Galilee - Caesarea

I am back!! I have just returned from a four day trip through the Galilee. We started out in Caesarea, traveled up through Hazor to Dan and saw the Lebanese border, it was a little far to throw a rock into Lebanon but not by much. We then moved out onto the desert plateau moving towards Damascus to the closest volcanic dome to the Syrian border to the east and then down along the border to Beth She'an over to the Jezreel Valley and several other sites in between. Caesarea was my favorite site that we visited. It was an amazing feat of engineering, drive, and insanity all wrapped up in this little island of stone out in the sea. Acco is the only real natural port on the Med that Israel has, but Herod the Great was not satisfied with that. He decided to build a harbor so that he could have more control over trade and routes through Israel. So out of a flat shallow coast line Herod built a port harbor big enough for major trade vessels from Rome to come. They did it by filling barges with large rock taking them out from the coast and sinking them to the bottom of the sea. Then, with the newest invention of the ancient age, underwater wet cemented them into a harbor wall under the sea. It took several years to complete, but when they were done Herod had a magnificent palace stretching out into the sea and a deep sea port to harness the trade routes to and from Rome. It was an amazing place.