Aussies do AkkoThis morning, we set off on the bus for the city of Akko (Acre). When we got there, our first stop was the thick, fortified walls of the old city. Under the clear blue sky, we took heaps of photos by a line of cannons put by the walla in Napoleon's time, by the Ottoman defenders (who succeeded in repelling Napoleon - with the help of the British).
Crembo's cannonSome of the photos were really funny: e.g. a whole lots of us were "riding" a cannon, and Burnett was at one end, sticking his tongue out and looking into the cannonhole. Plenty of phallic symbolism there!
Having finished our photos shots, we then went on a long, boring tour of the Crusader ruins. The tour took most of the morning: we saw the halls of the Hospitallers; the waterways of the Templars; and heaps of stuff that they're still excavating. There was also the British prison complex, where many Jewish guerrilla fighters were held; and where the famous Akko breakout occurred.
The tour ended by the ruined Crusader fort on the sea. We had some free time, where we could buy souvenirs from some nearby shops. I bought two little Chassidic blokes, for 100 sheks all up.
We walked along the sea-wall of old Akko, from where we had a view of the bay that stretched all the way down to the Haifa peninsula. When the wall ended, we went through the city itself, dodging a terrible mess of traffic - the road are shocking in Akko, and the drivers are even worse - in order to get to our bus.
The bus had our lunches in it, so we took the packs and ate lunch in a nearby park. For some reason, Ari decided to peg tomatoes at Dane while he was on his mobile: so whilst he was talking, Dane got a torrent of tomatoes raining down around him.
After lunch, it was time to go back into Akko. We went to visit the Turkish baths: this was the most fun thing we did in Akko. We went on a tour through the Ottoman bathhouse, and on the way listened to this funny Arab guy talking about how life worked in this place. There was also a funny video to go with it, of these fat old men getting stuff rubbed over their bodies, and listening to local gossip. A bit grotty, but funny nonetheless.
That was the end of our tour in Akko. After that, we took a visit to the Baha'i gardens, where we saw the house and the burial spot of the Baha'ullah, the founder of the Baha'i faith. The gardens were very beautiful.
Nimrod gave us the rundown on the Baha'i faith. We took a fair few photos at the gardens, but not as many as I thought we would.
Photo of the famous 'no photographing' sign at Rosh HanikraAfter the gardens, our final stop for the day was Rosh Hanikra, the most north-western point in Israel. It was a pretty cool place: we caught a cable car down the mountain; and we actually saw the very place where the Israel-Lebanon border is. I, and pretty much everyone else, took a photo of the "military area: no photography" sign. After all, they were just asking for it!
At Rosh HanikraRosh Hanikra is full of these sea-caves called 'grottos', where the seawater comes right in and forms big rivers inside the caves. We explored the grottos; and we also saw a movie about how the British built a train track through Rosh Hanikra during WWII. However, the track (it went from Cairo to Istanbul) wasn't used after Israel was established, for obvious reasons.
'Artistically' silhouetted against the sunset at Rosh HanikraThe last thing we did at Rosh Hanikra was watch the sun set: but it wasn't that impressive, since there were heaps of clouds on the horizon. But we still got plenty of photos.
So we left Rosh Hanikra as the sun set, and returned to our hotel in Nahariya. After dinner, we did a little "happy birthday" celebration for Tanya, since it's her "****ing birthday". As a joke, the Madrichim gave her chocolate cigarettes as a present.
Our night activity was a trip to a pub around the corner. I spent most of the night either watching or playing pool: that's all anyone was doing, since there were about 10 pool tables. I was surprised to learn that I'm actually not that bad at pool. I drank some vodka and mango, which tasted really nice.