Caesarea - Charming ruins and a feline tour guide

 Possibly the most interesting place we visited in Israel, and one of the reasons we went, was the ruins of the city of Caesarea Maritima. If you've read this blog from a couple of years ago, you'll know that when I was travelling I would search out every ruined ancient city I could find and visit it. I just love the feeling of walking in amongst the ruins, feeling the history through my feet as I walked down Roman pavements that would have been a hive of activity two thousand years ago. You can't get closer to history than that!

Getting there was a bit of a kerfuffle, I won't lie. We had to catch a bus from the main bus station in Tel Aviv, which was a monster in itself. It's the second largest bus station in the world, and my god is it confusing. It feels both busy and abandoned, with most of the escalators not working, and you have to navigate to the top of the building in order to actually catch the bus. It's this brutalist concrete monster, and I suppose you could say a feat of engineering, there is ramps and raised roads all over the place, and how the bus drivers managed to find the right stand is anyone's guess. We finally made it to the right place, and jumped on the first bus, which dropped us off at the Or-Akiva interchange. Then, we walked a little way to the bus stop for the bus to Caesarea, where we discovered that the timetable we found online did not match to the one on the bus stop, and that we had over an hour to wait. We debated walking it, and then in an interesting turn of events, the woman at the bus stop overheard us, and said we could jump in her friends car who was driving her somewhere else but would pass the Caesarea Archeological Park. I was a bit dubious at the thought of hitch hiking, I'd only done it once before, and it was because I was desperate (I was in Turkey in 45 degree heat, and had a 10km walk back to the main road for the bus back to Adana. I turned down the first person who offered me a lift, but after doing the first 2 km, I gave in and flagged a chap down, who spoke no English but treated me like an old friend). Anyway, her friend came by, waved us in and dropped us at the entrance, and refused any money from us. So if you're reading this, thank you for saving us from a good thirty minute walk! 

This is just inside past the main entrance, and is the remains of the old crusader era fortress, the walls of which form part of the boundary of the park. Entrance to the site is 46 NIS (New Israeli Shekels, I always wondered about the old shekels!) which equates to about £10.50. Trust me, this could be the best tenner you ever spend.

This is the view across the town, of one of the main roads, along with the Hippodrome in the mid distance, and the towering chimneys of the Orot Rabin power station and desalination plant.

Aside from our feet, you can see some fantastic mosaics at the site, this charming little geometric flower pattern, as well as a little museum tucked into some of the restored vaults, which contain many statues and also evidence of Jewish life from the town. Along with Jerusalem, it was one of the biggest settlements in the Roman province of Roman Judea & Palestine. It was notable for it's port, which I will show you a little later.

The weather was still windy from the storm the night before, and the dark clouds hung close to us. Thankfully we had our coats on!

The quality of some of the mosaics was incredible, the writing of this one is almost as good as the day it was made, which this one had the most beautiful detail and sienna & navy colours to it. 

Here's a shot of the hippodrome, which was enormous, and flanked along the waterside. I offered James a race, but he didnt think that was a good idea! You can just imagine the excitement of the spectators as chariots would race around the track. I imagine chariot racing would have been exciting to watch, but I would perhaps be more excited by the Roman food being sold by vendors just outside! I wonder what they would have been offering?

Another view of the hippodrome, this time from the other end. Take note of the crusader era church which had been built into the centre of the racetrack. I mean at least you would have had a flat surface to build it on.

And here you can see the remains of King Herod's Palace, the ruler of Judea, who embarked on many colossal building projects, such as the harbour at Caesarea and expanding the second temple in Jerusalem. 

A view through the park towards the impressive amphitheater.

This part was amazing, you got to wander through the ruins, with their fantastic (but slightly slippery) marble floors.

Imagine what life would have been like to live in a Roman villa like this. I probably would have been slave, I doubt I ever would have been fancy or rich enough to live here!

Part of the wall of the expanded crusader port and breakwater, where this crime of using marble pillars as part of the foundation has been committed.

Atop the breakwater sits a couple of building housing a glass crafting shop and a couple of places to eat. We headed into Limani Bistro, a casual style eatery for lunch. The food was terrific, James had pasta while I had a whole seabass, complete with cat sat on my lap. James had one on the chair next to him, and there was another one guarding my bag the entire time we ate. But never once did the cat try to steal any of our food! We paid up, and was given a shot of Limoncello. Then suddenly, the cats were in action, one distracted us while the other tried to have a slurp of the limoncello! Never mind the fish, it's the citrus liquor they wanted! We drank up quickly and headed out, and one of the cats decided to show us down to the edge of the breakwater to see the still rough seas pounding onto it.

The spray coming off it was fantastic to see, and you could almost feel the thud of the bigger waves coming up against it.

Our feline tour guide didn't fancy wet paws, so sat a safe distance away while we took our pictures and got splashed!

We came back up, gave him some affection and attention and thanked him for the little tour, before heading back into the site, where we came across another, slightly over friendly ginger cat who played with James for a bit, before coming to me and sneezing green gunk all over my leg. God knows what on earth this cat had, because it stained my trousers and I had to throw them away when even the vanish stick couldnt get rid of it!

The site had even more to offer, we then headed a little further up the coast to see some of the warehouse and water side buildings, before walking onto the beach. The breakwater was doing a brilliant job, it seemed to be much calmer here.

This wall forms part of the old harbour, and you can see the other side of it poking through. When it was constructed by King Herod, it was the largest man made harbour in the world, and was a feat of engineering. However, poor quality construction meant it needed frequent maintenance. Something that happened while it was in use, but as the towns fortunes waned, it rapidly disintegrated.

Another view of the harbour wall stretching out. Now it feels like a quiet sleepy place, but you can imagine how busy the port would have been in it's heyday, apparently it rivalled the ports of Rome & Alexandria, now that must be saying something!

This is a view of part of the bastion walls as you leave the park, they are almost their full height still, and so you get a feel for how strong and well defended the fortress would have been.

Part of the aqueduct that would have brought fresh running water into the city.  The aqueduct ran for miles across the beach and into the desert, and we were planning to continue to walk along side it another day when we had more time. I couldn't believe we had spent nearly all day there! But it was a fantastic place to visit, and no wonder it is one of Israel's most visited attractions. I would highly recommend it, and it was perhaps the highlight of our visit.

We then had the long walk back to Or-Akiva interchange to jump back on the bus to Tel-Aviv, I was buzzing, and James slept for most of the way. We were soon back in Tel-Aviv, and we made ourselves some dinner in the apartment while sharing a bottle of very delicious Rose. So delicious, I could have more, but as we were getting up early, I decided against it!