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The Hospitallers in Acre

Acre travel guide

It’s especially nice to visit the Hospitaller quarter in Acre in the Summer, as it is quite cool inside the thick walls compared to the heat outside. With its beautiful fortress and the buildings next to it such as: a church, a hospital, a guest house, were used by the many pilgrims who came all the way to old Israel.

The Knights’ Halls are halls that were formerly used for lodging and eating for the Crusader orders that took place in Acre, and which are housed in the Acre Fortress. The halls were discovered in the 1960s during an excavation to lay sewer pipes, and research at the site began in 1992, and as of 2012 the conservation and excavation work has not yet been completed.

The Hospitaller Fortress was used together with the buildings next to it, a place to stay and a hospital for the many pilgrims who came to the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries. This authentic and international site is one of the leading historical sites in Israel.
The site has been officially declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. A tour of the Knights ‘Halls, takes you back in time to the Crusader period and makes you feel the atmosphere of the Knights’ day-to-day life.

The Hospitallers are a monastic military order that carried on its banner the care of the sick in the Holy Land and the preservation of the personal safety of the pilgrims who came to visit the holy places. They ran hospitals in Jerusalem and Acre.

The inner courtyard
The courtyard has an area of 1200 m2 and is surrounded by a series of arcades. On the east side, a staircase leads to the upper parts. A well with a depth of 4.5 m is located near the north side and two shallow pools are next to this well. On the south side a pool with a depth of 1.5 m and another well were built.

The north wing
This wing was built along the north wall. There are ten vaulted rooms ten meters high built during the Frankish era. The exterior wall is massive with a thickness of 3.5 m. Later to the west, two new rooms will complete this building. In the south wall, there are windows that overlook a narrow passage and the wall of the pillar room. The entrance of the building is in the south side wall.

Acre’s Hospitaller quarter houses three main buildings: the headquarters (Knights’ Halls); St. John’s Church south of the headquarters (now a municipal community center in the Ottoman Saraya House); and the hospital south of the church that is yet to be excavated.

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Experience Culinary Excellence at Uri Buri Restaurant in Acre, Israel

As a tourist from the USA, I had the pleasure of visiting the Uri Buri restaurant in Acre, Israel. This restaurant is owned by Chef Uri Yeremias, who is also the owner of the Effendi Hotel. It is one of the most famous and popular restaurants in Israel, and has been awarded the title of one of the best restaurants in the world for 2019 and the best restaurant in the Middle East and Israel according to many international reviewers. The restaurant specializes in seafood, which is fresh, seasonal and prepared with care and imagination. The chef's iconic white beard and love for his guests add a touch of authenticity to the culinary experience. Even after many years of hospitality and restaurants, Uri still sits and often chats with the guests and reveals the secrets of his kitchen without fear. The menu at Uri Buri restaurant is suitable for every palate and everyone can find themselves among the varied menu dishes that also include vegetarian and vegan options. The tasting menu is highly recommended and is an appetizing experience. The dishes are served to the center of the table and divided by the diners from a central plate to individual plates. This continuous culinary entertainment allows diners to enjoy a varied meal of a selection of dishes, raw materials, flavors and forms of preparation. The restaurant also offers a selection of fine Israeli wines, great and personal service that adapts dishes according to the nature of the diners in a romantic, authentic and perfect atmosphere. The restaurant is located within the walls of an ancient 400-year-old Ottoman house in front of the western walls of the old city in Acre, and it is a 5-minute walk from the Effendi Hotel. Overall, Uri Buri restaurant is a must-visit when it comes to restaurants in the north of Israel. With its fresh seafood, creative and imaginative dishes, and personalized service, it truly deserves its reputation as one of the best restaurants in the world. If you are a lover of culinary and gastronomy of the sea, this is definitely a restaurant you should add to your itinerary when visiting Acre.

Ancient Acre

The Old City of Acre is bounded by seawater on its southeastern, southern and western sides, and is surrounded by a wall on all sides. It's one of Northern Israel's major attractions. On its northern and eastern sides facing the land, the fortifications also include a moat. Extensive archaeological and conservation work has been carried out in Acre since 1990, by the Old Acre Development Company, and in 2001 UNESCO declared Old Acre a World Heritage Site. Old Acre within the walls is an urban complex of historical, cultural and tourist value, with churches, mosques , Synagogues and many other historic buildings from different periods in the history of the city.Unlike other ancient quarters around the country, the Old City of Acre is a lively and authentic urban complex with residences, restaurants, markets and an active port. The uniqueness of ancient Acre is that it is built of two separate levels - the Crusader city and the Ottoman city. The two levels are separated by the centuries in which Acre stood in its ruins, from the Mamluk conquest in 1291 to its renewal in the Ottoman period. The Crusader city includes the remains from the period of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and they are mostly underground. Some have been exposed and they have generally been preserved in very good condition. These include walls, residential districts, open and covered streets, drainage ditches, underground passages and commercial and residential buildings. The Ottoman city was built on the remains of the Crusader city, often overlapping the Crusader structures and their foundations, thus aiding in its preservation (see comparison here). The Ottoman city is characterized by its narrow and winding alleys, dwellings and khans.

The old port of Acre

The port of Acre is a marina and fishing mooring located north of the Gulf of Acre, in the southeastern corner of Old Acre. The port was declared a marina in 1982, and it is operated by the Old Acre Development Company through subcontractors. The port has five finger piers, and the area adjacent to the land wharf serves mostly fishing boats. The port is a major attraction and no visit to Acre is complete without it. It is probable that the first ant of the city was located at the mouth of Nahal Naaman south of Tel Acre, where the urban settlement remained until the Hellenistic period, but changes in the route of the stream and subsidence of alluvial soil make it difficult to find findings that support this. Yosef ben Matityahu noted that vessels entered the creek bed to load sand used for the glass industry. Acre was mentioned as a port city in a certificate from the city of Ugarit in the 14th century BC. The port in its current location is first mentioned in a Phoenician inscription from the Persian period. The inscription, which dates to the 6th century BC or to the 5th century BC, was found on the southern breakwater. Finds from excavations conducted at the site indicate that the foundations of the breakwater were built using Phoenician methods. Zeno, a Talmudic official, noted in a papyrus from 259 BC that wheat was exported from the port of Acre to Egypt. 2]. Remains of a kurkar stone floor from the Hellenistic period, located near the eastern sea wall, were discovered in early 2009. The length of the section exposed in the excavations was 15 meters and its width was four meters. The floor is located about a meter below the sea level and may provide information about the height of the Mediterranean Sea at its construction [3]. A large number of remnants of amphorae from this period, which originated in the cities of the Aegean Sea, were also discovered in the port areas. During 2012, additional excavations were carried out at the foot of the southern sea wall and the continuation of the sea wharf was exposed, as well as large tying stones that were used to tie the ships moored in the port. The weight of the binding stones ranges from 250-300 kg. Many pottery vessels were found at the bottom of the port, including dozens of complete vessels and many pottery fragments. The pottery originated from the Aegean islands such as Rhodes, Kos and more. The port regained importance in the middle of the 18th century, when Daher al-Omar fortified Acre and opened many construction projects in the city, but their prosperity since the Crusader rule reached a peak during the time of the city's next ruler, Ahmad al-Jazar. In 1799 Napoleon laid siege to Acre, and al-Jazar defended the entrance to the port by drowning a ship across it. In 1966, the remains of a shipwreck that was originally 34 meters long and five meters wide were discovered at the site. This may have been the shipwreck during the Napoleonic siege. However, the remains of eight other shipwrecks were discovered in and near the port of Acre - one from the Roman period, one from the 11th to the 13th century, three from the Ottoman period, and the rest from the beginning of the 20th century.

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