Pages

Monday, October 4, 2010

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:IMG_2514

Next, a view of the Crusader town:IMG_2186

A model of the fortress, with the ruins in the background: IMG_2296

An archway from the fortress’s main tower: IMG_2322

Remains of the fortress: IMG_2345

The view from the top of the tower: IMG_2423

A view of the sea (the Crusader port is now underwater): IMG_2447

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…

smile_teeth

12 comments:

  1. Really nice! Thanks for the tip, we're always looking for new tiyulim.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We did Appolonia last year (albeit without a family park membership)and also enjoyed very much. It's pretty, close by and not too crowded.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great pix! JPIX?

    You mean you didn't create that "sandcastle" with your kids?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Toby - I definitely recommend it.

    Malke - IIRC, we first heard about Apollonia from you...

    Leora - Thanks. The kids took all these pictures. But because of the strong glare, they couldn't really see the viewer, and so they couldn't tell how the pictures came out until we got home.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Apollopnia is one of my favorite places in the world these days, but believe it or not, I've never been to the national park there. We live about a twenty minute drive from there, and one of our favorite things to do to relax is to pick up some sushi, drive out to Apollonia, hike down to the beach, spread out a blanket and have a moonlight picnic. No kids, no house noise, just the sound of the surf and an occasional "pass the wasabi." Thanks to you, and your pictures, I may just have to check the place out in the daytime...

    ReplyDelete
  6. The photos are beautiful and you obviously had lovely weather.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Miriyummy - That sounds amazing!

    Pesky Settler - Herzliya.

    Ilana-Davita - It was extremely hot here over Succot, and after our experience the day before in the, er, "Old Town" [sic], I was worried about spending another day outside in the sun. But YZG correctly predicted that it would be noticeably cooler along the water, and he was right*.

    ____
    * Yes, YZG, I suppose you ARE entitled to some minor gloating... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. greats pictures! I especially like the view of the sea.

    ReplyDelete
  9. They're not too many; they're lovely.

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to leave a comment.