Haifa and Acre (Akko)

Had a lovely second day in Israel, visiting the beautiful port of Haifa, before heading up the coast to the port of Acre (Akko) for some serious history about the crusades.

My main blip is of the view from the top of Mount Carmel looking through the Baha’i Gardens, which were stunning. 

We then headed up to the port city of Acre (Akko) to see the fortress of the Knights Hospitallers, before visiting the tunnels of the Knights Templars and then wandering through the Ottoman Old Town.

Acre was a hugely important city during the Crusades as a maritime foothold on the Mediterranean coast of the southern Levant, and was the site of several battles, including the 1189-1191  and 1291 Siege of Acre. It was the last stronghold of the Crusaders in the  Holy Land  prior to that final battle in 1291, which evicted them from this area. Afterwards the crusaders moved to Malta. 

An amazing day, seeing such history, treading in the footsteps of Richard the Lionheart et al. 

Whereas Haifa is relatively young being 200 years old while Acre (Akko) is over 2000 years old and had a real Arabic feel to it.

Seeing Israel has been a real experience, and now it’s off to Cyprus tomorrow.

Have a good day all.