Blogs from Caesaria, Haifa District, Israel, Middle East

Last day of the tour and we start off at 8am for the short walk to the Church of Annunciation which has mosaics contributed by many countries around the world including Australia which has it’s contribution inside the church. The church is built over a Byzantine era then crusader era church which in turn houses the remains of what is believed to be the house of the Virgin Mary and the location of the Annunciation by angel Gabriel that she would give birth to the son of God. Then walked down to our waiting bus (another van had taken our luggage down) and we headed off to Haifa on the Mediterranean coast to look at the Bahai Gardens that go up Mount Carmel and then a drive to the top where we had a great view ... read more

We visited two sites today as we drove north of Jerusalem on our way to the Galilee, where we will be for the next week. Today’s sites were not necessarily spiritual visits, but they are certainly connected to archaeology and our Judaeo-Christian faith. Caesarea Maritima is best known for the palace of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate and as one of the locations of Paul’s imprisonment (Acts 23:23-27). The next site we visited was continually inhabited from the 6th Millennia BC until the 4th Century BC; yes, 20 times this location was settled and re-settled for close to 5,000 years and then slowly abandoned about 300 years before Jesus. Throughout Megiddo’s storied history, its nearby Jezreel Valley has hosted numerous and legendary battles. Perhaps, this is why John of Patmos chose this site for the final ... read more

We received our courtesy wake-up call promptly at 6 AM by the diligent front desk; but, only after my courtesy wake-up alarm for 5 AM racquetball awoke both of us much before we were ready. It might have seemed odd for my phone to be chiming in so early; except, Sharon had suggested that I set a backup in case we didn’t get our courtesy wake-up. I’m way ahead of you, I've already disabled my MWF alarm for the remainder of the trip. I mumbled something to Sharon about “Are we supposed to have our bags out in the hall by six?” knowing full well that we had just an hour to do so. She replied “seven” just as she was turning on the water to the shower. I at least realized what happened before she ... read more

Yesterday we left Tel Aviv and headed for Caesarea by the sea. We are riding in the red bus & our guide is Rueben. Our first stop was at the Theater at Caesarea, Herod’s Palace and Herod’s Arena (or hippodrome.) We then headed to Sepphoris to see the ruins of a Roman house from the 1st century A.D. that contained some beautiful mosaics that had been restored. We continued our bus trip to look at the “Jesus boat”, a 2000 year old fishing boat that was found in the 1980’s and has been meticulously restored and preserved. More tomorrow!... read more

TO CAESAREA AND HAIFA - DAY 3 We left Tel Aviv at 9:00 am for the drive to Caesarea to see the seaport planned and built by King Herod. On the way we passed through Netanya but didn’t stop. Caesarea is a very interesting area with a lot of historic events happening there. Please note that if you’re interested in an accurate and thorough history, you should read some of the very many well researched and scholarly books available on these subjects. I’m only giving my touristy impressions and my main source of information is the very capable tour guide(s). Over a period of 12 years, Herod made Caesarea into a grand city and major seaport dedicated to Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, who had returned it to Herod after wresting it away from Cleopatra. We viewed ... read more