Sewer Rat

We started our day in Akko, at the Hospitaller Compound.  There, we saw Crusader buildings that were later covered with dirt by the Ottomans and they built a palace.  This palace was then used as a prison by the British during the mandate.  Finally, it became a museum.  When one of the floors caved in during the night to reveal the courtyard of the Crusader complex below, archaeological excavations began in earnest.  

The building beneath is quite elaborate, with a large mess hall, courtyards and walkways, and flour de lis carvings to indicate that these were French Crusaders.  My favorite part was, interestingly enough, walking through the sewer.  It's now empty, of course.  The Crusaders emptied it when they felt threatened by the approaching Muslim army and they used it as a series of secret passageways through which they could escape to the port.  The site also has Mamluk architecture, a series of alternating red and cram bands and fluted arches.  

The Mamluk were Mongols who were kidnapped as children and brought to Egypt as a mercenary army.  Eventually, they became more powerful than their masters.

As we walked out, we saw a series of shops where the site had attempted to create a traditional bazaar.  Since it was Friday and most of the merchants are Muslim, nearly all the shops were closed.  In the two open ones we saw wonderful local crafts: in the first, a man with a hammer and chisel working intricate designs into a copper platter, 

while in the second a woman showed us jewelry made of old Roman glass and a series of funny t-shirts.

After so many manmade structures, we stopped at the Rosh Hanikra Grotto (or Ladder of Tyre) to appreciate the natural beauty of our surroundings.  

Carved out of limestone and flint, these caves form a beautiful underground pathway.  

It also gave us a chance to see the the border with Lebanon across a bit of the Mediterranean.  The division is marked with innocently bobbing buoys, and a battle ship stands ready to defend it.

As we continued on our way to Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, we stopped at Tzfat to see the synagogues before they closed for Shabbat preparations.  Among those that we visited were those of Joseph Caro and Rabbi Isaac Luria.  

These are some of the original places where (Lurian) Kaballah teachings originated.  Despite the hype about Kaballah due to Hollywood celebrities, many of the teachings of Kaballah have been incorporated into mainstream Judaism for a very long time.

Down below are the grave sites of one famous rabbis.  They are considered holier dead than alive because now they are with God and can more readily whisper in his ear.

Next, we made our way toward the Sea of Galilee.  On the way, we stopped at the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus gave the sermon of the mount and fed the 5,000. 

From there, we got our first glimpse of the Sea of Galilee, the site of so many stories.  Heck, that's where Jesus walked on water!  You would think he'd have picked the Dead Sea given the buoyancy, but Jesus never really made things easy for himself.

The Sea of Galilee is not what I expected at all.  First of all, it's not a sea.  It's freshwater and you can see all of the edges at once.  It's not nearly as big as the large lakes of the U.S.  On the longest side, the length is only about 18 kilometers.  In the words of Josh: "18K? That's an average crew workout!"

Spotted: kosher cellphones.  You get half-price minutes and it automatically shuts off during the Sabbath.  Only in Israel, folks.