did the Foreigners, Suzanne Vega and Björk. And so, under the light of the Mediterranean sun, times, epochs and names slide into one another, while a cooling breeze blows in from the sea. Sometimes the calls of the surfers can be heard, who are learning to ride the waves in the neighboring school.
Not far from Caesarea are the snow-white cubes of the hotel “Nahholim”. It is run by a kibbutz founded in 1948 and is not only one of the few kibbutz hotels directly on the sea, but certainly the most beautiful. The perfect place to unwind after your Caesarea history lesson. In the pool, on the beach or at the bar, where refreshingly cool Galilee white wine is served.
Tips and information:
Getting there: Non-stop flights to Tel Aviv for example with El Al, Ryanair or Lufthansa.
Accommodation: In Tel Aviv we recommend the modernist “Hotel Debrah Brown” (double rooms from 141 euros, Brownhotels.com/debrah), near Caesarea the kibbutz hotel “Nahholim” (double room from 124 euros, nahsholim.co.il) and in Haifa the boutique hotel “The Schumacher” in the former German colony (double rooms from 165 euros, the-schumacher.com).
Further information: goisrael.de
Participation in the trip was supported by the State Israel Transport Bureau. Our standards of transparency and journalistic independence can be found at axelspringer.com/de/werte/downloads.
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