Day 3: Haifa, Acre, Nazareth

April 20th, 2023

Haifa

Kicking off the morning on top of Mt Carmel.

The Baha'i are a pretty recent Muslim offshoot. Persian architecture. Affluent members; many in the US. The founder (or prophet) of the religion is interred in the mausoleum that can be seen in the photo.

Descending Mt Carmel, we stopped at a Franciscan Monastary with a chapel that dates from the crusades (1000-1200 CE).

The cave in the Stella Maris chapel is a site where we’re told that the prophet Elijah (who was a historical figure as well as a biblical one) hid. This is also the cave where later we're told that Mary and Joseph hid on their way back from Egypt to Nazareth.

In front of the monastery is a monument built above the remains of a portion of Napoleon Bonaparte's wounded army who attempted to hide in the monastery and were massacred on their way out.

Leaving Haifa we see a famous mosque that was where Izz ad-Din al-Qassam preached. Al-Qassam was one of the prophets to inspire modern day Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. He preached in Haifa until the 1920s when he was killed by the English. The Hamas uses rockets named for him to attack Israel.

Acre

A Phoenician city, it dates from 1500 BCE. Called Akko (Acre=Akko) in french its St-Jean-D'Acre

Crusade Courtyard that was uncovered beneath the Ottoman city above. One o our guides is in the blue shirt on the right.

In Acre, we made our way to a site where Ottoman and Roman ruins were found. The ruins date from the second crusades and was a site used by the Knights Hospitaliers as a jumping off point for pilgrims.

Here's some historical stuff on Acre. Feel free to skip to the next section...

Akko was a hub for the sugar industry. It was the heart of the crusades in the middle east.

Acre was also the city that Bonaparte attempted to take during a 9 week siege.

Walking around the Ottoman city of Akko:

Turkish Bath Houses in Acre

Lunch in Acre

Bet She'arim Catacombs

From Acre we went toward Nazareth and stopped at Bet She'arim to see the Jewish burial site that dates back to 300 - 500 CE and was discovered in the 1950s/1960s. One of Judaism's most famous medieval rabbis who was the chief redactor of the Mishna, Yehuda Hanassi, is buried here. He lived from 135 to 217 CE.

A lot was destroyed during the Philistine period

Some really incredible writing and symbols found on the tombs from all over the world at that time.

Nazareth

Mount Precipice

They keep talking about some guy who came here and was pushed off. Seemed like a real nut job. (A crowd chased him away and tried to throw him off the precipice but he fooled them and disappeared)

Basilica Of The Annunciation in Nazareth

This is the site where Mary was told she needs to get ready for a baby. An angel supposedly told her but I cant remember the name...

More to come!