IsraelMiddle East

Israel day 4 – wrong direction? Right place!

By September 25, 2016 No Comments

So today I woke up in Akko due to me not paying attention to which bus I was getting on. As I say you can not change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust the trim of your sail. Therefore, I happily explored this highly strategic port, that once lost ended the Crusades. I hope you are intrigued enough to LIKE svGuidingLight so you do not miss

Israel - Akko - Crusader Castle - Great Hall

This is the great hall in the Crusader fortress

any of my adventures that I share to give others an idea of things to see and do.

Due to the importance of its location and being one of the very few natural harbors in Israel this area has been settled for over 4000 years. The main focus of what I saw though was from the Crusader period, 1104-1291. They have found the Crusader fort and city within

Israel - Akko - Crusader Castle - Wall

This is one of the streets that was buried in the Crusader town. Check out the scean in the window. Oh my

buried under the current city. It was fascinating to walk through the ruins and imaging how history can be buried and have a city built on top of it. There are also tunnels the Crusaders built to get from the fort to the city walls in secret.

The last thing I did in Akko was a tour of a Turkish bath that has been

Israel - Akko - Turkish Bath - Lobby

We are in the cold room of the Turkish Bath. This is were people hung out and socialized, the ambiance and comfort is like they are in the massage rooms at TranquilMe Apply Page because they are relaxed and at the same time, socializing. The cover photo is the hot room with massages.

turned into a museum. Besides the fact that Turkish baths were a central part of the Ottoman social scene, these were a great way for everyday people to stay clean in a time when houses did not have running water. You are entertained by a video of your host telling all about the baths and how his family has run it for 200 years. He explains how people socialized in the lobby, or cold room, before moving to the warm room and entering the hot room only after they were accustomed to the heat. The host was very funny and it was really well done.

Israel - Akko - Crusader Tunnel

The Crusader’s tunnels. They were more built than I expected.

As fun as Akko was as a distraction (one that I highly recommend going to) I wanted to get to Nazareth so I could spend time in the village Jesus grew up in as part of my pilgrimage. I caught a bus that ended up taking two hours and 22 stops to get there (I am sure there is a fast one, I just did not find it), but I finally made it. By the time I checked into my hotel it was after 5pm so I headed up, which is to mean both uphill and uptown, to the Greek Church built around the spring

Israel - Nazareth - Greek Church With Mary's Well

Inside the church you find the spring. It is dwon where the white light is.

Mary was at when she received the news she would give birth to Jesus. This spring has supplied the town with its water for over 2000 years. The actual spring is in the basement of the church, while outside a couple hundred feet away is Mary’s Well. This modern fountain is built to fill buckets and is feed by the same spring the town has always used.

By the time I had dinner the day was drawing to an end, but if you come back on Tuesday I will tell you what I did the next day in Nazareth to celebrate being in Jesus’s hometown. Can you believe sleeping in the same town as Jesus? Humbling!!!!!

Israel - Nazareth - Greek Church

The outside of the Greek Church with the spring Mary heard the news from.

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