ISRAEL: Caesarea Treasure

2000 gold coins salvaged from Caesarea seabed

CAESAREA: Ancient Romans built it, modern Israelis love it

Once the most important port city in Roman Palestine, today Caesarea offers a mix of Mediterranean sports and intriguing antiquities.

CAESAREA: History and lifestyle

To Life!

Last day in Israel, we said goodbye to hospitable Caesarea, stopped at Ralli Museum for a short introduction to Dali‘s works, and found an eclectic exhibit to accompany Ceasarea‘s own archaeological artifacts too.

Went up to Haifa, checked out the shouk where we had some yummy burekas, didn’t have time for the Body Worlds at MadaTech, rushed on the new Kvish Shesh to the airport to beat the Tel Aviv traffic. We’ve made it in time to the airport, had some time for buy & bye and play too before the flight #3 to OTP.

There were so many places in Israel that we wanted to go with the kids …
we have a long wish list for the next trip, so T O L I F E for that!

Time Trek in Caesarea

Three years ago, one kid only, I was wondering if an archaeological place is a good destination for kids. It was a blast, the most interesting and imaginative playground, where ruins turn into real palaces again!

This time in Israel, we decided to go back in time to Caesarea.
We used to live in Israel many years ago and we’ve followed the restoration work at Caesarea National Park, so we knew what a wonderful place it is.

But I didn’t know what a perfect family destination it became! You can now travel through time in three new exhibits impressive for kids and adults alike:

• The Caesarea Experience – The Film on All Periods of Time
• Caesarea Stars
• The Time Tower – Ancient Cultures Reawakening: animation on a giant screen where you learn about Herod’s feast of engineering.
  Here are a few pics from the studio that developed the animation.

After we’ve seen Caesarea’s history on screen, we went on to explore the real thing, and what a beautiful walk that was!


We did a mix of trails on the spur of the moment, from the port, through the walls, to the hippodrome, admiring Herod’s Palace and choosing a seat at the roman amphitheater for the Jazz Festival, saddened that we’ve missed it this year and planning our next itinerary.

Another nice thing is that although the park closes at 18 (the exhibits at 17, check hours here), this only means we can, of course, enter the National Park for free, after these hours (other than the theater, which is closed at these hours)

Restaurants are open late too, after the park closes, so we had a delicious dinner at Aresto. Yummy salads, calzone made in the outdoor oven, pasta for kids…

After that we went to the beach, a small beach, but well maintained. Well, there is an entrance fee during the day. The beach bar had nice Israeli music, kids found friends to dance with, we’ve enjoyed the sunset there, and that concludes a wonderful family day in Caesarea. Always happy to come back!

Shalom!

From a peaceful resort in Caesarea, Israel, just a few minutes drive from Caesarea National Park.

We rented a condo at Neot Resort, which proved to be a good choice with kids. The swimming pool is ideally located near a playground and mini golf, and we all enjoyed that. The toddler pool was closed, but our kids were happy with the indoor pool. So happy that we’ve hanged around that pool for 2 days! I would have preferred to have the pool open in the evening, but it closes at ~5PM.
On the other hand, it was nice and relaxing this way too.

We finally managed to get the kids to the real beach in the evening. First evening it was late enough to miss the sunset, so we only enjoyed the Roman Aqueduct and lively beach with campers. Yes, it was a holiday in Israel that weekend, Shavuot.

Next day we went to the Aqueduct Beach a bit earlier, no campers, only trash. It’s really a pity, that beach is really naturally beautiful otherwise, a long beach with fine sand and with a Roman Aqueduct as backdrop.