Christmas Day in Akko

Wednesday, December 25th

8 am. When I wake up this morning with a little bit of sore throat and look out the window, it looks cloudy, windy and uncomfortable. That's probably it for sunshine for now. But we've been really lucky with the weather in the last few days. So we have breakfast at the little café across the street, which belongs to our apartment, and then we head into town.

It has started raining by now, so we are invited into a quaint store by an older saleswoman. It looks really cozy in there. Walls and ceiling covered in old bear wallpaper, shelves filled with wool in front of the walls. In between there are a few sweaters for sale. There are also a few books on display in the shop window. It turns out she is a Palestinian Christian standing inside her brother's yarn store, but her profession is actually a writer. The books in the window are hers: one about the history of Nazareth, the rest children's books.

She talks a little about her career, and if you believe everything she says, she is known as an author even in Israeli government circles, where she is occasionally invited for special occasions. While she talks, I realize that I have never really thought about the Christian dimension in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is clear that she stands somewhere in between. As a Palestinian, she shares the suffering of the occupation and oppression by the Israeli-Jewish side, but as a Christian, she cannot really identify with the Muslim part of the Palestinians. Interestingly, she still has more sympathy for the Jewish Israelis. As I suspected at the beginning - the more I learn about the conflict, the less clear it becomes.

We continue through windy drizzle to the Greek Orthodox Annunciation Church. For Greek Orthodox Christians, this is the true Annunciation Church, not the large basilica we visited yesterday. It is very small, with beautiful old frescoes and a few steps inside, from where one can look down into a former well, where Mary is said to have received the annunciation. The well water is pumped into a small tank from which one can drink. So we are blessed again today. After that, we move on to the next church: the Church of Saint Joseph. It is believed that the church is located where Joseph once had his house and carpentry. Finally, we visit the large basilica one more time, where we can still visit the impressive huge basement today, and then we are done with today's church visits.

It is raining heavily now, and we walk through the market again, which was deserted last night. Now it is full of stalls selling a lot of Santa Claus kitsch at first, followed by the usual souvenirs and clothes. We pause at a stand selling hot chestnuts, get some chestnuts and sahlab (a sweet starchy milk drink with coconut and cinnamon), and sway a little to the loud Arabic music playing in the background of the chestnut sellers. And that's it for Nazareth for now. We get in the car and continue to Akko, an ancient port city in northern Israel.

Unfortunately, the weather hasn't improved by then, but we move into an incredibly cozy apartment, in a 400-year-old stone house, right by the sea. In the living room with beautiful old lamps on the walls and warm light, we first turn on the heating and sit comfortably together with tea and biscuits, while it storms and thunders outside.

In the evening, however, we venture out again for dinner, and we need our hoods as we walk along the sea. The spray has incredible force, and its small salty drops stick directly to the skin. We find a wonderful restaurant right by the water, where we get a place in the winter garden and can watch the stormy sea while enjoying various delicacies as appetizers, and fish as the main course. A truly worthy second Christmas dinner.