Caesarea (pronounced Kah-ser-iya) is a Roman port built in 25 BC. It was the administrative capital of the Judaea province of the Roman Empire, later taken over by Arabs, then the Crusaders, and much later (i.e., 19th century) by Bozniaks. Today the area around Caesarea is the Israeli equivalent of an upscale golf community a la Palm Beach or wherever. There was some sort of running race going on, so we ended up dumping the car and having to walk over a mile to get to the ruins and back…because the police neglected to tell us there was a parking lot on the other side of the ruins. That was a shame because we ended up losing a lot of time and energy schlepping when we could have been exploring.
Caesarea had a few claims to fame. First, it apparently was the site of a major feat of Roman engineering, in the form of an artificial harbor. The harbor collapsed into the ocean so it’s no longer visible to the casual tourist. It’s also significant because it is the only place archeologists/historians have ever found proof that Pontius Pilate was a real person (and in fact, a Roman prefect). In almost all religious accounts, Pontius Pilate had some role in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. (That said, after approximately 10 minutes of Wikipedia I am confused about what exactly that role was.)
Caesarea was also the only place in Israel where we ran into American tourists. We were waiting in line at the small cafe to get ice cream and a coke when we ran into a “group of folks” who we quickly discerned were a church group on a bus trip around the Holy Land, one of them was clearly an American pastor who was leading his flock. He was rushing them to hurry up and order because they hadn’t even planned at stopping at Caeserea since they were on there way to [Mt. Carmel?] [where something religious-y happened?] This was all fine and good, until one of the Americans asked if he could pay in dollars…we were an hour and a half from the airport and the guy never exchanged cash to get shekels. I’m not even sure if he realized the dollar is not the currency they use it Israel. Sigh.
The palace at Caeserea. If you look at this picture and think “Hey, a swimming pool!” then you are right– the Romans built this swimming pool cut right into the rock promontory.
Hippodrome with a view:
Here are the insides of some sweet houses:
Thermal vents in the bath complex:
I have a couple more photos of Caeserea’s crusader structures, but I think I will save those for a broader crusader post!