WHAT, ONLY A 1000-YEAR OLD SITE AND THE WAY HOME

Friday – 17 April 2015 – Haifa, Israel

Haifa is at the northwest corner of Israel. From Silver Wind’s top deck, one could see Lebanon, Syria, and the Golan Heights. Much of the population of Israel’s third-largest city work at Israel’s largest port. The population has a working class feel. Maybe the distance from hyper Tel Aviv and strongly emotional Jerusalem is the reason it appears that the city’s Muslims and Jews get along here pretty well. Street signs are in both Hebrew and Arabic, although I read recently that the government was considering"standardizing" on only Hebrew.

A commuter train line runs by the port in Haifa, Israel's largest

It seemed like a few new modern buildings had been added to Haifa's downtown since we were there a couple of years ago

As we sailed into port we could see a number of rush hour commuter trains go by the port station. There seemed to be a number of new modern highrise buildings. When we were here a couple of years ago we had explored the city quite extensively on foot. This time we signed up for the ship’s morning tour to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Acre, just across the bay from Haifa. Acre dates back almost 4,000 years. Our interest was the well preserved Knights Hospitalier. This was the headquarters for some early crusaders, the Knights of St. John. We thought that it would be nice to visit a tourist attraction only a thousand years old, downright modern by the standards of the Middle East.

Our tour guide said Haifa is very proud of this multi-cultural facility but didn't give many details 

 I couldn't sound out the Hebrew lettering, but this oddly familiar big box store made me think of hex wrenches

We met our tour guide on the pier. He was holding a trumpet. I assumed that was so we could identify him, similar to the brightly colored umbrellas held by guides at the more crowded tourist sites. As our tour bus drove out of town we passed the Arab Christian Jewish Center, apparently a community meeting place unique to Haifa. Our guide was very proud of this institution but could not describe its operation other than saying it promotes peace within the country. Then inexplicably he blew a tune on his trumpet, the first of many. We then passed an oddly familiar blue box store with yellow signage in Hebrew. My education in that language terminated abruptly 57 years ago. So I was not able to sound out the name as we speeded by, but I kept thinking of Allen wrenches for some reason.

The 18th Century mosque contains a hair from Mohammed's beard

As we walked into the old city of Acre, our first stop was a Mosque built in 1781. Our guide explained that there is a shrine on the second level of the building that contains a single hair from the Prophet Mohammed’s beard. He explained that the hair is shown to the faithful on special occasions. Then he blew his trumpet again. I excused his playing this time. I thought that would be worth getting excited for.

The Knights of St. John headquarters were in Acre. The huge complex was worth a visit. The information displays made a tour guide less desirable. More so as our guide played a trumpet frequently for some unknown reason 

Our walking tour of Acre brought us to the promised destination, the impressive castle built by the Knights of St. John.  Essentially a self-guiding museum with excellent graphic displays, no tour guide was necessary, especially one playing a trumpet randomly. I was sorry that we hadn't just taken a cab from the port in Haifa. Our guide was hard to hear in the cavernous stone rooms. I figured we could lose sight of him, and we would certainly be able to find him when we needed to by listening for his infernal instrument. 

The market in Acre was reminiscent of the Pike Street Market in Seattle

The old harbor at Acre has a modern lighthouse apparently built over a hummus stand

Families from Haifa enjoying the hats they had just purchased in the Acre market

We walked about a half mile through a marvelous market. The guide and his trumpet would meet us at the other side. The market was as varied as the Pike Street Market in Seattle; that is to say there were all manner of fish, produce, spices, and the usual tourist dreck of knock-off watches and handbags. I realized that since we landed in Singapore a month earlier, Israel was the first country where I felt more at home. We emerged from the market at the ancient sea port. A lovely modern lighthouse appeared to come out of a humus shop. The old port of Acre was clearly a good place for Haifa’s families to get out of the city for an afternoon. We saw a number of local families having fun.

Our tour group was confused where the "Templar's Tunnel" entrance was and started to head towards an alleyway. It turned out that the actual entrance was in the structure that looked like the toilets

The tunnel provided safe access for the crusaders to get from the port to the castle

Behind us was a sign indicating the entrance to the “Templar’s Tunnel”. Barbara pointed out to me that the Knights of St. John were not the Templars. I guess Christian history is not real big in Israel. Our group was easing mistakenly towards a passageway to check out the tunnel. The actual tunnel entrance looked like a door to the toilets instead. Our guide appeared with admission tickets and led us through the correct door and down a long flight of stairs. We walked back quite a distance under the old city. The underground passageway was built to protect Crusaders arriving from the port from thieves. I guess this was a bad neighborhood in the 11^th Century. Our tour guide played his trumpet only once in the tunnel, seeming to stop abruptly when we all put fingers in our ears simultaneously.

The headquarters of the Baha'i faith in Haifa contains the remains of founder of the modern religion in a gold domed shrine

We returned to downtown Haifa in time to check out the World Center of the Baha'i faith. We had walked along the top of this mountainside parkland earlier and now had the opportunity to look up at the gleaming golden dome shrine containing the remains of the founder of the modern mystical religion. Our tour guide disclosed that he had worked for years as a landscaper for the Baha'i grounds. I thought where does this man's talents end?

We returned to the ship for our late afternoon sailing. Tomorrow was to be a day at sea as we crossed the Mediterranean to Kusadasi, Turkey, our last port call.

We dressed for our last formal night after a day at sea. I wore my special pin. As usual nobody asked what the "L" means

We relaxed on Saturday enjoying the Silver Wind's food and service and dressed for the last formal night of the cruise. Passengers leaving the ship traditionally queue up to shake the Captain’s hand and say goodbye. Instead we had some drinks in the Main Bar with Gianni, the Hotel Director. We said goodbye to the Captain has he came by our table after his farewell presentation in the theater.  Gianni got up hurriedly and followed the Captain. Nobody asked what my special lapel pin with a big, "L", meant. Maybe someone will, someday.

Sunday – 19 April 2015 – Kusadasi, Turkey

Silver Wind was joined at the cruise pier in Kusadasi by the cruise ship, Azamara Journey. Although a modest sized vessel by cruise ship standards, it dwarfed much smaller Silver Wind 

Kusadasi is a popular port for cruise ships. We were fortunate that there was only one other ship was in port. Tours to the impressive ruins at Ephesus are offered from Kusadasi. Barbara had taken a longish tour to there during our last visit, and I explored Ephesus three times during my earlier cruises as bus escort I waited for passengers to complete their walking tours. Besides, this was our last day onboard.

We chose to take a morning walk from the pier and come back to Silver Wind early to pack.  I took a selfie reflection shot of Silver Wind looking like one of the life boats for 694-passenger Azamara Journey. That’s a small ship by today’s mass-market cruise ship standards where one company runs 6,000-passenger ships in the Caribbean. On the Muscat to Athens segment, we had only 126 revenue guests, about 2% of the largest cruise ships' capacities.

A 19th Century fort was a nice destination for a hike from the pier in Kusadasi

We enjoyed a Turkish coffee at a seafront cafe in Kusadasi

We took a hike to a lengthy hike to a 19^th Century fort built on the ruins of an earlier Italian fort and then stopped for a Turkish coffee in a lovely café on a lovely beach. I asked the barrister if he took US Dollars. As usual in Turkey, he said he takes anybody’s money. We made a deal and relaxed a bit before wandering through the tourist shops and heading back to the ship to pack. After 32 days on the cruise, some a bit stressful, it was time to go home.

The butlers lined up one last time to welcome back the participants from their all day excursion to Ephesus. Most passengers ignored them and walked straight to the ship's gangway

Silver Wind sailed as soon as the tour groups who had gone on the all-day excursion to Ephesus returned to the ship. The butlers were lined up as usual welcoming them back. The tourists thinking of going home just avoided them, taking short cuts directly to the ship’s gangway.

Monday - 20 April 2015 - Piraeus, Greece

Silver ship Silver Cloud was already berthed in Piraeus when we arrived. The two small Silversea ships were chartered for a rare tandem cruise for an Australian tour group 

On the way to the Athens airport we passed the Athens Gate Hotel (the taller white building at the center left of the picture).
We had enjoyed breakfast in the penthouse during our last stay in Athens. The downtown hotel is located just below the Pantheon , a great location some distance from the frequent riots

The flight home from Europe provided us with a stunning view of the southern Greenland fjords  

At dawn Monday we sailed into busy Piraeus, the port for Athens. Our sister ship Silver Cloud was already berthed. Both identically sized 296-passenger capacity Silversea ships were to embark on a two-week cruise, an unusual tandem charter for an Australian Tour Group.  We left our suite after breakfast and took the ship’s shuttle bus. The route from the port to the Athens airport passed the lovely Athens Gate hotel where we stayed a few years ago. We even got a glimpse of the nearby Parthenon. Our flights were uneventful. We even made our short connection in Munich had spectacular views of the fjords of southern Greenland en route Chicago. We got to Denver before 11 pm and stayed at an airport hotel. We were home in Boulder before noon on Tuesday.