Rain, fish, culture

Thursday, December 26

9 am. We have a hearty breakfast in our really cozy dining room and then venture back out into the open air, to the sea breeze. The weather is still wet and stormy. Through Akko's really cute, narrow alleyways, reminiscent of small Italian villages, we end up at a stone workshop. A very nice stone mason grants us access to his workshop, where he offers workshops and also creates his own works.

Afterwards, we head to the market, where we stock up on fish and vegetables for our dinner. Again, there are lots of cats waiting for something to fall off the fish stand. But it seems to be enough - they all look healthy and well-fed.

After safely storing the fish in our refrigerator, we set off again to visit the Citadel. The Citadel in Akko is a fortress complex, a Hospitalier complex, which consists of a medieval and an Ottoman part, and dates back to the Crusader period. When we get our tickets, there is a Hanukkah celebration with a falafel buffet in the auditorium, from which we also get some food. A very welcome lunch snack that we enjoy before we admire the old walls and cellar rooms.

As we leave the complex, it starts raining and storming again, so we briefly take shelter in the Jazzar Pasha Mosque, and then go to the old Turkish Bath Al Basha next. This Hamam was built at the end of the 18th century by Jazzar Pasha, the ruler of Akko at that time. Inside the Hamam, we first learn more about its construction from a short film and then start our tour through the different rooms of the Hamam, where the bathhouse was used in the past. The walls and floors are adorned with beautiful tiles. With warm, dimmed light and some artificial mist, we really feel as if we are actually using the services of a Hamam. Small films are also projected onto the walls, imitating the bustle of the Hamam and fully immersing us in the past. When we come out, we really feel like we've just visited a spa.

The last place we visit today: the Templar Tunnel. The name comes from a military-monastic order that settled on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem before settling in Akko. The order then built a Templar fortress in Akko, which was the strongest building in the city at that time, from which they built a tunnel to the harbor, so to speak, a strategic underground connection between the fortress and the harbor. The 150 meter long tunnel was discovered in 1994 and is now open to visitors.

So we walk inside it until we reach the harbor, where we emerge into the daylight again and the wet, strong wind almost blows us away. We watch the stormy sea for a while, which is really fascinating to look at, but then we are glad to return to our cozy, warm apartment. There, the fish & co. that we bought at the market in the morning are prepared and turn into a wonderful Christmas dinner. Mhhh.