Caesarea - Haifa - Akko

Hotel: Zidan Sarai 

Dinner and Breakfast: Cafe Neto 

We drive from Tel Aviv to Ceasarea along the coast. Ceasarea is this huge city with gorgeous Roman ruins along the Mediterranean Sea. We crawled, pursued, and explored all along the sites. All of this was done in 32 degree heat. By now, the shirts tan is becoming imminent. The city and harbour were built under Herod the Great during c. 22–10 BC near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos. t later became the provincial capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina and Byzantine Palaestina Prima provinces. The city was populated throughout the 1st to 6th centuries AD and became an important early center of Christianity during the Byzantine period, but was mostly abandoned following the Muslim conquest of 640. It was re-fortified by the Crusaders, and finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265.

We then drove to Haifa, which is this hugely developed major city with a UNESCO world heritage site if the Baha’i Gardens. It is this stunning several mile long vertical garden. You sadly cannot go down the entire set of stairs but we sure tried. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years. In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Over the millennia, the city has changed hands: being conquered and ruled by the Canaanites, Israelites, Phoenicians, Persians, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, and the British. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Haifa Municipality has governed the city.

We then drove to Akko. Akko is the first place I have felt unsafe in any manner. If it makes a difference to my readers, it is also the first predominantly Muslim area we have been too. Akko has a ton of Crusaders and Knights of the Tempolar history. We did go explore the Templar Tunnels and the Old City. One neat thing was the Crusader Citadel audio tour. We also explored the Prisoners Museum. The Old City is a giant concourse of mazes and streets with no rhyme or reason. 

The remains of the oldest settlement at the site of modern Acre were found at a tell (archaeological mound) located 1.5 km (0.93 mi) east of the modern city of Acre. Known as Tel Akko in Hebrew and Tell el-Fukhar in Arabic, its remains date to about 3000 bc

Food was iffy at best but our hotel was absolutely stunning. We had our own personal Turkish bath, which we made a priority for the evening. There is not much to do at night in these places. It appears that dinner is super early and nothing happens after 7.  This just means we go to bed by 830 or 9 at the latest. We at the same place for dinner and breakfast - Cafe Neto - a place just outside of Old Town. If you’re getting the se se that we’re walking a ton without a ton of food, you’d be right. 

AFN