Pinch Me

February 7, 2008
Who does this? This is so unreal. Every once in awhile it hits me “I am here, in Jerusalem, traveling, seeing new things, and not at Penn spending all my time studying, doing the same old same old.” Granted we had 6 days of school this week rather than the usual 5, to make up for those snow days last week. But school is hardly a burden when you are done at 1:15pm and travel afterwards.

The Office of Student Activities organizes various free trips throughout the semester for international students to experience Israel. Today I went on the Caesarea trip where “archeology and history meets in one of the most romantic places in Israel Caesarea – Harbor, neighbor to the splendid Caesarea National Park learn about the periods, the places, and the people that have made Caesarea what it is today.” Sure, why not? I’ll go. And I was glad I did.

It was absolutely breathtaking. We took a walking tour through the ruins along the Mediterranean Sea, with the sun shining we didn’t even need coats. Normally I’m not a huge fan of guided tours, but this one was a wealth of interesting information. King Herod wanted a port where there wasn’t a bay, so somehow they constructed one. There was an amphitheater and hippodrome where there was free bloody entertainment for the male citizens of Caesarea, because, as King Herod figured, if they were happy and busy then they would not try to kill him. He had a fresh water pool where he poisoned his enemies and could pass it off as them drowning. He was so paranoid, in fact, that he killed his two sons so they would not steal his reign. When his wife was mad at him for this action, he killed her too. Then had an extravagant funeral for her, completed by covering her in honey. Yeah, no one really knows.

After the tour we were able to wander around on our own, and we caught the sunset over the Sea. While sharing coffee and conversation with a friend in a café overlooking the water at the end of the day, I realized why this place was considered romantic.