Akko by the sea

I awake this am from perhaps my most restful sleep. This is a very expensive hotel that I got for a great deal and I believe they upgraded me. The ceilings are 20 feet with blackout curtains and soundproofing. There is even a huge soaking tub with the rainforest shower 

Breakfast starts off odd as it seems that the full breakfast is too much for one person so I am directed to the muesli and  yogurt. I have the menu so I keep asking for add ons (it's included) bread and jam, Lebanese cheese balls so I think they get the message and suddenly I get a focaccia bun with avacado, salmon and that furry stuff from Nazareth called Halva which is a sweet cinnamony thread made from sesame.

Akko reminds me a lot of Essaouira in Morocco with the city structure adjacent to the sea. I did a tour of the Turkish baths and the Knights Halls while wandering the souk, having a chicken shawarma pita, fighting for a glass of wine and finally enjoying some cardamon ice cream. 

The drive to Haifa is not far and as you enter you see that it is a much bigger port city. There is no old city but I am staying in the German colony at a little boutique hotel aptly named the Templars. 

The street  the hotel is on is the first I have seen that is a tourist/restaurant row.  At the top of the street is this huge garden which goes uphill to what looks like a capital done. (More to come)

My weeks are catching up with me and if is just after 4 and it seems like a good time for s nap. Tomorrow will be a long day. 

I am writing tonight from a "meat" restaurant. You actually choose your cuts from the butcher case and they prepare and bring to your table - ideally. Service stats bad as I am seated next to two family parties. Turns out the week before Passover is school vacation. (There are a lot of toddler aged kids in Israel. And they are not well behaved.)

I finally order a cut of beef I have not heard of and some goose breast along with a vegetable kabob and a roasted head of garlic it also come with a jug of house red - slightly chilled. It is all very tasty and dispute the lousy service I am happy. I have finished my meal with another halva parfait. Hopefully halva can be found in the US. 

I do not plan to explore Haifa too much. I think I will try to sleep in, enjoy breakfast and then plan as circuitous a route to theairporta  as possible. Just to give an idea of scale. Almost every destination and tour is doable as a say trip from Tel Aviv - granted a long trip but possible. From Haifa the airport is only an hour and a bit and my flight departs at just past midnight. 

And I find that two rooms in a row, I cannot avoid the soaking tub. Ahhhh