Israel - Time to go home

It was with mixed feelings that we came to our last day in Israel. We had enjoyed our time together as a group but many of us were apart from our families and looking forward to going home. We had enjoyed the hot and sunny weather but some of us were rather singed at the edges and looking forward to cooler weather at home. Our exploration of modern and ancient Israel had been interesting but perhaps some of us were finding it hard to be interested in yet another set of dusty ruins amidst the complicated Middle-Eastern social context.

So we packed our bags and left the luxurious Scots Hotel and boarded our bus for the third day in a row. Our primary visit today would be to the ruins of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast to the North of Tel Aviv. On the way we passed through Nazareth and saw from the bus the 20th century Basilica of the Annunciation, and also from the bus saw the cliff said to be the place from where the townspeople were going to cast Jesus to his death.

Caesarea was built by Herod the Great between 22BC and 10BC as an expansion of an older Phoenician and Sidonian port. It became the Roman capital in 6AD when the Romans took direct control of Palestine. The first known Roman Governor was Pontius Pilate, who authorised the crucifixion of Jesus. The Bible is not the only source of his name, for when the theatre was excavated an inscription with his name was found.

Although the main harbour was rendered useless when the seabed lowered in the earthquake of 130AD the city remained important. The early Christian writers Origen and Eusebius lived here in the 3rd & 4th centuries. The port was restored by the Crusaders but fell into disuse after it was finally retaken by the Moslems in the late 13th century. The photo shows some of the Roman mosaic flooring and the sunken palace foundations in the distance.

After Caesarea, we drove to Tel Aviv for our afternoon flight to Frankfurt, and onward flight back to Edinburgh, arriving in the late evening. Back home!