Day 131: Haifa, Israel … Exploring Acre

Wednesday, 17 May 2017
At Sea — Mediterranean Sea … En Route to Cyprus

Stats @ Ship’s Time 7:45p (EEST) … UTC 4:45p (17 May)
Temp: 72.7F (22.6C)
Position: 33.01.02N / 34.15.55E

Of all towns along the Syrian’ shore, from Antioch to Gaza, there
is no other town whose history’s so full of events such as Acre, and there is
no other town whose influence on the whole country’s fate was so grand.
~ Laurence Olifent (1882) ~

We had planned to take off early for our day in Acre.  But after a long day in Jerusalem yesterday, we slept in a bit this morning.  Off the ship at 8:30a, we strolled over to the Haifa Center/HaShmona Train Station next door to the port — 5-10 minute walk — and were on the 9:00a train in the direction of Nahariyah.  A no-more than 30-minute ride put us at the Acre Station.

We had a few option to get from the train station to the historic area and the waterfront — grab a cab for a 5-minute ride; hop on a public bus for a longer ride; or walk about 20 minutes.  We chose the last option, which gave us a chance to see a bit of the residential neighborhoods of the modern city and stretch our legs as well.  At shortly after 9:30a, the city seemed all but dead, and the walk wasn’t that interesting, but it was good exercise.

Acre — also known as Akko — is steeped in medieval Crusader history.  There is evidence, however, that Old Akko was important way before then … as far back as the 15th century.  It is a city where four religions have left their mark.  The old town, surrounded by fortifications that are still in good repair, has lots of atmosphere.  After a full day of sightseeing yesterday, however, we were not interested in visiting any particular historic site … except for whatever we happened to see on a walk ambling through town.  A stroll and a nice lunch on the waterfront … that was our goal.

When we arrived at the city walls, we wandered atop the ramparts for a bit to enjoy the views and then resumed our walk towards the marina.  Along the way, we came to the Al-Jazzar Mosque.  I wasn’t prepared with appropriate dress, so Mui paid the 10 Shekel (USD $2.80) admission for a quick look-see before we wandered into the narrow cobblestone streets of the historic center.  We passed the Crusaders’ Hall, the Templar Tunnels, and the Turkish Bazaar … now filled with shops selling all kinds of tourist gewgaws.  The winding streets of the Old Souk were filled with shoppers — both locals and tourists … just like it might have been back in the days of the Crusaders.

It wasn’t quite 11:00a when we arrived at the harbor and marina.  Way too early for lunch, so we strolled slowly along the waterfront.  Here we found some nice views of the walled city, so we proceeded to take a postcard photo with Mui’s Samsung Galaxy.  That’s when a man on one of the boats started yelling at us.  We had no idea what he was saying, but since we’d already taken the photo we wanted, we moved on.  Later, when we returned to the ship and I looked at my photos, I noticed the same guy in a couple of the photos … his butt was hanging out … literally.  Whether he was mooning us or we had caught him ‘taking care of business’ I know not.  Either way, the mystery of the yelling has been solved ;-)

Sonia’s daughter had recommended a restaurant for lunch — Doniana.  So we decided to head there next.  The only address we had for the place was that it was not far from the lighthouse in Pizani Harbor — which wasn’t the harbor we were at.  We could see the restaurant from the marina, but there was no visible way of getting to it.  Following directions from a local, we headed off on a meandering walk through narrow cobblestone alleys.  Eventually the road dead-ended and there was nowhere to go but up some steps to what looked like a terrace overlooking the sea.  Voilà — behind the nearby St John’s Church was the restaurant we were looking for.  We stopped first to check out the church, which dates back to 1737 and sits on the site of a 12th century Crusader church that was dedicated to St Andrew.  Unfortunately, the door was locked.  Nonetheless, the church — with its white walls and red-roofed bell tower — made for a charming contrast to the city walls … a very nice photo op.

It was still 30 minutes before Doniana was due to open for lunch at noon, but the manager told us to make ourselves welcome at a table of our choice.  We picked one on the terrace overlooking the sea, got the wi-fi code from the waiter, and entertained ourselves until meal service officially began.  Sonia and Boris arrived with their friends from Haifa shortly after we were settled.  But we decided to keep our tables separate as we were on a schedule to catch a train back to Haifa and we didn’t want to hurry them along unnecessarily.

Instead of ordering main courses, we decided to do small plates to share.  We ordered the hummus, which was delicious … and topped with warm garbanzo beans.  The pita bread that accompanied it was warm and very good as well.  The eggplant dip was just OK, but the kibbeh was one of the best I’ve had anywhere.  The last dish was deep fried red mullets … ordered mostly for Mui, who swept the plate clean in no time.  Sonia must have thought we didn’t have enough food, so she showed up at one point bearing plates of tabbouleh and an excellent salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta cheese.  Thanks for sharing, Sonia.

Lunch with a view of the Mediterranean.

It was after 1:30p — later than we had planned — when we left the restaurant.  Following meandering streets through the local market — where shops were filled with everything from fresh fruits, vegetables and fish, to household appliances and goods … and more — we made our way back to the main square.  Here we planned to hop in a cab, but there were none at the stand.  Since we still had a comfortable margin of time to get to the train station, we decided to hoof it back to the station.

Across the street from the station we found the fresh food market, so we detoured in there to pick up some apples.  Then we hurried over to the station and bought our tickets for the return trip — there was no price advantage to buying R/T tickets at the station in Haifa.

The 2:34p train was not the last one from Acre that we could have taken back to the port, but for us it was the one that gave us a comfortable buffer before the ship’s 4:00p departure.  Even still, I took a deep breath when the train arrived and departed on time … and a deeper breath still when it pulled into the HaShmona Station shortly after 3:00p.  The short walk from there to the port was a piece of cake.  We ran the security gauntlet at the terminal well before the 3:30p all aboard, and even did a little shopping to use up our remaining Shekels in the duty free shop.  Word to the wise, though — it’s not clear from the labels that the prices are in USD and not in Shekels.  So, if you are trying to use up your foreign currency, shop accordingly.  We paid part of our bill is Shekels, and the balance in USD.

Thus ended our two-day visit to Israel.  Now to relax as Insignia makes its way to our next port of call … which should have been Turkey, but isn’t :-(

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