Akko, Moshe, and the beach

Today the internet man came to hook up wireless in our apartment. Of course, Yael, the young woman from whom we are subletting this place, had to be here to translate and sign forms. So at last we have dependable service, though just now have been struggling to get to this page in English rather than Hebrew. Add to that the presence of the landlord for the last hour or so (without Yael), lots of time spent pondering, waiting for the helper, then the electrician, with the final response to the problem of fixing the heat being - I'll be back later (said in Hebrew with enough gestures to sort of communicate). So now we are alone for a bit and will attempt to update you on the rest of our visit to the north.

After two nights in our Jaffa hostel we rented a car in Tel Aviv, calculating that it didn't cost much more than train + bus + taxi, and drove up the coast to Kibbutz Nes Ammim. We spent two nights there in a comfortable modern room in the guest house, surrounded by quiet paths and greenery. But we couldn't have guessed from what we read in the hostel brochure that it would turn out to be the only Christian kibbutz in Israel (!), staffed entirely by Dutch and German volunteers. Very peculiar. They were friendly enough, but the lack of Israelis and Hebrew made us question their grand purpose of dialogue.

The next afternoon we drove to the nearby ancient port of Akko (Acre in English). A shouk, winding narrow streets between massive stone walls, and lots of history. We climbed this massive stone ramp to the top of the outermost city wall to check out the view and read about Napoleon's fruitless attempts to conquer the city in 1799.

The old city has a series of three walls, separated by moats; here we are looking into the old city garden from the inner wall:


We overheard tour guides speaking Spanish, German, Hebrew, Russian - but alas no English that day. Going back in time, there is evidence of a Crusader castle, and way before that, ancient Phonecian remains. It's chiefly an Arab town now, with the usual mixed attitude of pride and lack of attention that leads to a confused scene of restoration, mess, trash, cars, noise, and half finished projects. As Yael reminded us, one needs to remember that Israel is a 3rd world country even if it is 1st in innovative technology and military preparedness.

Lunch at Said's in the shouk. A crazy busy little restaurant with no menu, just the famous hummous. Everybody knows it's the place to eat in Akko - a bowl of hummous and a bowl of pickles, olives, raw onion, and tomato, with plenty of pita.



The next day we drove to Moshe's apartment in the pleasant town of Kiryiat Bialik. As most of you know, he is our dear friend from KY who, along with his two little boys, made aliyah to Israel last January. He was genuinely thrilled to have us as his first visitors - and he hopes many more will come. He and his fiance Liat welcomed us generously.


Her family are Moroccan Jews, traditionally very hospitable. Her mother cooked tasty traditional dishes for Shabbat dinner which we carried over to Moshe's place and enjoyed together.

On Shabbat Israel basically shuts down. No transportation, nearly all stores closed, everyone relaxing. Moshe's six year old son Yehuda announced to me, "I LOVE Shabbat"- yes, the USA should certainly reinstitute a day of sabbath rest. After a leisurely morning (kids up before 6) we went to the beach to stroll and chat,



marvel at the big jellyfish, watch kids swarming a playground as they do everywhere. There is exercise equipment disguised as fun in lots of beachside areas, so healthy.


Strange to gaze out at the huge Mediterranean Sea and imagine all who have stood beside it in ages past.

Repair update: the lights all work now, plus the water heater, which is needed when there's no sun to warm the tank on the roof; however all the power just went off as we were beginning to prepare our first dinner. Lloyd called Yael, who explained the location of the main switch in the hallway by the front door of the building. He flipped it, lights are on, and now (I hope) we'll fix some Davies style pasta.