Caesarea National Park 31.12.2009 Showcase port city Level of difficulty:       walkers Wheelchair-users Walkers A New Year's gift: Caesarea National Park and audiovisual presentations in one ticket! Settlement at what became Caesarea, on Israel’s central Mediterranean coast began in the third century BCE during the Hellenistic period as a small Phoenician port city called Straton’s Tower. In 90 BCE, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus conquered the city to expand the borders of his kingdom and develop its shipping industry. The population of Straton’s Tower remained Jewish until the Romans conquest in 63 BCE, when the granted the city its freedom. King Herod the Great transformed the city beginning in 22 BCE with the construction of its sophisticated port, warehouses, markets, great streets, bathhouses, temples and magnificent public buildings, naming it Caesarea. Every five years the city hosted gladiatorial games, sports competitions and performances. Caesarea also flourished during the Byzantine period. To the south were extensive farmlands, where cultivation continued through the Early Arab period and apparently until the 11th-century Crusader conquest. Eventually, they were buried by shifting sands. How to get there: Caesarea National Park is located off the Tel Aviv-Haifa highway (road no. 2), near Kibbutz Sdot Yam, west of the town of Or Akiva. It can be reached via the Orot Rabin power station junction or from road no. 4 via Or Akiva. Useful information Length of tour: 1–3 hours Best season: year-round Don't miss: view of the sea from the heights of the Roman theater; a walk along the promenade at sunset Other facilities and attractions: guiding center; restaurants; galleries; bathing beach; diving center Hours: April–September 8 A.M.–6 P.M. October–March 8 A.M– 4 P.M. On Fridays the site closes one hour earlier than above. Last entry one hour before above closing hour Phone: 04-626-7080 Fax / Email: 04-626-2056 Entrance fee: Adult: NIS 36; child: NIS 22 Israeli senior citizen: 50% discount Group (over 30 people): Adult: NIS 32: child NIS 20 Entrance to dogs: no entrance to dogs Accessibility: There is wheelchair access to the theater, promontory palace, archaeological garden, hippodrome promenade; a vehicle for mobility-challenged visitors at no extra charge will be available in the near future. Additional links גן לאומי קיסריה Main tourist sites in the vicinity: Pioneer museum at En Shemer Rali Museum of Art, Caesarea Hof Dor HaBonim Nature Reserve