Day 7 - Masada and the Dead Sea

Introduction

Today's adventure to see Masada and the Dead Sea are part of an optional tour and almost everyone in our group decided to come along.  Those that chose not to come along have the day free.  As I've mentioned a few times in earlier posts, both locations seem like destinations everyone would want to see if they made it to Israel.  We began our day heading out of Jerusalem the same way we did yesterday when we went to Qumran.  Once there, we headed to the southern end of the Dead Sea.  The scenery was spectacular.

Masada

Masada is an 18-acre palace/fortress complex that the brilliant builder/paranoid King Herod built in the 1st century BC.  It's located just southwest of the southern end of the Dead Sea and about 90 minutes from Jerusalem.  Although there is a walking path from the desert floor to the top, there is also a 3-minute cable car ride that saves most of the hour required to walk up what's called the Snake Path.  The mountaintop on which Masada is built rises 1500 feet above the desert floor.  But, since the elevation (or lack thereof) starts at the same elevation of the Dead Sea, in other words, 1300 feet below seal level, the fortress elevation is only a measly 200 feet above sea level.  That doesn't diminish the view however.

Here's the mountain fortress from the visitor's center

From the bottom waiting for the cable car

From the top looking down at the Snake Path

And we made it!

The Snake Path was first named by the historian Josephus Flavius.  Although he used the word "serpent" in his description, I think you'll agree that either would be appropriate.

Once at the top, we walked still higher for another few minutes.  The ruins are absolutely spectacular.  Throughout the area a dark black line is featured several courses of rock above ground level. The line delineates where the ruins end and anything above represents reconstruction efforts.  You can see an example below.

While exploring we saw ruins of a Byzantine church, a pigeon/dove house, an elaborate bathhouse, not surprisingly reminiscent of traditional Roman baths, and a synagogue (built after Herod's time here).  I can't say enough how spectacular these are to see.  However, given the location, you start to think of the sacrifice in human terms of how this place came to be.  Once you start thinking, it's pretty easy to come to the conclusion that lots of slaves lost their lives during the construction of this fortress. 

These first three pictures are of the church (which you probably couldn't tell from the first picture that says "THE BYZANTINE CHURCH").  Note the mosaic floor in the last picture.  Again, despite the harsh environment for building, there didn't appear to be any corners cut or expense spared.

Next, the pigeon/dove house followed by a few of the synagogue, where Tad Somes from Harrison City read today's bible passage.

Here are several of the bathhouse.

This shows how heat circulated under the floor...

...and through the walls.

Another thing that Masada is famous for are the Jewish rebels who overcame Roman troops in 66AD and held out against attack for 7 years.  By 73AD, the Romans had built a siege ramp and used a battering ram to breach the fortress wall.  Once inside, they found that all of the Jews inside had set everything on fire and committed mass suicide rather than become Roman slaves.  Here are the remnants of the ramp and the Roman camp.

Obviously, a location like this with all of the people required to keep it running would require a lot of water.  An ingenious system of aqueducts collected rain water into cisterns throughout the complex.

This is a model that allows someone to put water on the plain in the foreground and watch it get collected in the aqueducts and into the cisterns.

One of the cisterns

This picture and the following one show the aqueducts.

After all that, there were other ruins that were worth a picture.  Take a look.

Before leaving Masada, it's worth noting that pictures I'd seen made it look like the top level where we spent our time was relatively flat.  Absolutely not.  Up and down the entire time.

The Dead Sea

After we boarded the bus this morning and Mick announced where we were headed, Pastor John got the mic and told everyone on the bus that "Harold is so old that when he was born the Dead Sea was just sick."

From Masada, we drove back along the western edge of the Dead Sea to a spot roughly near its northwest corner and stopped at Kalia beach.  At 1380 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth.  We stopped for lunch and an opportunity to float in the 10-times-more-salty-than-the-ocean Dead Sea.  We got to eat our lunch of falafel and a drink out on the patio. The falafel was tasty, hot, and the chili sauce was great.  Doesn't Dad look like he's enjoying lunch?

The water was farther away and lower in elevation than I would have thought at a beach.  Nevertheless, that was what we had today.  For those who were hoping to see me float, you're out of luck.  Although I had my swim suit pulled it didn't make it into my suitcase.  In addition to warnings, and Dad with Pastor John, I do have action shots of some of the others in our group.  The last picture is of some of the salt crystals that one of our group grabbed while they were floating.

The Old Roman Road

After we left the Dead Sea, we took a bit of a detour on our way back to Jerusalem and drove a few miles on the old Roman Road that went from Jericho to Jerusalem and got to see the location of the St. George Monastery.  Along the way, we saw a gazelle and the original foundations laid over 2000 years ago.  We climbed a small hill, navigated through several Bedouin peddlers, and got to see the monastery very far away.  I was glad I had a good zoom.

That's it for today.  Tomorrow we spend the day in the old city of Jerusalem and after dinner Dad and I are taking the night tour of the Israeli Museum.  That tour will go at least two hours so it's unlikely I'll be able to get a post out at the usual time.  I may have time Wednesday morning as that's supposed to be free time.  However, it's possible that I may not get the Tuesday post out until later.

Also, I got some pictures from another person in our group from "dead camera battery day" so I'll put together a post with pictures from the places I didn't have for that day.  That may have to wait until after I get back home.  We'll see.  Take care until next time.
Tim