Join me on a walk along the eastern Mediterranean shore on this interactive Online Experience streamed live from Appolonia National Park in Herzeliya, Israel. This hidden gem of land is home to a fantastic Crusader castle and was the location of a famous battle between two of the most well-known men in history: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin the Ayyubid. This famed battle took place during the Third Crusade and resulted in a European hold on the Holy Land coastline during the second Crusader Kingdom.

The tour will begin with a brief overview of the region's history between the 13th and the 17th Century AD, which your guide will elaborate on as we make our way through the Appolonia National Park and look at the flowers and the archaeological sites that are strewn across the site.
The site began as a Phoenician ship anchorage and was first named after the Phoenician storm God, Reshef. When the Greeks established control over the region, the site was renamed after the Greek God Apollo, hence the name Apollonia. As we walk further, you will also learn about the various other names it was known by, as it passed from the hands of the Greeks to the Romans, then the Muslims, the Christian Hospitaller Knights, even and the Egyptian Mamluks across its long history.
Finally, we will make our way to the Crusader Castle which was built above the harbour in the year 1239, post the victory of Richard the Lionheart. Overlooking the Mediterranean, this castle once boasted of immense beauty and a chapel with admirable stained-glass windows and a drawbridge but suffered damage when the Mamluks laid siege to the town in 1263. Before surrendering to them, the Hospitaller Knights destroyed the Castle by way of fire, and you will witness some of the burn marks from this period alongside piles of ballista boulders that were launched from the Mamluk siege weapons.

The tour will end with an anecdote about a real pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that remained hidden for nearly 800 years until it was discovered by archaeologists.