Akko

After Haifa we made it to the ancient city of Akko (Acre). It is my favorite place so far that I have visited. It is small enough to see everything but large enough to be interesting. It used to be the most important port in the Middle East. It started with the Phoenecians, then the Persians, then the Romans, then the Arabic people, then the Crusaders, then the Mongols, then back to the Arabs, then the Ottomans, then the Arabs, and now it is in the state of Israel. It actually once was the capital of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem. There is a city on top of a city. The old city has lots of secret passageways, tunnels, and hidden chambers. It is a veritable fortress on the mediterranean. It even repelled Napoleon. The city has a romantic quality, and I saw fish for sale there that I would never dream of seeing even in the US. We were stuck there for two days because every transportation shuts down on Shabbat, but I was ok with that.