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The return part of our two day loop trip was along the north Mediterranean Coast. From inland it was an easy drive to Akko, except that we detoured to Nahariya, where we walked along the modern beachfront and ate the rest of our sandwiches. In Akko we had trouble finding the old area, but eventually did, and walked about the fort’s ruins and then the old Arab parts, including the Jami el Jazzar Mosque, built in 1871-2. Jan recognized little from her first visit alone in 1973, but attributed that to the fact that the site has been changed and that her memories of are of being inside the castle proper rather than on the walls and in the old city.

When we left Akko we picked up two more hitchhikers. They said in Hebrew where they wanted to go, or at least we guessed that. Jan said in her one Hebrew sentence “Ani lo medaberit ivrit. Anglit?” ("I don’t speak Hebrew. How about English?” And one of them said in English, “Of course! We’re Germans.” They are doing their national service at a home for the retarded near Tel Aviv. They came in September, 2001, and will stay a year. They get Hebrew lessons twice a week and practice on their own. This weekend they were staying with an Israeli friend in Neshar, a suburb of Haifa, and that’s where they were going.

We invited them along with us and we drove about the city, getting lost several times, in our search to park near the Bahai temple and then go up on the heights to see the lights. The Germans guided us to a new promenade, new since 1985 when we were there. The views were spectacular. Gerry didn't want to leave but Jan wanted to get into bed before the morrow's dawn. After our walk we tried to take the German's to Neshar, where they were staying with a fried, but they didn’t know exactly how to get there, so we got lost and lost again. But in the end we asked directions and an Israeli couple offered to drive and lead us where we wanted to go. That worked, and with a bit of embarrasment about the trouble they had caused us (really, just wanting to get away from us) they said thank you and good bye.

[more to come.]