Caesarea Maritima

 Part One: (Part two is below this)

Weekends are field trip days, so we loaded in the bus and headed for Caesarea Maritima. Traffic circles often have intersting items inside them. This one had metal animals on poles.

I haven't really been here long enough to assess what is typical Israeli, but somehow this gas station feels very of its place, with its aqua and red colors and the flowers in front.

 

 Here is a random photo from the bus window.

Here's another. These white box buildings seem to be very typical of cities in this region.



The Roman ruins at Caesarea are quite impressive. Herod the Great built a huge port and palatial estate there and we have lots of remains from his glory days (22-10 BCE).

Herod built his palace looking out at the sea.

...which as you can see is beautiful and deep blue.

Herod built his famous swimming pool sohe could look out on the ocean. 

This is the remainder of the hippodrome.

 

There was a Jewish revolt here and thousands of Jews were reportedly slain in gladiator combat

 

 As you head away from the amphitheater you encounter dwellings and warehouses.

 

Here's a mosaic from the posher part of town.

If I were to study archaeology, I think I would specialize in mosaics.
There were some lovely fragments.

Here is the obligatory picture of the group I am working with. Aren't they a great group?

 

Part Two:

 More mosaics in Caesarea Maritima:

 

 

 Here are some other areas of the site.

Here are some hooded crows checking out the sights too.

 

The French came during the crusades. Baldwin I lay siege to the city with Trebuchets (long-armed catapults) in 1101 and when they conquered the area, they killed a lot of the men, enslaved the women and children and loot the city as well as deciding to redesign it staying there until 1187 (and then retaking it again later from 1191 to 1265). The invaders added a wall and a moat and some architecture that is clearly more European.

This building has the beautiful Gothic arches that you see in medieval French churches.

Here you can see the moat that they built around the city and part of the wall.

Here are some Jewish school children who were taken on a class field trip.

This is a sparrow I saw on an evergreen tree of some kind.

After we left the ruins we went to swim in the Mediterranean.  It was very cool, because we parked by an old aqueduct and then went to the other side to swim.