News-Record.com

HAIFA--Being a native of California, I grew up with the best of both worlds - ocean and mountains. So when we pulled into the city of Haifa, I lit up like a little girl on her birthday sitting in a sea of presents. Haifa is an exquisite port city. Much of it is built on Mt. Carmel and the views are unparalled.

View of Haifa from Bahai Shrine on Mt. Carmel

View of Haifa from hotel room on Mt. Carmel

In addition to generous views, Haifa has generous residents. It's the number one city in Israel for charitable giving even though its only Israel's third largest.

And if that weren't enough, Haifa is know as city of "real coexistence." This was expressed by those who work at Beit Hagefen, an Arab-Jewish center established in 1963. Why is there so much co-existence here? Beit Hagefen staff joke, "Moses wasn't here, Jesus wasn't here and neither was Mohammad. There's nothing to fight about!"

Haifa is an island of sanity in an insane area for Israelis.

For me it's like home.

Friends I made at a local cafe with the best lattes ever! The man on the far right is a soap actor. To the left are his daughter and his daughter's friend.

Keren, the lovely girl who made my soy latte absolute perfection