Friday is Day 5 and this is a very significant day for us as we have a two hour visit to the Archives. Here we are able to view personal items of the Bab, Bahá’u’lláh, `Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. If you missed my saying ‘significant’, let me just repeat that! Following our Archives visit we wander through the Monument Gardens where Bahá’u’lláh’s son, the Purest Branch, Bahá’u’lláh’s wife Navváb, Bahá’u’lláh’s daughter, the Greatest Holy Leaf, and Munirih Khanum, who is the wife of `Abdu’l-Bahá have monuments and are interred here. More questions? Look here.
Saturday was a free day, or should we say it is was unscheduled. We went to Dawn Prayers at the Shrine of the Bab at 6:30.
Then by 10 we were at the Beth Shalom in the hopes of hiring a sherut to take 10 of us to Akka and then Bahji. However, children were still ill, and the other family were not feeling ready to go. In fact Renee said it was like trying to herd cats!
In the end there were just Lawrie & I and Angela walking back to our place for some extra lunch ingredients and then down to the Hadar area to pick up a sherut to take us to Akka. A very pleasant time was enjoyed by the three of us. An attempt to stay on the suggested route still took us through the bazaar and past ever so many interesting areas as you may see through the photos I took.
The former Ottoman prison city of Akka is significant to Bahá’ís for many reasons. Akka (or Acre, or Akko) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country and historically, was regarded as a strategic coastal link to the Levant. First and foremost, it was here that Bahá’u’lláh was exiled. It was here that Mirza Mihidi, called the Purest Branch, the second son of Bahá’u’lláh, died. And, though not right in Akka, but in the general vicinity, is the final resting spot of Bahá’u’lláh. At that time Akka was considered one of the most pestilent cities in the world. It was said that should a bird fly over Akka, it would die due to the odor. One cannot begin to imagine the suffering and anguish this small group of Bahá’ís must have endured then.
But today we are just tourists…
It was “interesting” finding a sherut (multi passenger taxi) to return to Hafai. Especially when you are not 100% sure where you are going. And we had been advised to not be in Akka after dark as there aren’t many ways to get back home! But find a sherut we did! We finished off the day with a visit to the Shrine of the Bab and `Abdu’l-Bahá and then a nice supper.
I love these photos of Akka. I vividly remember some of the places and not others. I don’t recall any reference to the tunnel to the prison where Baha’u’llah spent a day. Great shots Lynn. Thanks