Adena’s parents arrived in Haifa on Wednesday. We had a little trouble finding the bus station, which is located behind the train station.
Luckily, we had left early and arrived just in time. Getting out was also tough because we could not exit the way we came in and were driving toward Tel Aviv…..for a few minutes. That evening we had dinner at Ruben, whose tag line is “where meat meets bread”.
On Thursday we dropped the kids off at school, then drove about forty minutes north to Akko (Acre) for a little adventuring. Akko has been inhabited for about 4,000 years and has had lots of different rulers because of its strategic location on a natural harbor along the eastern Mediterranean. The Old City has lots of narrow alleyways and interesting things to see.
We got tickets and walked though the Templar’s Tunnel that connects the Crusader Fortress in Old City of Akko to the port area. We exited and walked along the sea wall fortifications, pausing for a few photos.
We went back to the “Enchanted Garden” area to buy tickets for the Crusader Fortress and saw the museum of artifacts related to the military-monastic order based there about a thousand years ago.
After using our bathroom tickets (yes, you needed tickets to use the bathroom), we wandered around some more and got lunch at an Arab restaurant in the city’s “White Market” that served maybe the best hummus and falafel I ever tasted. Afterwards, Adena, Nancy, and Stuart toured the El-Jazzar Mosque and I wandered the alleyways some more.
On the way back to Haifa, we made an impromptu stop at the beach where Nancy and I dipped our toes.
On Friday morning, we dropped the kids off and had breakfast at Cafe Brussels. Later that afternoon, the girls and I took Stuart and Nancy down to Hecht Park and we walked along the rocky part of the shoreline (north of the beaches) for a little while. The girls collected shells and rocks and we found some snails in one of the tidal pools.
Friday night, we drove about forty minutes to the northeast to the home of one of Nancy’s relatives (on her father’s side of the family) in Gilon, which is a community settlement on the outskirts of the Galilee.
There was home-cooked food and the desserts included vanilla and chocolate Crembos which taste a lot like Moon Pies. The host is a scuba diver and photographer (who just won an award for best underwater photographer in Israel) and his wife is a sculptor and artist. Their kids and grandkids were there, along with the wife’s sister and most of her kids and grandkids. Gilon is fairly high up and after nightfall, we could see the lights of Haifa in the distance as well as the ships sitting out in the bay. The wind was blowing and the sunset was beautiful. We are starting to explore the region and a few days ago the Carmelit subway system reopened, which will make it easier for us to move around the city. Oh, and sufganiyot have already appeared in local bakeries, so things are looking up!
Keeping It Israel 