In the morning, not too early (.. ;-) ) I drove from Haifa to Akko (30km). The crusader city and former capital of the Latinate Kingdom of Palestine is today part of the Unesco World Heritage. A distinction well deserved. I strolled through the old city, nowadays mostly inhabited by Arabs, with its narrow alleys, secret passageways, its port, subterranean vaults, impressive ramparts and lively market. I visited the citadel with its subterranean crusader city, the mosque with its nice courtyard and the templars tunnel, which was discvovered by coincidence in 1994, after a woman had complained about a blocked sewer and a plumber climbed down to look where the problem was and discovered the tunnel, which was then restored and made accessible to the public. It was a very pittoresque place....
Zafet
I then drove to Zafet, about 60km East in the mountains through a beautiful landscape full of plantations of olive trees.
Zafet is situated on Israel's third highest peak (800m above the sea) and is therefore the highest town of the country (does not sound much, but is quite high compared to the lowest point of the world, at the Dead Sea with 400 metres BELOW the sea level !!). The montain town has a rich religious heritage of Jewish mysticismn and is today exclusively inhabited by Jews. It is a centre for Jewish studies with people coming from the whole world to study the Torah in one of the many schools around town. The synagogue quarter is full of small and some quite old synagogues, connected through narrow cobblestone streets and steep stairs. This is also why the town was fought for very hard during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948. The former police station still shows the bullets from this tis period on the facade.
There are othodox Jews all over in the streets.. the smallest children run around all dressed up in the orthodox style... I saw this for the first time ever and it adds even more to the town's particular atmosphere.. Zefat is also nown for its artist colony with Jewish artists coming here form all over the world... there is art everywhere...!! However, after three or four hours I had seen the place.. I had howver booked a bed and breakfast here.. so I had to stay.. but it is a good basis to visit the Golan Heights tomorrow morning..
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