AKKO (ACRE)

History
Places of Interest
A Walk In Old Akko

Time is trapped and beauty captured for posterity in Akko, where the Mediterranean waves break against the solid city walls. When you walk along these 18th-century parapets you look down on a cluster of spired minarets and bubbly mosques, and a nest of churches, all appearing to float above the indigo blue sea.

Secreted within the walled perimeter is a labyrinth of alleys and winding streets. The smells of the bazaars mix with the sea air. The shouts of children punctuate the steady stream of market music. This is Akko, city of a thousand sensations.

It is the most dramatic leftover of history in all Israel because its allure extends underground to the restored Crusader City. This holds all the colour of the Middle Ages. Rambling through its cool and musty-smelling rooms you feel the strength of the hefty pillars and vaulted roofs that characterize their fervid builders. The Mosque of Ahmad Jazzar is the most beautiful in Israel outside of Jerusalem, while the Citadel-Museum of Heroism brings you face to face with the gallows on which Jews were hanged during the British Mandate.

Location: Akko is a promontory on the northern end of Haifa Bay, 24 km. from Haifa and 20 km. south of the Lebanese frontier. It lies on the border between Upper and Lower Galilee.

Climate: pleasant breezes from the sea and the Galilee mountains relieve the summer heat. Winter is wet and damp rather than cold. Population: About 55,000, of whom a quarter are Moslems, Druze, Christians and Bahais.
Tourist Information Office: El-Jazar Street, tel. (04)9911764. Fax: 177-022-7764.