Ancient Acre (Akka), the Crusaders' City

There are 9 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Israel and one of them is the city of Acre (aka Akka),  The Old City of Acre was designated because it is a historic walled port-city with continuous settlement from the Phoenician period.  The present city is characteristic of a fortified town dating from the Ottoman 18th and 19th centuries, with typical urban components such as the citadel, mosques, khans and baths.  The population is mostly Muslim.

The tour started by taking us through Haifa visiting some of the places we'd seen on the tour the previous day:  German Colony, Mount Carmel, and the Baha'i Gardens.  Today the views from the hill were clearer than the previous day.  Next, we were driven around the crescent-shaped bay north to Acre, the aforementioned World Heritage Site.  We began in a lovely garden - banyan trees, I think - before we entered the now underground Templar City.  



The remains of the Crusader town, dating from 1104 to 1291, lie almost intact, both above and below today's street level, providing an exceptional picture of the layout and structures of the capital of the medieval Crusaders.









After our visit there, we were able to wander through the alleyways of the old market and it was nice to have some free time to take a look around at local shops and stalls - not that I bought anything!








Then, we were driven back to the ship.  I have come to the conclusion that 5 hour tours are more than enough for me and the ones that are 9, 10 or even 13 hours are just too much!  With this tour, our four days in Israel were over and overnight we sailed to the port of Limassol in Cyprus.  


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