the beautiful Old City of Akko - deservedly a World Heritage SiteAkko (Acre) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a classic example of a Mediterranean fortress town. The Old Town is small, but perfectly formed, north of Haifa on the coast. It is believed to be one of the oldest continually lived in settlements in Israel, dating back to 16BC. 95% of the old city is Arab.
Khan al-Umdan in the Old CityThe outer walls were constructed in 1799 by Ahmed Pasha al Jazzar following Napolean’s thwarted attempt to take the city.
a 19th century mortar on the old battlementsThe Old Souq has been cleaned up and there are several sites spread out over town, including Turkish baths, plenty of historical mosques and the Templar tunnels which have unfortunately flooded during my visit.
For eating, a visit to Humus Said is a must – some of the best ubiquitous beige stuff found in Israel is served up continuously. It’s worth the wait.
The place is crowded with Israeli tourists on Saturdays.
The new city lacks the old charm but is an important pilgrimage site for Baha’is.
You are going to places I've been to now-- hence the comments!
ReplyDeleteNice place, Akko. My kibbutz was very close to there, but I can barely remember Akko. Must be getting old!
I was so broke in Israel I had about 20 quid when I got there. Maybe I didn't get about much. You might imagine that the kibbutz didn't show us around much, not that there. Many people came from the East End.
my last visit to Israel was in 1984 where i spent a month working on Kibbutz Regavim in the Negev. The other volunteers were all petty criminals dodging prison. Interesting people but the kibbutz was crap!
ReplyDeleteAkko is a great place to visit.
I was there in about 83! It was very different I suppose. The IDF was still in the Lebanon, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if the volunteers were crims or not! :)
The most friendly kibbutznik I remember was born there. The East Enders were OK...
They didn't really like us volunteers much but that was possibly understandable as half of them were criminals.. or ex-crims. Mmm...