Goodbye Jerusalem, hello Akko

What an amazing start to this trip!  Not only is this city a religious icon, it is also beautiful with greenery everywhere, and very clean. But, time to move on. While checking out,  we inquired about the procedure for ordering a taxi to the train station. The desk clerk offered to do so, but advised that it would be cheaper to just walk out the door, hail one of several that were waiting just across the street and offer them NIS60 (about US$20). Bad move. Three drivers starting arguing...not about which one got the job, but which one had to take us. Seems they knew that traffic was gridlocked around the train station and it was not worth their time, at least at that price. Fortunately the hotel doorman, who apparently wields considerable power over who gets to join the taxi queue, finally told one of the taxi drivers to "get your ass in the taxi and take these people to train station" ... "for US$20"! He did.

Destination today is Akko, Israel. Our route consists of a train to TelAviv, changing there to a train to Haifa, in the north of Israel right on the Mediterranean Sea.

On the train, first  site  of the Sea

 Then, taxi to the Hertz rental car lot and drive the final 10 km to Akko. Trains are fast, clean, efficient and cheap ($11 each for the above trip).  Driving is equally easy with great roads and Hebrew\English signs. Akko is an ancient walled city, 5000 years old (you read that right!) that is right on a natural harbor that was of strategic importance for many centuries. Today, it is a beautifully preserved city, narrow alleyways with shops, restaurants and hotels. It is primarily an Arab community with all the corresponding wonderful smells and noises. The very haunting call to prayers cranks off at five various times during the day to remind us that we are nowhere near the  First Baptist Church.

These pastries were so good! 

Our room for the next two nights is the Zidan Sarai Suite. It is a prominent Turkish man’s home from 800 years ago that has now been restored to an incredible property, complete with Turkish bath. This was a family project...the space was used as a father's carpenter shop and when he died, the mother urged the sons to restore it and turn it into this beautiful inn.

Great stay! 

We spent the afternoon just strolling through some of the many alleyways and shops and then had a fantastic fish dinner that night, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. This place is going to be hard to leave.

 City at Dusk