November 8, 2009

Drove to the city of Akko, pronounced “acre.” It is an ancient city from the crusader period that was buried in the ottoman period. In the 1950’s Akko was discovered under ground. Akko is very well preserved…it was cool walking through old tunnels and the rooms of the beautiful city. When I arrived I did not know that Akko was on the Mediterranean. When we went outside the city walls there was the Mediterranean Sea. That was very beautiful seeing that. On our way outside the city walls I noticed that people still lived inside the city…you have a tourist attraction on one end of the city and then you have Arabs and Muslims living on the other. The walls of Akko cascade down into the

Mediterranean. There are spots on the wall where cannons use to be where you can climb and look over the wall at the Mediterranean.

What topped off the day was going to Caesarea! Herod the Great inherited the city and built it into a beautiful city. Caesarea became the major seaport. This is where the Olympic games started. We had our own Olympic game on the Chariot racetrack. Of course we did not have any chariots, but we did have our running legs. I did not run in the Olympics. When we were at Caesarea we got to see a beautiful sunset, and I put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea.

My time here in Israel is almost over…and I am amazed at how much history is here. The ancient world did not start in the USA or Europe it began here in Israel. It just blows my mind. This is God’s Holy Land. He started it here and he will end it here. I have seen things that I had dreams of going to see. It will be a bittersweet goodbye leaving this beautiful country of Israel. May peace come into this land.