The Ameinu program ended by dropping everyone off in Tel Aviv with several days of free time. On my family's last day in Israel, my parents hired a tour guide to show us several highlits from the north. We chose to explore the city of Acco, as it is where I will be spending the last, four-month, section of the program.

Sidenote 1: Acco is a really cool\unique city (one of the few to defeat the infamous Napoleon Bonaparte!). At some point in the future, I will write a blog entry about it. (Note: You may see the name of this city spelled as: Acco, Akko, Acre, or אכו ).

As we were walking around the old city of Acco, we came across an open door. Our guide, Shooki, had never been inside and seized the opportunity to explore. Inside, we found the home of a Greek Orthodox minister who had just moved to the region. He spoke to us about the history of the church in Israel and the Acco region and served us coffee.

Sidenote 2: It is considered extremely rude to refuse food or drink from any member of an Arabic community. Hospitality to guests is an important part of their culture.

After, his assistant (I do not know her actual church title) showed us around the actual church area. All the paintings inside the church were redone in the mid-1800's. Many other elements of the building were much older.