Day 4 (Part One): Acre (Akko) - Sabbath - Coach Bus - Mt. Carmel

Day 4. Another big day!  A good amount of rain!

7:30 AM:  Mass with group. Chapel here at the Monastery of Mt. Carmel.

8 AM:  Depart from Mt. Carmel / Haifa to Acre. 

Charlie Friebohle. Somewhere #2.

RELIGIOUS SETTING:  Basically no traffic on the road.  Why?  Today is a Saturday - the Sabbath.  So in general, if we would be staying at a Jewish hotel the food would all be cold...meaning no coffee, no milk, no operation of elevators, no turning on the TV for Jews (However, if they had something they couldn't resist watching they typically place the TV on a timer).  Jews abide by law - BUT find ways around law.

SOCIAL SETTING:  Haifa is a secular city.  About 80% of the Jewish people of the country live on the Mediterranean Coast and for the most part live as "secular" Jews.  Meaning, the Jewish people simply are Jewish by blood - by name.

10 AM:  Arrived to Acre (Akko). 

LOOK-UP:  Acts 21:7 - St. Paul coming back from his 3rd missionary journey stayed here for one day.  (Acre is called "Ptolema'is" in Acts)

10:15 to 11:15 AM:  So only 1 brief mention in Scripture.  Why spend a morning in Acre?  Acre contains the best preserved Crusador "Underground City" of the Holy Land.

BACKGROUND:  What is the historical context that led to the Christian Crusades?  A man named Peter the Monk had witnessed the destruction of the Holy Land by the hand of the Muslim's.  The Church of the Holy Sepuluchre; the oppression by the Muslim's - persecution and taxation of the Christian's and non-Muslim's (etc.)

Photo at the Templar "Underground City" in Acre.

Same place basically.

Chuck Fitzpatrick.  Demonstrating his strength.

Note:  The Christian Crusadors made many mistakes.  This was a period of darkness in history.

The "Templars" were a Religious Order of Priest's in the Holy Land who came to re-conquer the Land and to stop the Muslim persacution after Peter the Monk rode on Camel back through Europe making them aware of the situation.  Eventually, because of certain corruptions, the Pope ordered the disolve of the "Templars."

What did they do and have?  Many convents, monasteries, banks, and "Underground Cities" in the Holy Land.

11:15 AM:  We headed back on the Coach.

....to be continued...

PREVIEW:  In the late afternoon we visited the location attributed to the Biblical site of 1 Kings 18:21-40 where Elijah defeated the propehts of Ba'al.  More commentary to come on this later.  For now here is a group photo from the location that overlooks the Biblical geography of the Old Testament from Mt. Carmel.

Group with Valley of Jezreel, Mt. Tabor, Megido (Amargedon) and more all beyond.