Bahá'u'lláh, referring to His Own suffering during the first nine years of His banishment to the prison-city of Akká, has written:

"Know thou," Bahá'u'lláh, wishing to emphasize the criticalness of the first nine years of His banishment to that prison-city, has written, "that upon Our arrival at this Spot, We chose to designate it as the `Most Great Prison.' Though previously subjected in another land (Tihrán) to chains and fetters, We yet refused to call it by that name. Say: Ponder thereon, O ye endued with understanding!"

-- Bahá'u'lláh quoted in Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 185

The Greatest Holy Leaf was with Bahá'u'lláh and the little band of Bahá'ís that followed Him into exile during the journey from Adrianople to Akká. In her later years she recorded these memories of their arrival at the prison-city:

"...at last we reached Akká, the end of our journey.

"All the townspeople had assembled to see the arrival of the prisoners. Having been told that we were infidels, criminals, and sowers of sedition, the attitude of the crowd was threatening. Their yelling of curses and execrations filled us with fresh misery. We were terrified of the unknown! We knew not what the fate of our party, the friends and ourselves would be.

Bahíyyih Khánum quoted in Lady Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, p. 66