ISRAEL 5, Haifa: German Colony, Bahai Gardens, Oct. 15-16, 2009

1-The Colony Hotel is over 100 years old and was a hotel in its early years. My very quiet room was on the far side of the top floor (light-colored stone)— a floor that was added in the 2005-2006 preservation/renovation. The foreground avenue is Sderot Ben Gurion. The cars are parked on Mordechai Anielewicz St.

2-The Colony Hotel, 28 Sderot Ben Gurion. In its early years, it was the Appinger pension. Once the pension became too small, the family decided to rebuild and expand it into a hotel. A Swiss architect who resided on Mount Carmel, designed the reconstruction plan, and the building reopened as a 50-room hotel in the late 1920s. More recently, the building was used as an old age home until 2005.

3-Colony Hotel entry terrace. The sidewalk on the right fronts on Sderot Ben Gurion.

4-Colony Hotel rear terrace, as seen from my room.

5-Colony Hotel room

6-Colony Hotel room

7-Colony Hotel room

8-Colony Hotel room

9-Colony Hotel room, bath

10-Sderot Ben Gurion and harbor from Ha-Gefen (Vine) Street.

11-German Colony lintel. "Instruct men in your ways, and to hope for John; and it will happen."

12-German Colony Restorations Administration and Haifa Tourist Board, 48 Ben Gurion Blvd.

13-German Colony, doorway to #27. "The Spirit and the Bride say come, Jesus." [Revelation 22:17]

14-German Colony (1872), adaptive reuse

15-City of Haifa Museum. Extremely well done and interesting exhibition of the city's history. The building was the Gemeindehaus (the community hall), the German Colony's only central community building and the first Templer building to be built (1869). (Doorway detail, next photo.)

16-Entrance to City of Haifa Historical Museum—the former community building also served as the schoolhouse.

17-Lintel over the door to the City Museum: "If I forget thee Jerusalem, let my right arm forget" [its skill. Psalm 137:5]

18-Fattoush Restaurant, 38 Ben Gurion—one of many quaint cafes along the Blvd.

19-Sderot Ben Gurion, the Bahá'í World Centre, and the northern slopes of Mount Carmel, as seen from the Colony Hotel's upper terrace. The golden-domed Shrine of the Báb (which, unfortunately for me, is under renovation) is the holiest site of pilgrimage for members of the Bahá'í Faith, and is also the faith's central administrative center. The gardens were open only at the top two and bottom two terraces.

20-Haifa, Baha'i Gardens, seen from my hotel. Eighteen monumental terraces soar 750 feet high, from Ha-Gefen (Vine) Street at the bottom to Yefe Nof (Panorama Street), the highest level seen in this night view.

21-Baha'i Gardens from the bottom gate (at Ha-Gefen)

22-Baha'i Gardens, from the second plaza. The Baha’i Gardens are 530 miles due west of Babylon, whose Hanging Gardens were legendary.

23-Baha'i Gardens from the top at Yefe Nof (Panorama Street) looking down Sderot Ben Gurion to Haifa's bustling computerized port. The Templer vineyards occupied this area down to Ha-Gefen (Vine) Street. Their houses occupied the flatter lands from there to the harbor.

24-Baha'i lamppost