Debconf 2020 in Haifa, Israel

The conferecerence is to be held at a campus of the University of Haifa on top of Mt. Carmel right next to Haifa.

Haifa has been the site of Israel's first major hi-tech sites (local branches of IBM and Intel) and is still thriving center of such companies. Other centers of Israel's hi-tech industry, such as Yokneam, Raanana and Tel-Aviv are not far either.

Venue

University of Haifa (specifically: its main campus) is located on the top of Mt. Carmel above Haifa.

The conference is to be held at the Hecht Auditorium. It has 380 seats and an on-stage pipe organ. There are various near-by classes available in the near-by Multi-Functional Building, along with a very wide corridor for the job fair and such.

We will dine in that corridor.

Dormitories

We will use the Peldman dormiotries. They are composed of clusters where each cluster has three rooms with a central room (a kitchen and alike). Each room has two beds and bathrooms. Each cluster has its own wifi router.

Potential Dates

The university can guarantee us the dormitories for the end of August (Aug-15 onward).

Local Team

Getting There

Flights land the the TLV (Ben Gurion) airport. From there normally by train to train to Hof Carmel, from there go to the central bus station and take bus (24?) to the university.

Visas

Visas are automatically granted automatically for the usual suspects. Specifically the following countries:

See summary in Wikivoyage and official list (at the MFA site).

The following are countries with Debian Developers that require a visa:

(Assuming that Debian Developers are a rough approximation of the target audience of Debconf)

Customs

Exempt from customs:

So far no excuse for not bringing up to 1kg of your favorite local cheese with you.

Transport

Public Transport

Due to a recent law you can't pay cash on public transportation. You must use a "Rav Kav" card. A "Rav Kav" card is like a debit card and you need to charge before you can use it. It's also possible to buy an anonymous card from the driver but sometimes the drivers don't have an anonymous card with them. Therefore you should get one in the airport and charge it with 100 NIS. You can use Rav Kav on trains too. You should use the moovit app to get the best route or take the train to Haifa, Hof ?HaCarmel and then Egged line 146 to the Haifa University.

Taxis

Car Rental

See

In Haifa

The downtown of Haifa stretches from the "spaceship" building in the East to the German Colony in the west. The was the original location of the city until the 20th century (with the German Colony built next to it). Old buildings, good food and a nice place to walk.

The scenic Baha'i Gardens stretch right above the German colony. It is recommended to take the tour inside them. Smaller but still visit-worthy Baha'i gardens are in the near-by city of Acre.

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In Israel

Two near-by locations are: * Acre, to the north. with a much older old city and a market. * Dalyat-al-Carmel, a Druze town not far from the Carmel campus. With an interesting market of its own.

Most sites in Israel are only a few hours drive (or train) away. Such as sites in Jerusalem or (closer) in the Galilee.

There are plenty of historical and even prehistorical sites to see, such as those related to the early days of agriculture. Or some ruined castles.

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Food

Generally: plenty of food. As a side effect of the prevalence of kosher food, vegan options (such as hummus and falafel) are widely available. There also many non Kosher restaurants since many Christians live in the city.

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Electricity

Israel uses European (50Hz, 220V) power supply and its own type H sockets, however if you can do without grounding, a europlug should work fine.