Well…thankfully we didn’t go to Milan, like I was lining up for us instead of the line for Tel Aviv…. We arrived to the entrance hall of the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with Michal and Jonty welcoming us with smiles and excitement.
It has been 20 years since my last visit to Israel. As we were driving to Caesarea, I was overwhelmed with the changes: many more skyscrapers, office and apartment buildings, more white cars on faster highways, and trains. I found the familiar in my glimpses of the sea from the highway.
As for Caesarea, it’s one of my favorite places in Israel. I like the layers of civilizations. The Romans built a deeper port by using volcanic ash to make concrete for scuba divers to place in the sea. The Crusaders created the fort entrance and the walls to keep out invaders. The Ottoman Empire built a minaret where pigeons would roost. These pigeons exposed the spy ring run by a Jewish family in Zikaron Ya’acov during the early 20th century.
