After spending the night in a hotel on Mount Carmel in Haifa during a 2010 tour to Israel & Jordan, we visited the Baha’i Gardens and the Shrine of the Bab in Haifa after breakfast. The Baha’i is another Muslim sect. The Bab was the founder of the Babi faith, which was the forerunner of the Baha’i faith. His remains are in the shrine. There are nineteen terraced gardens stretching down Mount Carmel from the shrine. The gardens are quite beautiful. The view of Haifa from the gardens is also gorgeous.
In addition to some amazing geraniums (which aren’t an annual in Israel as they are in Minnesota), there were some purple trees called Jacaironda. Since purple is my favorite color, I was especially enamored by those trees.
Our next visit of the day was Akko (Acre). An Ottoman fortress was built on top of the Crusader city. The Knights of St John built a fortress in about 1149. This was lost to the Muslims in 1187 and regained during the Siege of Acre by Richard the Lionhearted as part of the Third Crusade in 1191. Richard and the Templars made their headquarters in Jaffa. We visited vaults, the great hall, dining hall, latrine, and some ongoing excavations. Then we went through a very long tunnel, built by the Templars, which came out at a crypt for a former church. The church no longer exists as a mosque was built in its place. I was a little concerned at first about going down into the tunnel after the experience at Megiddo. But there wasn’t any deep drop under the see-through metal stairs, so no trauma there.
Cana was where Jesus performed his first miracle of changing water into wine at a wedding feast according to the Gospel of John. We didn’t have a long visit there, but stopped to see the church. That was the only special site there.
Tiberius is the largest city on the Sea of Galilee. We took a cruise on Galilee from there. We could see the Golan Heights from the boat. It was a very pleasant ride. The sun was shining and there was a balmy breeze.
Afterwards we visited a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)church dedicated to St. Andrew and had a nice chat with the pastor. This was my fault as I saw the church and wanted to take a look inside. The rest of the group followed me. I was kind of an impromptu tour guide.
Not far, in Ginosar, is a 2,000 year old boat. It has been carbon dated and comes from the same era when Jesus and the Disciples were in the area. It can’t be directly connected to them, but it doesn’t really matter as it is the same kind of boat from the same time frame.
We spent the night at Kibbutz Lavi (which means “lion”)where we attended a lecture on Kibbutz life. I could see the Mount of Transfiguration (Mount Taber) from the window of my room. Had a very tasty dinner with food that was grown right there.
Baha’i Gardens in Haifa 
More of the Baha’i Gardens 
View of Haifa from Baha’i Gardens 
Crusader fortress in Akko (Acre) with Ottoman fortress above 
Crusader fortress at Akko (Acre) 
Interior of Crusader fortress 
Interior of Crusader fortress 
Great Hall of Crusader fortress 
Tunnel beneath Crusader fortress 
Church at Cana 
Sea of Galilee at sea level 
Boat we took a cruise on at the Sea of Galilee 
Golan Heights from Sea of Galilee 
Tiberius 
Scottish church in Tiberius 
2,000 year old boat from Sea of Galilee 
View from my room at the Kibbutz