Two Days In the North

I had an incredible two days in the north. I took the train first to Akko (Acre), an old Arab, Crusader, Turkish, etc. city. It was a really hot day and the city was pretty empty except for the market (no market pictures because I went a little overboard with market pictures the day before). I wandered through the sea-wall promenade, enjoyed the hazy view towards Haifa (it wasn't a very clear day), enjoyed the smell of the salt-sea air, crawled through tunnels, gazed over moats to where Napoleon's army once stood, visited the Underground Prison Museum and saw where Jabotinsky and other men were held captive, and ate falafel. The only thing that marred the goo day was the apparent sign on my forehead that said "single Arab men, please come flirt and try and get my phone number and talk to me in English... oh and yes, I'd love to come on a trip with you somewhere, so please ask". Sheesh. Luckily I was able to whip out some fake French every once and a while when I got really annoyed and they left.



beautiful sunny day- I had great weather

view of the Old City of Akko

inside the prison cells where the men would sleep (these are braided rag rugs)

courtyard of the prison somewhat blocked by the Yom Ha'Atzma'ot Tent
lowest part of the prison
the sea-wall
part of the Turkish tunnels
very Muslim town- listened twice to the call to prayers
the harbor
Humus Sayid- best place in Akko for Humus
ramparts of the seige wall against Napoleon
inside the Ethnographic Museum, inside the wall attacked by Napoleon


After Akko, I got on the train and headed down to Zichron Ya'akov, an little town in the Carmel Hills overlooking the Mediterranean. There are a ton of wineries in the area and for dinner that night, we went to a little wine restaurant where we had some delicious white wine right from the area. Na'ama is my dad's cousin and she and her husban Yair have three kids, although I only met Mata, the 17-year-old and Tamuz, the sweet little 13-year-old. I had a great time hanging out with them, especially little Tamuz who has a slight (major) obsession with Johny Depp and a passion for getting a third earring hole. Before dinner, Na'ama and I tok a walk with their dog Mimi along the Zichron Nature Preserve and got to watch the amazing sunset while dodging cows in teh path and two bulls who decided to start smashing horns. Sadly, camera was out of batteries so I have no evidence but take my word, it was pretty crazy.

The next morning, Na'ama took me to these beautiful gardens where Baron Rothschild was buried. Overlooking the Mediterranean and the Zichron Nature Preserve, the views, along with the lush green grass and beautiful flowers of the garden, I've decided that my life would be just fine if I pitched a tent on the lawn and lived there forever and forever. We had a delicious breakfast and great conversation and caught a glimpse of some frogs inside the lilly pad adorned water ponds.





That afternoon, after dropping Matan back off at home, Na'ama took me to Caesarea. That was the place I had been looking forward to the most of the two days in the north. Caesarea is an old port town, the magnificent city of King Herod and now home to ruins upon ruins. Caesarea was a planned city with a network of crisscrossing streets, a temple, theatre, ampitheatre, markets and residential quarters. The threate is the most ancient of all theatres found in Israel- it was built in Herod's time and could accommodate 4,0000 spectartors. Next to it was a Herodian Ampitheatre, a huge u-shaped entertainment structure, complete with an areana and hundres of seats. It was probably used to horse racing, sporting events and netertainment shows. AIt probably held up to 10,00 spectators. There was also a bathohouse complex, a commercial and adminstrative area, fortified Medieval City from the 9th century (Arab period) which were built right over the Harbour. It was incredible to just run about the old ruins and to image what had happened there over the last 2000 or so years, back in the time of the Romans, Arabs, Middle Ages, etc. So incredible. Enjoy the pictures. entrance to Caesarea

Medieval church
one of the vaults
bath-house
Herodian ampitheatre
entrance into the theatre
super steep stairs
looking at the beach over the theatre
theatre from above
another view of the ampitheatre