At Ben Gurion airport we purchased our Rav-Kav public transport tickets for future use and some Parks passes, a tourist-only initiative to pre-purchase bulk and discounted admission into a set number of nature parks throughout Israel. After arranging our hire car, a tired clapped out Hyundai i10, we were on our way out of the airport heading down Route 1 towards Tel Aviv. Although we had originally planned to visit Tiberias, Magdala & Susita, time was starting to run out to achieve all of these and so we decided to stop over at Caesarea on the coast first and finish the day in Tiberias.
We made good time to Caesarea, spotting on the way, a plinthed F-4E Phantom II fighter jet near Netanya. Israel has hundreds of old military relics positioned in public areas like roadsides and parks, thanks to the country's rich military history. This jet would be the first of many we would see in our two and a half weeks.
Caesarea Maritima
Caesarea Maritima (32°29'56.66"N 34°53'28.53"E) was a large city built by Herod the Great from 22 -10/9BC situated on the Mediterranean coast about half way between Haifa and Tel Aviv. Settlements from the Persian and Greek era's had existed some 500 years prior. The city took 12 years to build and was very well planned with large public amenities and streets. It became a great commercial success and in 6BC became the headquarters for the Roman government in Palestine. The city lasted for some 650 years or so, populated by Jews, Christians, Samaritans and pagans through the Roman and Byzantine eras and became the largest fortified city in the country. The Arab conquest saw the city sacked and most of the residents left. It lay for 300 years as an insignificant village but was gradually rebuilt and eventually refortified where the city once again became an important port and commercial center. The crusdaers took it over in 1101 and was governed by the Knights of Garnier. In 1251 its fortifications were greatly improved and advanced by France's Louis the 9th, but only 5 years later in 1265 the city was completely razed by the Mamluks. It remained completely destroyed until the Ottoman's settled Bosnian refugees here in the late 1800's. The old fortress was renovated and became the administrative centre and new houses were built upon the ruins of the old ones. Caesarea has seen a number of excavations and with digs beginning from 1873, but the major excavations took place between 1959 and 1964, uncovering the aqueduct, theatre and the various living quarters. Further excavations have continued since 1992 and the entire park is now under the control of Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Our visit into the park was delayed by almost half an hour as we soon learned the parks passes we had purchased should never have been sold to us due to a major computer problem. The lady at the kiosk was most helpful however and arranged for the manager of the Parks authority to write up a letter to show the entrances to the rest of the parks we would visit.
Much of the central part of the city was built during the medieval times and we spent a couple of hours walking around the ruins of the city. Some of the areas we missed included the harbour and the synagogue.
The major remains from Herod's time include the Hippodrome, one of two. The second one has not yet been excavated and lies to the east of Caeasarea Maritima. Herod's is the older of the two and is situated right on the coast. Originally it had a capacity for some 10,000 spectators. It is believed this Hippodrome ceased operations and became a second amphitheatre or entertainment venue after the larger one was commissioned.
At the northern end of the Hippodrome are the remains of a huge bath house complex which was constructed after Herod's Hippodrome was reduced in status. Some of the mosaic's and marble tiles can still be found here, however most of it was destroyed and built over during medieval times.
The amphitheatre is currently having some major work done to it to transform it into a functioning open air entertainment venue. It is the oldest theatre found in Israel and had a capacity of some 4,000 spectators. Like the Hippodrome, it was built during Herod's time and remained in operation for around 400 years before being converted into a castle. It was deserted after the Arab conquest around 640AD.
We decided against having lunch here as some of the prices were ludicrously expensive, although we did sample some of the local (and also exhorbirantly priced) pomegranate juice prior to leaving the main area and moving on to the Caesarea aqueduct, a 5 minute drive away from the main city entrance.
The aqueduct is in the free section and the most impressive area is on the beach. It ran for about 10 kilometres north from the Shuni springs at Mount Carmel and dropped about 20 centimetres every kilometre of distance. A section of the aqueduct entering the side of Mount Carmel can be seen, and even walked through, although we will have to leave this for next time. As the city grew and demand for water increased, the aqueduct's capacity was greatly increased with water sourced from different springs and eventually from the Crocodile river as well. The beach section spans for 500 meters before disappearing underneath a sand bank. This entire section was widened, archaelogists say about 150 years after the original portion, using the same materials and building techniques. This makes telling the difference between the older and newer sections somewhat difficult. The photo below shows the two halves quite clearly. The seaside portion is the original and is in a more advanced state of decay than the newer section on the carpark side.
Caesarea is noted once in the Bible in the books of Matthew and Mark, plus numerous times in the book of Acts. It is city where the apostle Paul was imprisoned for two years, and also where apostle Simon-Peter converted the first gentile to follow Jesus. Pontius Pilate also governed for 10 years under Emperor Tiberius.
"At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment." - Acts 10:1
The day was getting late and we headed off to Kinneret, a small village on the south western edge of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias). This took longer than expected as the SIM card we had pre-purchased wasn't working and we had no access to internet sat-nav. I had studied the area fairly well prior, however not on this particular route we were taking as we had intended to visit Caesarea a few days later. We took a wrong turn at Afula and after getting somewhat lost in the city streets, eventually ended up heading towards Beit She'an and then headed back north to Kinneret from there. This added about an hour to the journey, but as the late Bob Ross always said, "We don't make mistakes.. we just have happy little accidents". This certainly turned out to be a very memorable drive and we were treated to the sun setting over the gorgeous landscapes of rolling green hills along the border of Jordan. It was spring time and northern Israel and the Golan Heights had experienced heavy rainfalls in the precedeing weeks. The hillsides usually have yellowish grass, but at this time of year, everything is rich green and blanketed in various wild flowers.
We followed the road signs to Kinneret and found ourselves in a minimart in a Kibbutz. This place has the best hotdogs in the world! The very kind employee also phoned our accommodation for us and the owner piloted us to our semi-attached unit overlooking the southern edge of the sea of Galilee. For evening we drove to Tiberias for dinner, enjoying a nice dinner of St. Peter's fish and chicken liver kebabs (you can guess who had what).
Continue to Part 4 - click here