Caesarea ~ Qesariya

They have Hebrew names for every international name. For example, India is (k)Hodu, English is Anglit or in proper nouns, Jonathan is Yonathan. But this is not a new phenomenon for Indians, since we also have Calcutta as Kolkotta, Bombay as Mumbai and Madras as Chennai. Funnier instance is the way these names are spelt, when you already have 2 different names, they make sure to spell them in a dozen different ways :-) One such place is Caesarea or Qesariya. Exactly half way and equidistant (45-50km) from Tel Aviv and Haifa via Road 2 or Road 4, this is a beautiful Roman city under the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. This city as-is was finally designed and built by King Herod and named in honor of the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus. It has undergone changes from the Byzantine period to Saladin period.

But the Roman architecture is very vividly visible. Think of romans, you can only think of one thing - the amphitheater. This amphitheater is usually rented for social gatherings, award functions, music nights and even weddings.

There are 3 parts to this national park that I would like to mention about. The first is the entrance at the amphitheater, which has the ticket counter and the rest rooms and a couple of small souvenir shops where you can grab a drink or ice cream. As we walk away from the amphitheater into the ancient city, we can see the remains of Herod's palace, the sea by the side of the famous hippodrome by King Herod. And this amazing view ends at the Maritime and diving center of Caesarea. You could call that the exit or entry II, which is flooded with many many restaurants and jewelery shops.

View of the ancient city

A walk along the hippodrome on high tide days, one can get a free shower by the sea waters. Kids have amazing amount of fun collecting beautiful pebbles and shells.

Herod's Hippodrome

Towards the 2nd entrance we can see more remains and a huge spread of lawns for a wonderful picnic. Opposite to these ruins is the wide spread of souvenir shops/ice cream juice shops and restaurants.

As we walk out, we get a glimpse of an old synagogue.

The moat around Caesarea

Along the diving center, there are these broken walls bordering the sea. These walls were said to be broken/destroyed by Saladin. Many young boys and girls have a hobby of jumping off the walls into the Mediterranean sea, thus entertaining us and even offering to pose for some pictures.

As we turn around, we spot a bunch of senior citizens involved in this quiet hobby of fishing. Be it sun or rain, they take care of their silent business very well.

Caesarea Harbor

People who do not have the National parks pass or want to visit parts of Caesarea free of cost, can go to that part of the beach which has the Aqueduct. Once again, this aqueduct was built by Herod.

Caesarea will always have a special mention because, this was the first place, our very first weekend outing. We landed on Thursday evening, and on Saturday morning we drove to this ancient city. We have visited this place 4 times in 15 months. And our penultimate weekend trip before leaving the country was also to Caesarea.

That said about the remains of the ancient roman city, Caesarea, at present is one of the poshest localities in Israel and also is known for the high theft rate :-).