Ten minutes left and we were dashing through the narrow stone streets of an Ottoman era city in the heat of the day. Rivers of sweat pouring down my face, I was determined. Emily was continually 25-50 feet behind – but I had to forge ahead, we had come so far and we couldn’t give up now.
As we rounded a blind corner, the smell of beans rose up to greet us – and there it was, Said (sah-yeed) Hummus. Ziv said it, the Lonely Planet said it and the lady who walked us through a shortcut to get there said it – Said is the best hummus in Israel and people come from all over to have it. Only they close at 2 pm.
And this isn’t the buy it in a plastic container at the grocery store stuff. This is the hummus that eats like a meal – freshly made, warm, in a giant bowl, doused with olive oil and served with side items such as chopped garlic and chili sauce. People sit at their tables consuming bowls of hummus. Varieties of hummus you have never seen unless you have been to see Said – the Willy Wonka of hummus.
As we walked in with only ten minutes to spare, the hummus oompa-loompas knew our story at a glance. Clearly, they had seen it before – sweaty white people with a backpack arriving ten minutes before closing looking hungry and confused. This was not a problem for Said.
We were seated immediately, upon which a pitcher of cold ice water and glasses came. Then the well spoken man informed us there are no menus – only the five kinds of hummus. As he listed them – with variations involving fava beans, whole chick peas, eggs, lemon, garlic and a number of other things that were so shocking in the moment we couldn’t keep them straight, we put ourselves at his mercy and asked for two bowls of whatever he recommends.
And so it was. And it was good.
So far in this trip, there have been only two things we have run for – a departing bus and a closing restaurant. Both were worth it.
Full of Said’s magic hummus and carrying a bag of baklava purchased from the baklava man across the alley from Said, we then turned our attention to Akko – the most amazing town of which we had been completely unaware until last weekend.
Ziv simply mentioned that the best hummus comes from a little Arab village near Haifa – his hometown. As we drove up to Haifa, we thought perhaps we’d visit this little Arab village that all the Jewish Israelis go to for their hummus fix. We both imagined a small, dusty town similar to the Druz village I had been to on my previous trip to Israel.
Akko – about 20 minutes north of Haifa is nothing of the sort. The new town looks much like any other Israeli beach city – and it’s fairly large. The old town is an Ottoman era citadel village complete with Hammam, street markets and ramparts. And unlike old town Rhodes or the Caleci in Antalya, this town is rough around the edges, lived in and real. It was amazing.
Hercules had taken respite to heal his wounds there, Egyptians had claimed it, the Romans traded there, Crusaders had made it a base, Mamluks had destroyed it, and Turks had rebuilt it. Akko was an important port before the British followed by the Israelis built up Haifa.
And there we were, dreadfully behind on getting to Haifa to get our work done at a cafe and then walking around – but completely enchanted with our little detour destination.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay and headed back toward Haifa. We needed a cafe with wireless Internet and I stupidly didn’t look through our Lonely Planet for suggested locations. So, as we got into town, I assumed we would find what we wanted downtown by the water when in fact, all the coolest stuff is on the top of the hill – aka Mount Carmel.
One confusion led to another and so, we retreated back to the local mall since malls are always a haven of wireless, seating and cafes. We worked there for a couple of miserable hours.
We aren’t able to explain the combination of fatigue, disinterest in work and frustration that came over us. We really just wanted to be walking around Haifa and seeing things.
By the time we finished, it was past nightfall. Having consulted the guidebook, I knew where to head – and up to the top of the Carmel we went to Carmel Centre – a swanky and cool area that reminded me a little of San Francisco.
We had some trouble finding the supposedly incredible views because of all the houses and buildings which had occupied the top shekel real estate. So, when I saw the sign for the Crowne Plaza, I thought “people there are paying for a view” and finally, something worked easily the first time. Only next to the hotel was a fantastic restaurant and bar with an amazing view. So a light dinner and view of the town and harbor it was.
Over dinner we discussed our strange situation. Israel takes more work to get around. We lose more time in transportation and transactions. A taxi to a train to a shuttle bus to pick up a rental car (which takes forever to rent because the people in the office try to multi-task so much that they get nothing done completely). Things take time. And really, for the first time, we want to be full-time tourists in this little country that has so much available.
Nonetheless, while we both feel desperately behind on work, we will go today to the Dead Sea and some caves in the desert. We’ll take Friday and Saturday (sacrilegiously) to catch up on work as much as possible.
In Greece, there was no time pressure at all. Sit around a cafe, work in the room, go out on the beach a few feet away, walk around the town – it was easy and all readily available. We didn’t feel we were missing that much. Sitting at a cafe by the water in old town Hania was still being part of things.
But in Israel, they amazingly don’t have cafes that Hercules built, the Mamluks destroyed and Turks rebuilt overlooking the ancient harbor.
That aside, Haifa itself is gorgeous and very pleasant. For one if Israel’s larger cities, it is significantly smaller than Tel Aviv or Jerusalem and much prettier. Living in Carmel Centre with the sweeping views and the tree-lined vertical city over the port and beaches would be the nicest place to live that we’ve yet seen in Israel. It is a completely different world than Tel Aviv.
Now we go from the heights of the Carmel to the sights of the desert. In Israel, the whole scenery changes in the amount of time it takes to commute to work in Los Angeles.
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