World City Guide

Excursions

For a Half Day

Caesarea: One of the world’s greatest archaeological sites lies beside the sea some 50km (30 miles) north of Tel Aviv. It is a quick and easy drive on the coastal freeway. Alternatively, frequent buses (number 921; usually every 15 minutes) go from Tel Aviv to the bus station in the town of Hadera (journey time – 1 hour 15 minutes). From here, bus 76 goes to Caesarea (eight daily each way; journey time –40 minutes).

The site – administered as Caesarea National Park (tel: (06) 636 1358; fax: (06) 626 2056; website: www.parks.org.il/parksENG; opening hours: Apr-Sep daily 0800-1700, Oct-Mar daily 0800-1600; admission: NIS22) – is extensive, impressive and makes an enjoyable and rewarding half-day excursion.

Caesarea was a major Phoenician port from the 4th century BC onwards, conquered and taken over by Alexander the Great, coming under the control of Herod in 22 BC and soon afterwards becoming the Roman capital of Judea (as Israel was called then), which it remained for hundreds of years. During the period of Roman rule, thousands of Jews lived here together with the Romans, the town representing the commercial, secular and assimilationist Jewish world, as opposed to the religious and traditional Jewish life being carried on in Jerusalem. The crushing of the Jewish Revolt was masterminded from here and the great Jewish scholar Rabbi Akiva was publicly tortured to death here. Israel was then renamed Palestine and the Jews expelled. After the fall of Rome, the town remained important under Byzantine rule. Following the 7th-century Arab conquest of Palestine, Caesarea was abandoned and fell into ruin but was partly restored by the Crusaders. A small 19th-century mosque on the site was built by Muslim refugees from Serbia.

Visiting today, it takes a few moments to understand what one is seeing at the site: the area consists of the extensive ruins of four superimposed walled towns – Herodian, Roman, Byzantine and the smaller Crusader enclosure. The most visible are the Roman and the Crusader periods, which dramatically dominate the site. The Roman city includes a huge horseracing track (or hippodrome) and a fine theatre where concerts and opera performances are now held, as well as the remains of the magnificent aqueduct that brought drinking water into the city. The best relic of the subsequent period is the Byzantine Street, once lined with shops. In the 13th century, French Crusaders constructed the Gothic fortifications on a small part of the site, of which the superb walls and moat survive, along with part of their cathedral.

The adjacent modern town of Caesarea (pronounced Kessaria) is one of Israel’s ‘smartest’, with expensive homes, luxury restaurants and the country’s only golf course.

For a Whole Day

Jerusalem: It is possible to reach almost any part of the country for a day trip from Tel Aviv, except Golan and Eilat, but the one great unmissable excursion is to Jerusalem, the capital of modern Israel and historic capital of the Jewish people. It is best to choose to explore either the Old City or the city centre (west Jerusalem) and the great museums, although at a pinch it would be possible to see both all in one day. United Tours, 59 Ben Yehuda Street (tel: (03) 527 1212; website: www.intournet.co.il/unitedtours), offers a wide variety of one- and two-day tours from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, some themed as Christian tours or art tours, several also including other places such as Masada and the Dead Sea. The popular one-day excursion number 222 leaves at 0800 from Tel Aviv and costs US$58. Alternatively, public buses, operated by the Egged National Bus Co-operative (tel: (03) 694 8888, English speaking; website: www.egged.co.il, Hebrew only) from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem leave frequently throughout the day and take about one hour.

Jaffa Road, where Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station is located, is a busy, hectic narrow street lined with small old-fashioned shops. It leads to Jaffa Gate, the massively fortified main entrance into the Old City, via the centre of west Jerusalem. The main sights are within the imposing Ottoman walls of the Old City and the Jerusalem City Guide offers more information on all of these sights. They include the Tower of David (or Citadel), which houses the Museum of the History of Jerusalem; Temple Mount, on which stands the magnificent Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem’s most famous landmark, and the Al Aqsa Mosque, the oldest mosque in Israel; the Western Wall, a prayer site of paramount importance in Judaism; and the Via Dolorosa, believed to have been walked by Jesus as he carried the Cross to his crucifixion. It leads to the Calvary in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the holiest sites in Christendom. The main museums are on the western outskirts of modern west Jerusalem, including The Israel Museum, the nation’s leading showcase for its archaeology, anthropology and art, part of which is The Shrine of the Book, displaying the Dead Sea Scrolls. Close by is the extensive Yad VaShem, Israel’s principal Holocaust memorial.

Masada: Situated on an isolated flat mountain top in the Judean Desert and overlooking the Dead Sea, Masada (pronounced ‘matzada’ in Hebrew and meaning ‘fortress’) was the scene of the final heroic Jewish resistance against the Romans. The group of Jewish zealots (as the resistance army were called) who had fled with their families to Masada realised that they faced imminent defeat and, rather than surrender to the Romans, all 967 men, women and children committed suicide. The extensive ruins include Herod’s Palace (tel: (08) 658 4207; fax: (08) 658 4464), the synagogue, the fortress, an elaborate bathhouse and much more. Guided tours are available.

Masada (tel: (07) 658 4117/8; website: www.parks.org.il) is run as a National Park. It is open Saturday to Thursday 0800-1700 (until 1600 Oct-Mar) and Friday 0500-1500 (cable car operates from 0800). Admission costs NIS20 (NIS56 with cable car). Masada lies on Route 90 close to the Dead Sea, 22km (14 miles) east of the desert town of Arad, and 20km (12 miles) south of Ein-Gedi. Approaching from the east, the road ends at the parking lot at the foot of the mountain. From there the ascent is either by the cable car, or by walking up the Snake Path – a tiring climb taking just under an hour. From the west, the road ends at the western parking lot, from which there is a 15- to 20-minute easy climb to the top. Visitors should make an early start as the site becomes very hot and crowded in the middle of the day and it is worth allowing enough time to include a dip in the Dead Sea. United Tours, 59 Ben Yehuda Street (tel: (03) 527 1212), run full-day excursions to Masada from Tel Aviv, including a dip in the Dead Sea, for US$74. Masada can be reached by bus 444, 486 or 487 from west Jerusalem – and there are frequent non-stop buses from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.