Acre, or Akko, is a walled port on the northern arm of Haifa Bay, and almost every century has left a layer on it. The Crusaders made it their last great stronghold in the Holy Land until it fell in 1291, and the vaulted halls of the Knights Hospitaller still lie underneath the Ottoman town built on top. The Ottomans rebuilt the walls in the eighteenth century, added the mosque of al-Jazzar, a caravanserai with a courtyard of columns, and a labyrinth of covered markets. The whole old city is a UNESCO site.
The House of 'Abdu'lláh Páshá belongs to a later and quieter chapter. It was a large Ottoman house in the old city, and it served as the residence of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and his family after their years of confinement in the city's citadel in the 1860s and 1870s. It is among the Bahá'í holy places in Acre and the Galilee that UNESCO listed in 2008, together with the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí north of the town and the gardens of Haifa. Visits to these places are arranged by the Bahá'í community and are not always possible, so check the arrangements rather than turning up and hoping.
For a rider, the old city is a place to walk. Cars and bikes are restricted in many lanes, and the streets are narrow, stepped and full of pedestrians and shopkeepers. Park outside the walls, near the harbour or the promenade, and go in on foot. The coast road, Route 4, runs north to Rosh HaNikra, where white chalk cliffs meet the sea, and south to Haifa, a busy but easy ride with the Carmel ridge on the skyline. East of Acre, the roads climb quickly into the hills of Galilee, with olive groves, stone villages and lively bends.
Acre has about forty-five thousand people, so fuel, shops and cafés are never a problem. Its food has a loyal following: hummus in small places near the market, fresh fish at the harbour, and sweets laced with rosewater and pistachio. The sea breeze keeps the heat tolerable in summer, but midday can still be sticky, and it is worth knowing that Friday afternoons and Saturdays are quiet, with many shops closed.
Walk the ramparts at sunset, when the old stone turns honey-coloured and the fishermen mend their nets below.