The Beautiful Mediterranean Cities in My Memory

🌇 Haifa, the southern port city, remains vivid in my mind: the terraced, symmetrical Bahá’í Gardens—one of the world’s architectural masterpieces—clinging to the slope above the sea. I still remember the bustling port of Haifa Bay and the kind people I met there; I hope they are all safe and well. ⛱️ Tel Aviv is a modern, laid-back city on the Mediterranean. Even at night its seaside promenade is alive with runners and cyclists. Just forty minutes south along the coast lies romantic Old Jaffa. We wandered its narrow lanes, delighted to find all twelve zodiac signs embedded in the street corners. On the old walls someone had painted, “Love is in the air.” Locals on the beach greeted us with warm smiles. ⛱️ Jerusalem is spellbinding. Its holy sites give it an air of mystery: the Old City’s bazaar traces the Stations of the Cross; from the Mount of Olives the golden Dome of the Rock glows at sunset; inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, pilgrims from every continent bow in reverence. At the Western Wall on Shabbat, worshippers dance and pray with abandon. I also cherish the Shabbat dinner I shared in an Israeli home—conversation, laughter, and good food. 🏋️ The Hebrew University—co-founded by Einstein and alma mater to Nobel laureates—and the sleek, modern campus of Tel Aviv University left lasting impressions. At the Dead Sea, the water and sky merged in shades of blue below sea level. 🏋️The Israel Museum and Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial were unforgettable. I still recall the graffiti-covered separation wall at the then-accessible Israel-Palestine border, passed through after multiple checkpoints. #Jerusalem #TelAviv #OldJaffa #Haifa #WesternWall