Israel & Jordan 2023: Caesarea Maritima

Sitting along the beautiful Mediterranean coast, Caesarea Maritima, now Caesarea National Park, was the largest seaport in the Roman Empire during the time of Herod. It was Herod the Great who built it and named it after the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar.

Funny story, a few weeks before the trip we chanced upon a travel show on PBS featuring Caesarea. Up until that time I have not heard of it and didn't even see it among the must-see lists when I look up Israel. After seeing that program, I immediately put it on our list to see. Little did I know that we will be stopping there as part of our itinerary after all. Lucky us.

Also before leaving Tel Aviv for good, we were supposed to stop at Rabin Square to see the memorial for the slain former prime minister Rabin. However, due to the on-going construction of the square and the terrible traffic around the area, the large bus we were on was unable to find any parking spot, so we skipped this part of the trip. Fortunately for me and my spouse, we had already covered this spot with our independent walking trip the day before. This is why we, when time and schedule permits, always try to arrive a day or two before the start of the guided tour, or stay a day or two after the trip to cover the sites not included in the tour.

Caesarea is about 63 km from Jaffa, around 45 minutes away by car. A perfect day trip destination from the capital Tel Aviv or about an hour and 15 minutes (about 120 km) from Jerusalem.

The Roman Theatre

Selfie spot

You can see what a beautiful January day we had with the sun shining in all it's glory. It was a perfect day to be in such a picturesque place.

The Hippodrome

I love visiting archeological sites, or is it not obvious?

We had lunch here before moving on to the next destination for the day. Unfortunately because the writings were in Hebrew and we didn't ask, the beer we grabbed was non-alcoholic.