Welcome to Haifa. Haifa is the third-largest city in Israel and the home of the country's largest seaport. The city is located on the slope of Mount Carmel. The city houses the world center of the Bahai religion, the main monastery of the Order of the Carmelites, the cave of Elijah, the Prophet, and many other attractions. Haifa annually hosts a festival of holidays uniting the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to one version, the name of the city came from the Aramaic word Hofa (shore). According to another, from the Hebrew word Hafa (cover), from which also derives the word Hupa (under which a couple gets married, according to the Judaism tradition). The city was founded in the Roman period (Talmud era, around the 3rd or 4th centuries).In the era of the Crusades, there was a small fortress in Haifa, a harbor, and the Order of the Carmelites was founded close to the city. After being destroyed by the Mamelukes, Haifa Harbor became the haven for Mediterranean pirates. Since the end of the 19th century, Haifa has been turning into an important commercial port in Turkish Palestine. In the 30s, the city became the economic center of the British Mandate, an oil refinery, and a new deep-water port was built here. Haifa was the center of illegal Jewish immigration, and by the end of World War II, Jews made up the majority of the population of the city. After the founding of the Jewish state, Haifa quickly became one of the largest economic, tourist, and cultural centers of Israel. In a town with a population of about 300,000 people, there are two higher education institutions: Haifa University and the famous Polytechnic Institute (Technion).