Caesarea

Together with my Canadian friend Colette, and two South African women whom we had met at the retreat, we headed up the coast. I was excited to see and feel the Mediterranean Sea for the first time in my life.

A few years ago I heard an archaeologist in our church talk about the amazing engineering accomplishments of King Herod, particularly at Caesarea. Ever since then I had thought I would like to see Caesarea if I ever got to Israel. On our way north, we drove up the coastline and stopped in this archaeological goldmine. It was fascinating to see the remains of various civilizations who had conquered and built upon this site. Roman, Byzantine, Crusader - everyone with a different plan and priority. I was especially interested to see the hippodrome where they had held chariot races a la Ben Hur. Sadly this same facility was also the place where Christians were tortured and killed as sport.

Another very interesting port that we visited on the Mediterranean coast was the ancient seaport of Akko. It was a windy day and the surf was pounding gloriously! It was also very hot and we wandered the narrow streets of this Arab town for awhile but I got my share of sun!