Haifa, Israel

A first for us is a visit to Israel, one of the reasons for taking this itinerary.

After a  couple of days of busy excursions now is the time to try and catch up on our travels.

We arrived in Haifa, in the North of the Country amidst tight security, we fronted the immigration people and were issued with landing cards, they don’t stamp your passport, because of repercussions with other countries who may not allow you go ashore because you have been to Israel.

Te City from Mount Carmen

The beautiful Baha'i Gardens

Haifa is a very nice City with a beautiful Baha’i Garden that slopes down from Mount Carmel to the sea. Our excursion began with a tour to mount Carmen where we visited a church and took in the view over the City and Port. Proceeded to have a look at the Commercial part of Haifa and then drove about half an hour to Acre or commonly known as the Old City of Akko.

Acre is a historic walled port-city with continuous settlement from the Phoenician period. The present city is characteristic of a fortified town dating from the Ottoman 18th and 19th centuries, with typical urban components such as the citadel, mosques, khans and baths. The remains of the Crusader town, dating from 1104 to 1291, lie almost intact, both above and below today's street level, providing an exceptional picture of the layout and structures of the capital of the medieval Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem.
A unique experience, there are two cities one above ground and another below . Below ground was the medieval headquarters of the Knights of St John, provided medical, toilet, dining facilities, large double vaulted halls and crypts. There are miles of underground passages that were used as escape tunnels built by the Crusaders in order to reach the port whilst under attack from the Romans, Turks etc.

The above ground area has been developed into markets, restaurants with narrow streets

quite a remarkable experience that is probably better shown in some of the photos.

Before we get to the last couple of days, we have ben advised of a big change to our itinerary.

Today we dock in Alexandria as planned, but because of political problems in Egypt we are not stopping at Sharm el Sheik or Port Said. It appears there is going to be a huge protest on Friday where they are expecting up to a million people, so we are keeping away and safe. Bit of a bugger for some but won't affect us too much. Just means a couple of days at sea which we were looking forward to.