Haifa Part 1: The Baha'i Gardens

After Safed, Rachel and I traveled to Haifa where we visited the Baha'i Gardens. We took the Hebrew tour, because they only offer English tours at noon and, unfortunately, we couldn't make it then. Luckily, it was slightly cooler when we went, probably only about 100 degrees (though the humidity was a killer).

The Baha'i Gardens are a big tourist attraction in Haifa and they are certainly beautiful. According to the little pamphlet they gave me, the gardens were opened to the public about 10 years ago in 2001. The Baha'i faith itself was founded in the nineteenth century (1844) by Bahá'u'lláh. They believe he is the most recent messegner from God and they also consider Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad to be prophets.

The Baha'i faith is very egalitarian and calls for the elimination of all forms of prejudice and full equality between the sexes. Other tenets of the religion include universal compulsory education and the establishment of a world federal system. There are no clergy within the religion, just elected councils.

The gardens themselves are part of the Shrine of the Bab. There are over 700 steps in the garden and the views are magnificent.