Memorial Garden, Haifa

Five years have passed since I visited and took a panorama At Haifa Municipality’s Engineering Administration building, I find myself back here for another professional course by the Engineers Association – this time about traffic light planning. The course included a visit to the city’s traffic light control center, where we got a direct look into the system responsible for synchronizing vehicle movement in the city. We learned how decisions about green light timing are made, how real-time field malfunctions are handled, and how the city looks through dozens of cameras providing continuous information to operators. We understood how each traffic scenario – junction congestion, road works, sudden events – translates into quick system action, sometimes automatic and sometimes requiring human intervention.

After the tour ended and the group dispersed, I stayed in the area, feeling curious. I wanted to see what else was around and try to capture an interesting view of the city. I love returning to Haifa – it has a unique combination of mountain and Sea, antiquity and innovation, offering countless viewpoints, interesting streets, and corners that reveal themselves only to those willing to walk a bit. Every time I photograph it, I discover a new angle or a small change in the landscape. I stopped to buy something small to eat and chatted with a local shawarma vendor who turned out to be a particularly pleasant conversationalist. When I asked if there was a viewpoint or quiet place with a view in the area, he didn’t hesitate and recommended I go to the Memorial Garden, which was very close by.

The garden turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It’s a well-maintained open space, with a large lawn that appears twice in the panorama because I wasn’t willing to cut it off. So here you get more than 400 degrees instead of 360. The garden has a paved plaza and a row of memorial stones dedicated to the fallen in Israel’s wars, alongside a small pool with a simple but active fountain in its center, spraying water and creating a sense of tranquility. As you progress to the garden’s eastern edge, the view suddenly reveals itself – a wide expanse of Haifa Bay, with blue waters stretching to the horizon. The piers, cranes, anchored ships, and coordinated movement of trucks create an industrial yet living picture, full of motion. The Sail Building, known as “The Missile,” dominates the center of the view, and since its construction has drawn the eye with its unique shape and exceptional height – for years it was the eighth tallest tower in Israel (today it’s ranked 70th and dropping with each new tower built), and still remains the tallest in Haifa, even taller than the University of Haifa’s Eshkol Tower! It stands there as if waiting for takeoff clearance. Around it, the city itself unfolds – the mountain neighborhoods, cable car lines, train stations, rows of old and new buildings. And behind, the sun sets behind the Carmel, near the Dan Panorama towers, which are also a Haifa icon. Everything blends into a landscape that is both functional and emotionally touching. It was a good place to stop for a moment, observe, and photograph.