Hercules and the Templars

Monday was another “relaxing” day in Tel Aviv. We wandered back to Rabin Square and grabbed four flavors of falafel before heading to the Bauhaus and Carmel Market area to find a place to exchange Rubles. We then sifted through very cheaply-made and tacky souvenirs, before I finally found something worth purchasing. We closed the day eating peanut butter flavored crisps and watching the sun go down over the marina.

Tuesday we took the train north to Haifa. The main sites to see in Haifa are the German Colony and the Baha’i Gardens. If you are an ancient history buff, you may have heard of Haifa during Hellenistic times as a trade city and a dye-making city. Also, for you Bible buffs, this is the home to Mount Carmel and the Cave of Elijah. The Crusaders were here, as were the Ottomans, of course. Napoleon conquered it and even Egyptians had occupation of it for a while. Then the German Templars arrived in the 19^th Century and the Brits arrived again in the 20^th Century.

We started our tour of Haifa at the top of the mountain and the top of the Baha’I Gardens. We arrived half an hour before the free tour started, thinking we’d have plenty of time to poke around and take photos before the tour began. Wrong, we held our place in line for the half hour, glaring down line jumpers as only 50 tourists per day are allowed in the gardens.

Our tour guide was quick to be rid of us. She gave us a very brief history of the gardens and Baha’I faith. The rest of the speech was to get all her charges onto the main steps. Though, we all ignored her and wandered a little from the steps. I would have liked to see more than just the main steps of the gardens, but they were still quite beautiful with fountains, perfect palms, red flowers, and happy lizards darting to and fro.

After the garden, we dragged our hungry and thirsty bodies (I recommend taking water to the gardens), to the German Colony below the Baha’I Gardens. We found a cheap, nice sandwich shop run by a charming Arab man. I ordered a duck sandwich and Matt had a schnitzel sandwich and visited with the man. After eating, we poked around downtown a bit more before heading back to the train station.

At the train station we avoided the taxi drivers and hopped onto a train to Akko (or Acre as it is called in English—why???). According to legend, this is where Hercules came to heal his wounds. This was a major ancient port city that soon surpassed its neighbor, Haifa. It especially became important during the Crusades where Crusaders massacred any non-Christian residents.  During the British occupation in the 20^th Century, Akko’s prison housed many of the Jewish freedom leaders.

We first wandered the newer part of Akko to the waterfront. From the water front we checked out the large tidal pools where we found a dead sea turtle (the first sea turtle we have seen in the wild). After I got to see a tiny black crab scuttle across the rocks, I allowed us to go check out the walls of the prison.

From the prison we wandered into the old city of Akko—think of Jerusalem on a slightly smaller scale, though it is just as much as a labyrinth. We spent several hours looking around ancient buildings, scoping out more bazaars, and watching wedding photo shoots at the prison and the harbor. After we became too exhausted to stand, we sat on a bench and watched a ferry boat full of Arab school girls and their chaperones run around and dance.

We arrived back in Tel Aviv at the Azrieli very late at night. We stopped and took some night shots and visited with one of Matt’s old co-workers who was enjoying a night out. We then returned to the apartment to enjoy a beer and relax our tired feet.

We finally allowed ourselves a beach day on Tuesday. We got a bit confused on our way to the beach (Tel Aviv streets are so confusing!), but we made it to the sea eventually. We spent several hours body surfing and laying in the sun. It was a wonderful day—and I managed not to get too sunburned! We only left the beach because we were starving. We ate some vegetarian schnitzel at the house and when Inbal arrived home, we headed out for a sauce-less cheese pizza.