Our first stop today after leaving Netanya was Caesarea to the north. Caesarea was built up just before the time of Jesus around 22BC. It was built as a port city by Herod the Great. This is the Herod that was not real excited about the birth of a new king rumor and started killing infant boys when Jesus was born. Ya, that guy. I don’t think he’s that great…anyhow.
We started off with a movie about the area, and for about the first 400 years after it was there, it was Christian, in the Byzantine Era if I remember correctly. There are Christian artifacts there like this pillar top:
Around 400AD is when the Muslims came in and destroyed the entire city and everything in it. They didn’t want any real evidence of what had been there so they really did a number on the place, breaking all the stuff. They kinda looted stuff too, and some of the marble from Caesarea was actually used in the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Still, there was this statue there from the Christian time…Jesus as the Good Shepherd:
There is also a marble “big foot”. No, not a Sasquatch. A big foot…
Around 750-ish AD there was a huge earthquake that destroyed the port, so it’s under water. What is still there, although smaller than it was due to damage, is the hippodrome, and the theatre. The hippodrome was for horse/chariot racing, and the theatre is really cool too, although a big portion of it is being redone.
The bottom few layers of stone in the seating area are from the time of Herod.
Paul was tried in Caesarea. The room wall footers in the pics are where the Romans would have likely held prisoners, so a decent chance that Paul was inprisoned right here. 
This is the hippodrome. The area right above the group of people is where the prefect of the time would have given his thumbs up or thumbs down to say who lived and died after the races. 
Mosaic floor tile from the period…how cool is that!!!
Here is our crew in the seats in the theatre. Great group to travel with! Evan and I are in the third row up on the left.
OK, more to come!