Daliat-el-Carmel, Ein-Hod, and Haifa, April 28

Just a bit before noon we took off for Ein Hod, but then on the way Ben decided to go to Daliyat El Carmel first because he wanted falafel for lunch. This place is Israel's largest Druze village in the mountains outside Haifa. Ben had been there before and seen the Druze in their traditional dress, had bought hand-made goods from them and eaten great food at their stands.The Druze are Arab who practice a secret religion. They wear black and white, and the men wear pantaloons. Well, we took off only to find that in the mere 34 years since he had been there, this isolated village had become totally developed and surrounded by a Arab area with tons of residential areas and lots more commercial areas. The old town itself has pretty much disappeared in he mix, and Ben was very disappointed and never got his falafel. We did see some Druze, however.

By this time it was about 1:00 in the afternoon, and we were pretty hungry. We went quickly to Ein Hod, which is an artists village also in the hills outside Haifa. There are about 135 families with homes in this village, and they all have to be artists to own a home there. We first got a bit lost and thought that this village might also be a bust, but then we found the right entry and hurried quickly to Abu Yakov, which is a very, very informal restaurant at the top of a stone amphitheater. I was a bit nervous about the food at first, but Ben convinced me to try, and I was really glad I did. We had a view from the hill out to the Mediterranean and ate the best Middle East food; Hummus, Eggplant, salad, pita, avocado, and shish kabob. It was truly delicious! After our very late, very large lunch, we walked around the village and then left to go to Haifa.

Ben went to graduate school in Engineering at the Technion in Haifa, so he was eager to revisited the places of his youth. The problem again, however, was that everything has changed! We drove into Haifa and up the the Technion and into the Technion, and Ben could not find the places where he had studied. After trying a few places, we gave up and went to our hotel, the Colony Hotel, which is right at the base of the Bahai Gardens that we planned to visit on Thursday. It is a really lovely hotel with a big, beautiful room and a jacuzzi! We were very happy. After settling in, we took a walking around the very hilly town and ended up at the Bahai Gardens, only to read that because of a religious holiday, the gardens will be closed tomorrow! Drat! We decided to drown our sorrows in a good glass of wine and some delicious desserts at the restaurant across from our hotel. We have plenty of other activities to choose tomorrow!