A boat ride to Akka & lots of friends visiting

So much has happened since our last post—we have moved flats; lots of visitors have come to Haifa; we went on a truly memorable boat trip from Haifa to Akka; and although we are now feeling the summer heat, we have travelled to a few favourite places.

Haifa is a very busy port and a lot of cruise ships stop here on their Mediterranean route. Despite a lot of everyday traffic between these two major northern Israeli cities (Haifa and Akko/Akka), there is not a regular boat service. Hence when the opportunity arose, we gleefully seized the 10km ferry trip.

Many have tried to capture Akka from the sea, as it was surrounded by a series of well-fortified moats that made an attack by land difficult. Napoleon tried his luck, managed to lodge a cannon ball in the thick timbers of the sea gate, and eventually moved on, defeated by these very thick walls—thus the famous saying: “He came; he saw; he conked out!” The city of Akka has a very rich and ancient history—dating back thousands of years—and has been home to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. This church of St. George (now a Greek Orthodox Church) was built on medieval foundations from the times of the Crusaders, who after being expelled from Jerusalem, stayed in the Holy Land in a number of fortresses, including Akka which they called the “New Jerusalem” which turned out to be their last foothold in the Holy Land. This belltower stands near the caravanserai—a “lodging place” for hundreds of years. Muna’s maternal great grandparents came here and one of their sons, Muna’s grandfather, was born here. Close by is the Al-Jazzar mosque with its green dome—one of the most important and impressive in the region, still used by the predominantly Muslim inhabitants of the old city for their prayers.

Akka is still a busy port and lots of fishermen and pleasure craft operate from the foreshore. After 3 years in our Shoham St. flat, we moved to Golomb Street, a short 5 minute walk to work. Our new home is very light and has been newly renovated both outside and inside.

Close by are more typical apartment blocks which can be seen all over Haifa—they remind me of parts of China in some respects as they were hastily built concrete boxes designed to accommodate a swelling population in the 1950’s.

However, our view as we walk to work is spectacular: The Teaching Centre building is prominent on Golomb St., and then the Shrine of the Bab comes into view.
On the other side of our street, profuse displays of bougainvillea abound—always a blaze of colour; this photo, sadly, does not do it any justice. From the lounge room area of our flat you can see the hills of Lebanon in the north, across the bay of Haifa; also the busy commercial port, with many ship-loading facilities, especially for container vessels.
From time to time, masses of sailing yachts dot the bay, with a bird flying high watching their progress.
The roof tops in Haifa are not pretty but the Israelis take full advantage of the copious sunshine; thousands of solar heaters and their panels make the view from the top of Mt. Carmel down over the apartment buildings so distinctive with their white solar water heaters.

Some youth we see each day at work are leaving soon and so we had an Arabic style breakfast for them. From left to right (back) Andisha (England), Shaida (Australia), Ciamh (Ireland), Barbara (Brazil), Allan. Front row: Muna, Claudine (Cameroon), Lena (Chile) and Kimia (USA).

Jo Hill, whom we knew in Perth but has since returned to New Zealand, visited Haifa recently. As did Shamim Sarvarian from Rockingham (south of Perth)—seen here with Shireen Reyhani, another “Perthian”, who is serving in Haifa; and Momtaz Momtazian also from Perth. As the heat and humidity rise, we tend to travel less. One place that is always pleasant this time of year is Bet She’arim, a short 20 minutes drive from Haifa. It is a necropolis, and from the 2nd to the 4th century was the main centre for Judaic study; a very special Rabbi has his tomb here, as well as many Jews of that time, all buried here in massive carved limestone coffins, deposited in a number of catacombs dug inside a mountain.

Beautifully set in a valley with a stream at the foot of the hill, this place is really special; it has a very peaceful atmosphere and is pleasantly cool!

The entrance to the tombs resembles a set from an Indiana Jones movie, and the doors are actually hinged and carved to look like they are wooden, but are actually solid rock. Inside, massive caves were dug in the mountain, and the sarcophagi (coffins) were carved from bare rock.All kinds of motifs are found, some Greek designs and lettering can be seen.This coffin is the largest and is in a catacomb by itself, confirming the importance of this Jewish scholar, Rabbi Judah Hanassi. The four young people round the coffin are fellow volunteer staff—Vahid (on the right) serves in Allan’s office. Our one refuge during the hot weather is the beach, and we try to walk—Allan swims as well—three mornings a week before work. Lovely, cool and refreshing after the sweltering nights! It is a special blessing to be near so much water.

Until next post, keep well, and hope the Aussie winter is bringing you ample rain.