Aacre

Sunday, our family drove up to the seaside city of Aacre (pronounced Aakaa in Arabic). Aacre is located on the Mediterranean Sea just north of the port city of Haifa and just south of the Lebanese border. It is a beautiful city, but is currently rather unfortunately under Israeli control. Nonetheless, a rather significant Arab community still persists there and attempts to thrive despite constant subjugation.

I wish I had more to say about Aacre. Unfortunately, we've had some nasty GI bug going around our family (we think we've traced it to some raw bitter-greens we'd been eating) and it was my turn to be ill. I spent most of the long (by Arab standards) 3 1/2 hour drive napping on-and-off and otherwise completely ignoring the absolutely amazing and ever-evolving scenery that was passing me by. We apparently drove past palm trees, mango groves, fish-farms, mountains, and the sea. Sadly, I saw nothing of it. In fact, my first glimpse of the Mediterranean, was to run to an ancient wall, lean over it, and immediately get sick directly into the sea below. It was quite spectacular.

In our culture, we have two home remedies for stomach maladies. Of the two, I'm not sure which one tastes worse; they're both pretty awful. But they also both work. The first one may be a bit hard to find in the States, depending on where you live. It simply consists of taking a spoonful of Arak, an anise-based liquor similar to Oozo, but even more vile. (Yes, I know that some of you will disagree with my description of arak.) The second home remedy tastes equally offensive, but is also easily attainable in the States. Simply, mix the juice of one lemon with a couple of spoonfuls of cornstarch. Mix well, so as to make a paste, and then drink it. Personally, I suggest making it in a shot glass and then shooting the vile thing; it's less painful than slowly drinking it.

Home remedies aside, here are a handful of photos of the beautiful, ancient city of Aacre and the Mediterranean Sea.

The ancient walls of Aacre and the Mediterranean Sea below.

Aacre - the restaurant where my family ate is the brown building in the distance. I sat there,too, slowly nursing my spoonful of Arak.

Arab homes in Aacre.

These fishermen were perched upon the wall, despite signs clearly saying (in three languages), "Do not climb on walls." It was a prime fishing spot, though and they caught loads of fish.

The fisherman thought I was cute (my cousin's wife heard them talking), so I asked them if my cousin's son could fish with them. They were kind enough to give him a go.

These rather young boys were fishing on this rock out in the middle of the sea!