3 Best Sights in Haifa, Haifa and the Northern Coast

The rather dull name of this museum belies the dramatic story it tells of the heroic efforts to bring Jewish immigrants to Palestine from war-torn Europe in defiance of British policy. In 1939, on the eve of World War II, the British issued the so-called White Paper, which effectively strangled Jewish immigration to Palestine. Out of 63 clandestine ships that tried to run the blockade after the war's end, all but five were intercepted, and their passengers were deported to Cyprus. The museum—full of moving stories of courage and tenacity—is centered on the Af Al Pi Chen (Hebrew for "Nevertheless"), a landing craft, which attempted to bring 434 Jewish refugees ashore. A photomural and model of the celebrated ship the Exodus recalls the story of the 4,530 refugees aboard who were forcibly transferred back to Germany in 1947, but not before the British forces opened fire on the ship. The history of Israel's navy, told here in impressive detail, begins with the transformation of these clandestine immigration craft into warships.

It's worth the trip to Haifa University to see this museum's archaeological treasures. At the summit of Mount Carmel, in the main campus tower (called Eshkol Tower), the museum has a collection that spans the millennia from the Chalcolithic era to the Roman and Byzantine periods, concentrating on "The People of Israel in Eretz Israel." The artifacts include religious altars and lamps, Bronze Age figurines, inscribed seals from the biblical period, and a 2,400-year-old ship. Featured prominently are finds from the excavations of Jerusalem's Temple Mount. A separate art wing displays a small collection of paintings, mostly impressionist works by Monet, Soutine, and Modigliani, among others. The roof observation deck, on the 27th floor, has spectacular views.

About 5,000 years of maritime history in the Mediterranean and Red Sea are told with model ships, ancient anchors, coins minted with nautical symbols, navigational instruments, and other artifacts. There are also intriguing underwater finds from nearby excavations and shipwrecks. The ancient-art collection is one of the finest in the country, comprising mostly Greek and Roman stone and marble sculpture, Egyptian textiles, Greek pottery, and encaustic grave portraits from Fayyum, in Lower Egypt. Particularly rare are the figures of fishermen from the Hellenistic period, as well as a 1st-century wooden boat rescued in the 1980s from the muddy bottom of the Sea of Galilee.