The alumni of Livnot call it “Leave-not,” due to their tendency to stay on campus in Tzfat for days—even weeks—after the program ends. And yes, I still haven’t left Tzfat, though I spent today in Acre (pronounced “Akko”), a mostly-Arab city whose port is dominated by 900-year-old Crusader fortifications. Acre is all the way across the country from Tzfat, but this is Israel, so all the way across the country is a sixty-minute drive.
Every hummus vendor you meet will tell you theirs is the, “Best hummus in Israel!” But Acre enjoys its reputation as the one true home of the best hummus: Hummus Said, which I didn’t get to because it closes at two-fucking-thirty-PM. Abu Sohel, one of Said’s competitors (and the place I wound up for lunch), also has great hummus, but there has to be something magical about a place that can shut its doors before dinner and still make a profit. Oh well; maybe next time I’m in Acre…
There are contests for hummus in Israel, and then there are (perhaps more serious) contests for land. In a city as old as Acre, the physical evidence of these power struggles is everywhere. Acre’s Crusader halls were further fortified by the Ottoman Turks, and the artifacts excavated from their depths date back to the Canaanites. I wonder how many have died for this port, how long any empire can last here, how much blood one land can soak up.
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