Crusaders, Grottoes and Domus Galilaeae

What’s breakfast like at a youth hostel? Extraordinary at the one in Akko! Every manner of salad you could imagine having for breakfast (and many you couldn’t), plus all sorts of hummus and cheeses, yoghurts, fruits and even good coffee. 

After three different types of egg we were well and truly full. And all in a beautiful new dining room with a 19^th century aqueduct running through it. 

And who else was there? About 25 Jewish teenagers from Texas who were traveling through Poland and Israel.

Then on to see the sights:

First, the Knights Hall. The crusaders get a lot of bad press – and for very good reason – they murdered thousands of innocent people. But the Templar and the Hospitaller Knights who ran Akko did a very good job, and the buildings and artefacts and automatic audio guides certainly presented this story. They built extraordinary buildings to provide for pilgrims arriving by boat from Europe. 

But not only accommodation, they also provided food and medical care. And not just for the pilgrims, but for anyone who came to them. In fact, they provided Kosher and Halal food for those who wanted it. And it was decreed that the guests should always eat first and always eat the best food.

And the Knight’s Hall provided something that all our other castle explorations so far have been lacking. Beautiful palaces, impregnable fortresses, amphitheatres and spices from Italy are all very impressive – but how on earth did people go to the toilet? Well, in the Knight’s hall we saw the answer – a room set aside for just this purpose, with a series of seats with holes open to the floor below. 

And thanks to this wonderful arrangement the archaeologists have been able to piece together the pilgrims' diets and the various gastrointestinal diseases that they suffered from. Wonderful!

Of course no castle experience is complete without a tunnel, and across town we entered the Templers Tunnel. 350m long to connect their fortress with the marina in case of attack. 

An impressive structure indeed going right under the houses and markets of the old town, but for these seasoned Middle Easter tunnel travelers, the abundance of space and lack of water running around our legs made it feel very business class.

Emerging out of the tunnel we meandered through the Arab market, pleased to be feeling quite at home in such a context, especially as this one was much quieter than what we'd become used to in Jerusalem’s old city.

  

So we left Akko, very thankful for our time there. Next stop Rosh Hanikra Grottoes. What’s a grotto you say? Try Wikipedia, but I would guess ‘extraordinary coastal caves with water flowing through them.’ After taking probably the world’s shortest cable car ride (less than a minute), we first explored the railway tunnels built by the Allies (including the Kiwis) during WW2 as part of a railway extending from Egypt to Turkey and onto Europe. 

Most of the tunnels still stand, and we even watched a short movie about the area inside one of them. After the war the British planned to use it for civilians, but Jewish fighters blew some of them up because they suspected that soldiers from Lebanon would come down through them. Indeed, this is right at the border and a UN peace keeping force has been stationed here since 1978.

So what were the grottoes like? 

The colour of the water was an extraordinary blue, and the caves were very majestic. And in this religion-soaked land, several of the plaques included Bible quotes about God’s creative power. And at the rock formation that looked a little like the inside of a large fish, the plaque told the entire story of Jonah!

Having seen the view from the lookout we tried to go the beach – keen to cool off and to be able to say we’d swum in the Mediterranean. But the ‘public’ beaches were not free – more than $20 each, so we decided that the ‘I’ve swum in the Mediterranean’ line was going to be hard to drop into a conversation anyway, and so probably not worth the money. And of course, the beaches weren't as nice as Australian beaches.

Now it was time to leave the coast and drive on to Galilee – the area where Jesus grew up and lived out most of his ministry. With the Sabbath (Friday sunset) fast approaching, we weren’t going to be able to fit much in, so we headed for a small archaeological site at Korazin. ‘Woe to you Korazin! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.' Matthew 11:21

Having been abandoned and destroyed many times since, there are a scattering of houses made of black basalt rock, but most prominently a sizeable synagogue from the 4^th century, which strangely has a carving of the Greek mythological creature Medusa - how did that happen? And we enjoyed seeing the strange furry creatures we had seen at Ein Gedi again. Back then when we asked a local what it was, he gave us the highly informed answer of ‘a mammal.’ This time a plaque told us it was a rock rabbit.

Finally, and perhaps best of all, we happen to pass and stop at Domus Galilaeae – a very large and very modern Catholic seminary and conference centre whose architecture is incredibly striking. We were delighted to be shown around by Caesar, our English speaking guide from Honduras who is studying to be a priest in a seminary in Holland but is currently on ‘mission’ at Domus Galilaeae. 

With great joy and gentleness he told about the symbolism of the different parts of the centre. Being built on the site (?) where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount, there’s a strong focus on Jesus being the new Moses giving the new law. In the library, the Jewish Torah scroll is surrounded by a glass dome to symbolise that the world was made by God speaking. 

In the lecture theatre, the cone over the teacher’s seat is to symbolise the presence of God in the teaching and learning of his word, and (I like this bit), the students all sit on ‘thrones’ to remind them that learning and teaching God’s word to others is a kingly activity. 

Over in the church, Caesar winsomely explained his gospel using this huge painting:

The painting shows that God the Father has entrusted judgment day to the son, who has died to enable sinners to come to him by their free choice, and if they go on choosing right then when they are judged by their deeds they will be OK. Jesus was right at the centre but in the end the person was left hanging in the balance until judgment day, not knowing what would happen to him because he will be judged according to his deeds. I tried to talk about the wonderful assurance of knowing that my hope doesn’t depend upon my good deeds, and so is a certain hope; he even shared with me that in Spanish there are two words for hope – one for simply waiting for something that is certain, the other for hoping that something may happen. It was a wonderfully open discussion but I’m not sure I really managed to make clear the difference. 

We wandered outside and he showed me the seminary where he lives, the chapel where there are always two of their number praying, and the beautiful statue of the sermon on the mount with this incredible backdrop; he even pointed to various spots and said – 'remember when Jesus …? That’s where it happened.'

Many experiences on this trip have been very good value. This one was not only free and totally unexpected - it was simply priceless.

Finally we pressed on to our hostel in Tiberias – a town that is nearly 2000 years old but looks pretty modern. The hostel? Not quite as nice as last night but at least there is a shower curtain. Having skipped lunch we were keen for dinner, but since the Sabbath had started there was very little open. We look at McDonalds, but the meal deals were about $20 so even Isaac wasn't keen; we ended up with Italian food outside an Irish pub called ‘Big Ben’!

Looking forward to the walking tour of Jesus' childhood hometown tomorrow morning.