Geography by Geocache, Round 2

Yesterday's adventure was to Acco (or Acre or Akko or ....).  It's a town about 10 miles north of Haifa.  The easiest and quickest way to get there is by train but, alas, the train isn't running at all this week.  So I did plan B: took the bus.  That meant taking a city bus from the south part of Haifa where we're staying to the north bus station, then taking a long-distance bus the rest of the way.  Fortunately I had my GPS which was centered on the (only) geocache in Acco.  And in a stunning reversal of yesterday, I managed to use the GPS effectively and indeed got off the bus at the Acco bus station.  I even remembered to mark a waypoint there which proved useful at the end of the day.

I wandered over to the Old City where there are ruins from many centuries ago.  Seems just about everyone had a fortress there are one time or another, often build on top of a previous fortress.  An archaeologist's dream...and one that continues as the excavation is nowhere near complete.  After going through one of the main buildings, complete with my English audio tour, I found myself in the Turkish bazaar.  Long, narrow corridors which shops on either side.

At one shop a female shopkeeper said something while looking at me.  So I replied (in Hebrew), "sorry, I don't speak Hebrew" and she said, in excellent English, that she was talking to her husband.  She asked where I was from and seemed overly pleased to hear Oregon.  Seems her high school age daughter is attending Lake Oswego High School this year on an exchange program....  Long story short, I spent way too much money on some treasures at her store -- candlesticks, a Druze handwoven table runner, shot glasses, and a few other things.  In return I spent the better part of a delightful hour with Wafa and her husband, Octavio.  They gave me the tastiest fresh-squeezed orange juice I've ever had....it was probably no more than 60 seconds old when I got it (I'd already declined Turkish coffee).  Wafa speaks Hebrew and Arabic (her "home languages"), also English, Portuguese, German and I think Spanish (it's 6 languages in any case).  It's always so embarrassing as an American to speak one well, one almost enough to get around, and a few words each of a few more. 

After leaving Wafa and Octavio's store (coming soon to a website near you), I continued exploring the Old City.  I visited a mosque -- probably my first one -- and after exploring got into a conversation with the person collecting entry fees.  He was almost shocked, but not in a bad way, that I'd taken the bus from Haifa on my own....then suggested that doing so was a very American thing to do (mind you, this was definitely a compliment).  Turns out he'd lived in Michigan for awhile and had even visited Oregon, and one of the things he admires about Americans is our sense of adventure.  Me, adventurous? Go figure.

More wandering though an even windier bazaar led me to the port.  I dined al fresco at a cafe almost on the water.  If I'd dropped something it would have gotten wet and I wouldn't have seen it again.  As I write this, I realize that I've dined al fresco a lot in Israel....indeed, so far I've had one meal indoors....we've chosen to eat breakfast on the patio (who wouldn't want to eat overlooking the Mediterranean?), and it turns out that all of my lunches and all but one dinner have been outside.  After lunch I wandered a bit more, found the cache, and returned uneventfully to the bus station.  

Used my GPS to navigate the 2 buses back to my hotel stop.  Then went GPS-less to meet Jeff and his colleagues for "beer at the beach." No, I didn't have beer....but I did have an incredible strawberry and melon smoothie!  It was fun to meet everyone....encouraging to see that his team seems to be made up of good people....and especially entertaining when Jeff's boss and another Israeli seemed amazed that I'd taken the bus to Acco and back on my own. Maybe that does qualify as adventurous.