On the shores of the Mediterranean sea, Israel is a country with a rich archaeological and religious history. As the Holy Land for Jews, Christians and Muslims it has many sacred sites like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque. People are also drawn to the many ancient relics and landmarks Israel has to offer.
In this interview with Ancient History Encyclopedia, Jade Koekoe speaks to Carole Raddato of Following Hadrian. Carole discusses her recent experiences in the Holy Land and gives her advice about traveling to this magnificent country on a budget.
JK: Welcome to Ancient History Encyclopedia, Carole! It’s an immense pleasure to be working with the author of Following Hadrian blog once again.
How long was your trip and what was your itinerary?
CR: I flew from Frankfurt. When I first looked for flights to Tel Aviv for October 2014 I checked Lufthansa but at the time (March 2014) they were very expensive at €1,200 return per passenger. I then decided to check on skyscanner.net to see if there was a cheaper alternative. I found a flight for €400 return with Pegasus Airlines, a Turkish low-cost airline, with a stopover in Istanbul. The length of our journey to Tel Aviv was twice as long, from four hours to eight hours, but the cost of flying was considerably reduced. Getting to Israel cheaply used to be a challenge but nowadays there are plenty of airlines flying to Tel Aviv including a large number of low-cost European airlines. I am sure there are bargains if you search around, whether you are flying from the US or Europe, just be prepared to fly to Israel on a non-direct flight.
Regarding the itinerary I always use the fabulous Archaeological Atlas of Antiquity website to check all possible ancient sites to visit. I create a map for myself on Google Maps by adding all the archaeological sites I want to visit and I work out the itinerary based on the map. My Israeli itinerary was two nights near Caesarea with day-trips to Sepphoris, Meggido, Beit She’an, Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, and three nights in Jerusalem with a day-trip to Beit Guvrin and Masada
JK: Which destinations do you suggest visiting in Israel that are affordable and off the beaten path?
CR: Caesarea (the port city built up by Herod the Great and named Caesarea in honour of the emperor Augustus Caesar) is not really off the beaten path but the small site of the Byzantine Bird Mosaic, located outside the walls of the ancient settlement, is easily missed by visitors.
I would also recommend a visit to the site of Sepphoris in the western Lower Galilee (also known as Tzipori) for its wonderful mosaic floors, including the so-called “Mona Lisa of Galilee”, part of a 3rd century CE mosaic floor depicting the life of Dionysus.
I would recommend the site of Tel Megiddo with its 25 layers of occupation dating from the 4th millennium BCE to the 3rd century BCE. The city is referred to as Armageddon, according to the Book of Revelation, this is the place where the last great battle will be fought when the forces of good will triumph over evil. I would also add Beit Guvrin where you can see the best-preserved Roman amphitheatre in Israel as well as the Hellenistic tombs of Sidonian merchants that are painted inside.
These places are easily reached by car from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. If you don’t rent a car then it will be difficult to visit these places as I don’t think any tour operator offers these destinations as part of their tours/packages. Renting a car in the Holy Land (I recommend rentalcars.com) is an easy way of getting around the country if you are touring archaeological sites, you can go where you want, when you want. Otherwise taxis are widely available (except on Shabbat, from between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday).
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