Stories from Israel: Akka

On our second day in Israel we went to Akka (also known as Acre and Akko). It is a World Heritage Site and pretty cool place. Lately, there's been an increase in gang violence after about 4 pm, so we confined our visit to the day. We took a sherut (like a multi-person taxi) and then walked into the Old City. The Old City reminds me a lot of Jerusalem---small narrow streets and cramped 'souk' or bazaar like areas. One of the great things about it being a world heritage site is that they have done work to make tours available for reasonable prices. We went and got a multi-site pass which allowed us to visit the Crusader Fort, Turkish Bath, Museums, and the Templar Tunnel.

The Crusader Fortress is in varying stages of excavation

On the left are the Crusader Latrines, to the right is a Tombstone and below is Adam with some of the carved arches.

Touring around we climbed a wall and looked back over onto the Old City. From there you can also see part of a nifty looking cemetary:

Akko is alway full of smells (fallafel, schwarma (usually lamb---dripping fat from its turning skewer while you shave thin strips off into a pita), zatar and spices and the fish in the market), sounds (honking, loud discussions mostly in Arabic, and music from the cars of 20 year olds who have nothing better to do than drive) and stray cats. The Turkish bath featured a movie which is way over the top stereotypical, but funny and gives a sense of the history related to a ruthleess ruler named Al'Jassar, for who a green domed mosque in Akko is named. We didn't go in there because the guy wanted to charge us 10 NIS each. Okay, so i admit that's only $2.50 USD, but the thing is that 6 months ago it was 5 NIS a piece. I blame it mostly on Adam being so blonde.  :)