Discovering Acre, Acre, Israel

For reasons both of my own doing and outside of my control, the Old City of Acre did not get a fair shake from me. I initially planned to visit it with a guide, in the early part of my itinerary, and give it 3-4 hours. In the end, I visited it on my own, towards the end of my stay in Israel, and left for my next scheduled stop after barely two hours.

The World Heritage inscription of Acre – in Hebrew, the city name is pronounced as Akko – is based on both its Crusader history and its features as an Ottoman fortified town. To get a good appreciation of the former, one needs to visit some of the paid points of interest in town which is something that I failed to do. For the Ottoman features – and the fortifications – all you need to do is walk around.

On the left there is one of the khans, or historic inns. It is called Khan of the Pillars, built in the end of 18th century. Upon closer viewing, it shows significant signs of neglect, similar to which you find all over the town core. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).