A trip to Akko and The Case of the Missing Chocolate

Despite having been here for 6 months we still haven’t visited Akko other than to use the train station. As it’s a historical town just 20 mins away we decided we should check it out, and possibly even bag ourselves some decent fish. Friday was a really sunny day so we parked by the sea and took a walk through the old city – we wanted to see the famous market [a Turkish Bazaar apparantly, not sure what the difference is, probably to do with how much they rip you off], I think it’s important for young children to be around new sights and smells.

Wandering around the old city of Akko is a decidedly un-Israeli thing to do. After all, why on earth would you want to let your kids walk around a dirty town full of arabs when you can go to a nice clean shopping centre, have a coffee and watch your kid play in the gymboree? [or so the mentality seems to go]. I suppose we identify more with the tourists when it comes to these things. We view it as a cultural experience rather than “mixing with the undesirables” or whatever it is they think. I imagine being taken to Burnt Oak on vegetable and spice shopping expeditions as a child gave me a taste for al fresco over tesco [don’t be impressed with the rhyming – Lily Allen thought of it first]. Karmiel was always supposed to be an Israeli town and whilst that’s all well and good I don’t want my kid growing up in an Israeli ghetto. Unlike a yeshuv or kibbutz, where you may mix with your own kind but the smallness of your environment [plus the fact that you are often surrounded by “the other”] helps you to understand other ethnic groups. Growing up in Karmiel – you could completely forget that the North is 80% arab residents. I’m not sure that’s so healthy.

Interestingly, a british friends of ours who came to visit today said that if asked the first 2 places he would gladly give up to the arabs would be Akko and Afula [and not just because they are at the beginning of any list of israeli cities]. I can see his point about Afula [if you have never been there, don’t bother, it’s a dump] but I feel some attachment to Akko. After all, the place is steeped in history, it’s one of the few parts of the galil that can possibly be called Cosmopolitan and there is a lovely view from the port. We were positively boiling yesterday out there – presumably because it’s at sea level, but I wouldnt want to be there in the summer.

It’s a beautiful market, so long as oyu don’t mind the odd giant dead shark swinging in your face. Some nice stuff you might actually consider buying, vendors selling sachlav and freshly squeezed juice so Jojo was happily enjoying the drinks and thieving olives off the stand like a pro. There was indeed lots of fish around but unless you speak fluent arabic you are unlikely to get a bargain. The fruit & veg was the same price as the supermarket! We visited every fish stand but nobody could tell us where any of it had come from, and it didn’t look particularly cheap. I don’t get it – surely Akko should be the cheapest place in israel to buy fish? It’s a market next to a port for goodness sake!! One of the bigger stalls just outside the market was doing a thriving business and we noticed they had boxes piled up. We took a look and all the bream and bass was imported from cyprus. So much for local fish. Anyway I asked him for a couple of bream but the man looked at me as if I was from outerspace and said he couldn’t possibly sell me just 2. I have no idea why. They had no sign up saying ” we only sell to restaurants” [well not in hebrew anyway] so we just left. Maybe he just didn’t like my accent. Whatever – I did manage to purchase some decent snapper, albeit at a ridiculous price [62 shekel for 2 fillets???] and Husband is noisily preparing it in the kitchen as we speak. [at that price, he better do a good job].

Recently a good friend came out to Israel bearing two 400 gram bars of Dairy Milk, one of them with nuts. Finally. They were cermeniously handed over to us during a wedding dinner and I lovingly placed them in the bottom of our buggy and they made it back to our friends house later that night.  Somewhere during our travels last weekend they went missing. We have no idea where but we have shortlisted the following potential culprits:

1) The friends we stayed at in Jerusalem on thursday night [we know she likes chocolate].

2) The family we stayed with in Kibbutz Alumim [ex-Brits, could have been any of them].

3) My dad.

Please own up. We don’t want to have to get the police involved. You have been warned.