National Parks: Apollonia Edition

Warning: The following post may exceed the recommended daily allowance for other people’s vacation pictures. Proceed at your own risk.

Needless to say, during Chol Hamo’ed Succot, we visited (surprise, surprise) yet another national park.

Apollonia National Park, situated on a seaside cliff in the coastal plain, contains the ruins of a Crusader town and fortress.

In 1265, the Mamluks captured the site – then known as Arsur (Apollonia was the name used during the earlier Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods) – after a forty-day siege and destroyed it.

Here, then, our some pictures from our trip. (Don’t say that I didn’t warn you… ;-))

First, the requisite shot of the price list – to show how much money we saved due to our Parks Authority membership:

Next, a view of the Crusader town:

A model of the fortress, with the ruins in the background: 

An archway from the fortress’s main tower: 

Remains of the fortress: 

The view from the top of the tower: 

A view of the sea (the Crusader port is now underwater): 

As always, feel free to click on the pictures for a closer view.

All in all, we had a wonderful time.

There were special activities for Chol Hamo’ed; the scenery was gorgeous; and due to the nice breeze from the water, we had a very pleasant lunch in our portable succah.

{coughs loudly and not too discreetly}

Okay.

You can wake up now.

I’ve come to the end of the pictures.

That is, at least until our next family vacation IY”H…