Haifa

This was mostly a business trip. I spent two weeks working in Haifa with some time off during the weekends. As it happens with me recently, my flight was severely delayed. Actually, when I came to the airport almost two hours before the flight I was told that I am already re-booked for a flight the next day. The weather on the East Coast was very bad and there were no seats on other airlines because of spring break.Well, that was not an option since I was supposed to be in Israel at 9 am the next day and go directly to work.I spent about an hour between the gate agent and my travel agent on the phone. Somehow, they were able to snap the last seat on El Al. Though it added another 9 hours of waiting between flights, later I realized that I was very lucky.
I flew to Newark and quickly found that El Al was an interesting airline. They ask a lot of questions and their questions are strange. Since I was explicitly warned not to joke with them I was very subdued. On the plane I realized that a lot of people around me spoke Russian including flight attendants and Hasidic Jews.I had no problem at the border control at Ben Gurion airport - two question and the stamp prohibiting my entry to many Middle Eastern countries was in my passport.
Even though I stayed in Haifa for two weeks I haven't seen Haifa because of work. I stayed in Crowne Plaza - nice business hotel on the top of Carmel mountain. The order of Carmelites got its name from the mountain's name and prophet Elijah lived nearby in a cave in 9th century BC. There is the Bahai Gardens that I did not see since they were closed by the time I ended my days.
Here are some pictures from Haifa and around

At work (local Silicon Valley at the background)

Acre, knights hall.

Rosh Ha-Nicra