In the halls of the Crusaders

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old city of Akko ("Acre" in English, "Akka" in Arabic) is a 300-year old city built over the ruins of one built by the Crusaders 900 years ago. The Crusader city destroyed by the Mameluks in 1291 has been carefully restored as a massive underground fortress.

I entered the subterranean Crusader city through the arched Knights' Halls, which were the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaliers, a monastic military order established to treat the sick of the Holy Land.






The last hall in the series is enormous, dwarfing the person in the picture at right.

Hall of Columns

The Hall of Columns, with massive supports for the arches, was the knights' dining room.

A low, narrow tunnel leads to the large crypt.

Crypt

Templar's tunnel

I went underground again in the historic city to duck through the tunnel built by the Templars, a monastic military order that guarded European pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. Partly cut in natural stone and partly built with stonework, it runs from their fortress to the port. It was not discovered until 1994, when a plumber investigated a woman's complaint about a blocked sewer.

Under the walkway installed in the tunnel there were artifacts discovered in the excavations, including this plate fragment.















I exited the tunnel beside the sea promenade, where the waves were crashing high over the wall.

The "newer " old city of Akko has charming narrow streets and the Al-Jazzar mosque, built in 1781.

According to British historian Efraim Karsh, Israel forcibly displaced three-fourths of the Arabs in Akko in 1948. Since then, there has been relative harmony, although in 2008 there were five days of violence when an Arab citizen drove through a Jewish neighborhood in Yom Kippur. Last year an Arab family told me there is discrimination in employment and education, with Jews getting the better jobs and better schools.

I enjoyed pomegranate and orange juice after exploring the tunnels

I worshiped today in the Catholic church in Isifiya, with the service in Arabic. (I caught a word here and there.) Instead of a procession waving palms for Palm Sunday, there was a procession of boys and young men carrying some 15 icons from private collections. It was a spiritually uplifting service.