Haifa, Acre, and the Crusaders Kingdom

 

Acre, Israel and the Crusaders’ Kingdom                                                         Tuesday, April12, 2022

Today is our third of three super-condensed days in Israel.  Once again, Jerry and I are reminded that when we ourselves travel, we prefer to spend more than a day or two in one specific area, rather than the cruise ship means of travel which is to get to a port, heave everyone off onto up to a dozen different choices of tours with varying lengths and price tags, then welcome everyone back on board and cruise overnight so that the next morning finds us at our next port and next tour and next welcome back.  (I’m rivaling the Apostle Paul with run-on sentences!!!)

Having the chance to be on the grounds of the Holy Land during the beginning of Holy Week is a privilege.  Many fellow guests are well traveled via Oceania cruises and have taken most of the offered tours.  No worries, though, cuz it’s nice for them to revisit some areas if they wish.  Jerry and I chose to visit sites where we’d missed in 2017 or where we hoped for more time.  Today was a visit to new-to-us sites and we were well rewarded.

Our ship was docked overnight last night in the largest eastern port of Haifa (HY fah).  Our bus trip took us to the topmost part of the city which just happens to be at the top of Mt. Carmel at about 550 meters in height.  Yup, the same Mt. Carmel where Elijah took on the false prophets of Ba’al in a massive contest of wood and oxen as offerings.  As you remember from 1 Kings 18, Elijah defeated them with God’s help, killed them, and suddenly became afraid of Jezebel for whom the false prophets were employed. Elijah runs, God passes by and shows God’s backside, and…well, it’s a great, great story!!!

Back to our bus trip to the top of Mt. Carmel.  In Hebrew, “carmel” means garden.  The founders of the Bahai faith planted the world’s largest hanging garden at the top of this mount.  See the photo and note that it overlooks the coast—even though it’s quite hazy.   Also note the large number of cargo ships in the harbor, waiting to unload their goods in the port.

After this peaceful glimpse, we motored to Acre, a coastal town north and about a 30-minute drive right along the coast.

You see Acre also is a port city but THIS one is over 6000 years old.  Already upon sight you see that there is a wall around the city in various states of repair.  There are relics from the Bronze Age, coins from Alexander the Great (350 BC), the Crusades, Greek civilization[a1]  with Roman ruins on top of that.

New to us was a Crusader’s Castle from the 1100s.  It is officially operated by the Hospitallers who were a religious order established In Jerusalem. The ancient citadel had been covered by millenia of dirt via earthquakes, became a prison and was accidentally discovered in 1920s by a prisoner attempting to escape by scraping his way through a wall.  He found himself on the floor of an ancient castle which has been carefully excavated and re-created with placards, wall videos, and lots of tourist traffic.  The many photos will either thrill you or put you to sleep. If you look in your atlas at Acre and then inland, picture the thousands of years of pilgrims to the Holy Sites and Jerusalem who came from all over the world.  They likely arrived at the port in Acre, hiked or rode by camel or donkey to the Sea of Galilee, to Nazareth, to the Dead Sea, to the Jordan River, and then to Jerusalem.

The entire city of Acre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The above ground old city is from the Ottoman Empire so is about 500 years old.  It is well preserved and quite nice.  Below this level is all of the crusader built foundations, tunnels and arches from 1000 years ago.  When the crusaders first came to this area they controlled a lot of what is now present day Israel.  Their last conquest left them with a couple relatively small swaths including the port of Acre which became their capital in the Holy land in 1092 and lasting for about 100 years before they were thrown out for good.  

We walked down to the working port through the market area and then headed back to Haifa.  One thing I wanted to mention was about the huge number of SUV's and other new vehicles sitting in the ports of both Haifa and Ashdod.  Apparently it is cheaper to take the cars off the ships in Eilat an Israeli port in the far south of the country in the gulf of Aquaba and move them through the interior of the country than it is to take them through the Suez canal. There are a lot of vehicles waiting for shipment.  Well, off to Izmer and Ephesus, another very important biblical site.