Hiking
Dado Beach
Bahai Gardens
Last weekend I decided to go on a spur of the moment weekend trip to Haifa. How spontaneous, am I right? Even though I was feeling like I was coming down with something I thought YOLO and went anyway and I'm really glad I did. I went with two friends on the program (Danielle and Dave) and we had the best time. We set out on our adventure Friday afternoon and after two relatively short train rides arrived in Haifa and navigated to our air bnb. After settling in we headed to Masada street for a bite to eat. Masada street is a great little strip with some cute little cafes and a lot of street art. We ended up eating at this place that specialized in avocado and I had a delicious wrap filled with smoked salmon (my fave), avocado and arugula. Really yummy! Then we decided to grab some beers and hang out in the apartment for a while before deciding what bar to go to. To Dave's dismay, after an intense game of Contacts Danielle and I decided we were too sleepy to go out so we hit the sack early to prepare for our hike the next day. The next morning we took a 2 1/2 hour hike through Wadi Lotem which though I am by no means a hiker or a nature person as you may know I really enjoyed. I also only fell once. Go me! The beautiful thing about the hike was that it ended close to the beach and since the weather was really nice and warm we threw on our bathing suits and laid out for a while. After what felt like forever since we have been able to enjoy the beaches of Rishon, it was nice to get some sun in. Danielle and I also got pina coladas which weren't too shabby either. After enjoying some ice cream we headed back to our air bnb for a quick nap and to get ready for the evening. Having read great things about a middle eastern restaurant called Fattoush in my guidebook, we decided to go there for dinner. It turned out to be one of the best meals I've had in Israel so far and I have been eating pretty well so that's saying something. We shared a kebab dish, a rice dish and a grilled chicken dish which we topped off with kanafeh a dessert they are known for (a cheese pastry soaked in syrup much like baklava and is served warm). OMG I was in heaven! On a recommendation from our waiter we went to a nearby bar that turned out to be a little weird and we were kind of tired from the day's adventures so we didn't stay out very late. The next day we went to Mada Tech - the Israel National Museum of Science - which was interesting if not a little hokey. My favorite exhibit was the one on magic. Next we headed to the Bahai Gardens though unfortunately we missed the free tour so didn't really get to go inside. We did however go the top anyway for a breathtaking view of the gardens below and all of Haifa to the sea. After leaving the gardens it was sadly time to pack up our stuff and head to the train station to go home. It was definitely one of the better weekends I have had in Israel so far and I hope to go on more weekend trips in the next 5 months. Stay tuned!
