Second-last Week & Akko

We're getting down to the end here at Megiddo. Another week of excavation has brought most of my area to the Late Bronze Age but we seem to be finding less material this week. It may have to do with the transition between periods or maybe it's the period itself - I don't really know. In any case, for three days I was in a square that yielded me some finds. Monday was a whole tusk (probably boar) that was pretty cool but I made the mistake of giving it to someone who is less than delicate and he broke it. I was so annoyed but it was perfect and pretty for all of five minutes. Tuesday was a flint knife, about 2.5 inches long and an inch in diametre, which was also interesting. Wednesday was a round bronze chunk but I don't know what it used to be. All in all, it was a successful week. Thursday I got moved to a different square and I knew I wouldn't find anything because not even pottery sherds have been coming up with any frequency there. We'll see what next week brings.
We've also had to adjust our bucket lines for Wednesday and Thursday. We had three temporary workers, that is, volunteers who were there for only a week, and they left last week. There was also a soccer game on Tuesday that left a guy injured (just a pulled muscle, I think) so he didn't come down the next two days. (Tangent on the Megiddo Cup: Area H made it to the finals but sadly lost in overtime.) So all this meant that we were short of people and the new method was to bucket line the dirt down the stairs where three wheelbarrows would be waiting, each with an attendant. Someone would be designated to dump the buckets into a wheelbarrow and that would get run to the edge and the next wheelbarrow would get pushed to the front. So that's something a little different.

This weekend's main trip was Masada and Dead Sea, but I opted not to do those since I'd already done that on Birthright, added to which it was already insanely hot on Masada back in June when I went, so that was another reason not to go. Instead, on Friday, I went to Akko.
The Old City of Akko is a really pretty place, great for strolling and it's small enough that you can see most everything without exerting yourself. I decided to spend a night there so I wouldn't be rushing to get back to the kibbutz before Shabbat, and I could take my time. I had some initial difficult trying to figure out how I would get there. I figured I'd have to get to Yokneam and take a bus to Haifa and then another bus or train to Akko. I ended up discovering that there's a bus that stops at the kibbutz and goes to Haifa (albeit by a circuitous route; it took forty minutes to get to Yokneam which is normally a fifteen minute ride). I arrived at Haifa an hour and a half later, and transferred to another bus that got me to Akko. A taxi took me to the hostel where I was staying. By noon I was exploring the Old City.
My first stop was tourist information where I discovered there was a set of tickets I could buy that would get me into six places and it would be cheaper than going to each one individually. So I got to visit the Citadel, Knights' Hall, Templar Tunnel, Turkish Bathhouse, Okashi (art) Museum, and Treasures in the Wall (ethnography museum). These kept me busy for a few hours and was a great way to discover the city.
The Citadel is on top of the Knights' Hall. The former is an Ottoman fortress and the latter was found beneath the citadel; it is the remains of the Hospitaller Knights' citadel. The citadel was also used as a prison during the British Mandate period; members of the underground resistance movement were kept there, and some were executed as well. There is an Underground Prisoners Museum as well but I never made it there.
Templar Tunnel is pretty simple, it was just a tunnel built and used by the Templars and runs underneath the city. It's not a very long walk but it was a neat set-up. They displayed some finds and pictures of finds in glass cases set in the floor, and had video projectors lined along the walkway. One was a short history of of Templars in Akko. Others showed old art depicting the Templars and making them come to life. I quite liked it, moreso that it was a good deal cooler down there than it was above!
The Turkish Bathhouse was another quick visit since the complex isn't very large. Each visitor received an audio guide that spoke about the life of the bathhouse in its heyday. There are statues and pictures throughout showing various activities that people did in each room.
Treasures in the Wall wasn't anything exciting but it showed little exhibits with tools of various trades, like leathermaker, goldsmith, shoemaker, pharmacist, etc. It was interesting to see all the tools and materials laid out in each small space. The museum is inside a section of the fortifications, so I walked along those and read up on Napoleon's failed invasion of Akko. He attempted to besiege the city but was repelled by Ottoman forces led by Jezzar Pasha, who was the ruler of the city, and his right-hand man, a Jew named Haim Farhi.
The Okashi museum is the most modern stop included on the ticket. It houses art, mostly by the titular Avshalom Okashi, who lived half his life in Akko and painted many scenes of the city. The museum also has changing exhibits; this current one had paintings of Israeli poets, and the caption next to it would have one of their poems - I think the artist intended to connect the selected poem with the painting of the artist. It was kind of neat.
After that I returned to the hostel to figure out my next steps. I met a girl in my dorm room named Valerie who was doing the same thing. We decided to find dinner and after some walking, ended up at a portside restaurant. I opted for a fish dish, which wasn't very good, unfortunately. But it was a good scene by the water and a nice night. I marvelled at the clouds rolling by since they're so rarely seen except in the mornings at Megiddo. Walking back to our hostel, we passed an Arab bakery and picked up some sweets. I saw honeyballs and instantly decided I needed some. The woman who worked there was so sweet to us and gave an extra pastry for to each of us for free.

The next day I woke early for breakfast in the hostel and packed up since the check-out time was 10:30. I thought of doing the Underground Prisoners Museum but that was when I discovered it was closed on Saturday (though many other tourist spots remain open on Shabbat.) I'd also been told that the Or Torah Synagogue would be open as well but nope, that was closed too. It was a shame because that was the site I was most looking forward to see. It's a synagogue that is entirely covered, inside and out, in mosaic scenes. At least I got to see the outside of it. Thwarted, I returned to the hostel to regroup and cool off.
I decided to venture outside the Old City and see if I could find Caparelli's Tomb. He was a general in Napoleon's army; though he lost a leg in an earlier battle in Europe, he was still a valued fighter. He was shot during the siege and he lost an arm; but the wound didn't heal well and he died due to gangrene. The French government holds an anniversary ceremony there each year. However, on my walk I couldn't really find the place and ended up returning to the Old City by sherut (shared taxi, it often takes the same route as a bus but can be quicker). It was still a good walk and I did get to see Akko City Hall. Yay?
I picked up my things at the hostel and set off to catch another sherut that would take me to Haifa. From there, I took a bus to Yokneam (for the initial bus I took to Haifa only runs twice a day). The restaurants in the bus station/mall were still open though other stores were closed. Instead of waiting for the basic dinner at the kibbutz I went to Bergus Burger Bar for a tasty meal (burger with mushrooms and a lemonade. Yum!)

So that's how the week went. I watched a little bit of the Olympics today (judo, men's gymnastics, swimming) and am getting ready for bed now. I'm hoping this last week will be more fruitful and fun.