The "Lowest" Point of the Trip

So the lowest point was when I realized that none of what I had written showed on the previous post "Working Down the List" so that all you could see was a stream of photos, with no explanations. Although maybe you are getting tired of my commentary and preferred that... I promise that Jim will add more, hopefully today or tomorrow! Anyway, the mistake has been fixed - so please go back if you want references for all the photos!

It was really a great day (Wednesday) but it did take as to the "lowest" place on earth - the Dead Sea, with a first stop at Masada.

Just to back up a bit, as you can imagine, even though we had the cost savings of a house trade and staying at the home of relatives, this trip still involved so many details and so much planning. We have mentioned a bit about what it takes to prep for a house trade, even down to the coordinating of flights so that we don't overlap; all the purging and hiding of documents related to our finances and identify (and hoping we will remember the hiding places when we return next week). Adding in the "details" that came up this time (don't recall if I mentioned that while we were still in Haifa, our waterheater in Pleasanton stopped working, so we had to deal with that from afar - thank goodness for Skype).

With this trip seeming a little more complex to navigate, we decided to use some private tour guides, so all of that (other than getting Lior's name for Golan once we arrived) was done ahead of time. Except setting up how to go to the Dead Sea/Masada. Originally, we were thinking it would be great to see Masada at sunrise (think Grand Canyon at sunrise) and I did bring along the website info for a tour company that offered such. Lior also gave us a name, and I started corresponding with them as well. That option sounded more complicated as it would involve us having to rent a car (tour guides need an additional license to transport people, so most private guides don't do it), so I contacted the first company, but they only take a minimum of five people, so they said to contact them the day before and maybe they could add us to another group. We considered renting a car, but that would be a two day rental if we wanted to be there by sunrise, and there is no place to park here. So finally on Tuesday afternoon we were down to crunch time of needing to make a plan/decision. We even asked our nice (and here they are few and far between) cab driver en route to Yad Vashem how much he would charge for the day (1000 shekels) and he was willing to go for sunrise. As tempting (and cooler) the idea of going at sunrise was, in reality it would mean leaving around 3:00 a.m. and then taking the 45 minute hike up (no gondola at that hour) in still warm temps, and having to take the hike back down as well. Not that we are whining travelers, but at this point in the trip, and in our lives, we decided we had no need to prove to ourselves that we could do it, watched a video of Masada at sunrise on YouTube, and decided to tackle the day on our own. Fortunately all of the car rental companies are located nearby, so after our museum day on Tuesday, we headed over to Eldan Car Rental, and arranged for the max time in one day (pick up when they open at 8:00, and return before they close at 6:00 p.m.), printed out google map directions (we knew it would be a straight shot, but there was still the issue of getting to highway from center of Jerusalem). Wednesday it would be!

We celebrated our final planning decision by going out to dinner at a restaurant that looks out over the Old City. You can see the view of that

and of us.

Wednesday morning we loaded up what we needed for the day (lots of water to manage the heat of the mostly shadeless Masada, and then swimsuits/towels for our Dead Sea floating) and arrived at Eldan when they opened. Let me comment that Israel is not known for its "service" - I should qualify, they are well known for their military service, we see evidence of that everywhere we go. They are not known for their "customer" service. So even though we had booked everything the day before and were assured the car would be ready at opening...not so much. We finally got out of there at 8:30. But we successfully got ourselves up to highway one, and on the other side of the tunnel we were in the Negev Desert. How quick you go from busy Jerusalem to a barren expanse.

Because we were on the clock to get the car back in time, we didn't stop along the way to take photos, but very interesting. Also politically interesting as it is a drive through the West Bank, another place I figured we would not be going. I promise, no Gaza Strip. Anyway, it reminded me a lot of the hilly desert areas of Nevada - completely brown, very little vegetation. We passed a number of Bedouin camps - not as "tenty" as I imagined/had seen photos of. They appeared more like some of the shanty areas in Tijuana - but just in small groupings out in the middle of nowhere. We could see their sheep and donkeys grazing on the hills, and saw one boy riding alongside the road on his donkey. There were a few dual purpose businesses - a nursery/clay pot store, but with three camels available for riding in front. And we kept heading down below sea level. The road dead-ends at the Dead Sea - to the left the road north to Galilee, across the Sea is Jordan, and to the right took us to Masada. All told, about an hour and 15 minutes from Jerusalem.

We arrived at Masada to be welcomed with a covered parking garage - a wonderful thing at this hot place. We then took the quick and easy way to the top (and at the end, back down) on the cable car - you can see the photo below from about halfway up. On the right side of the photo is the "Snake Path" we would have taken had we come for sunrise.

Once at the top, there was just a cliff hanging ramp up to the entrance to this mountain top fortress. At the top we were about 1300 ft above the Dead Sea, so weirdly we were at sea level...

Historically, Masada was a fortress/palace built by King Herod. After his death it was ruled by the Romans, until a group of Jewish rebels took it over (66 AD). It remained so, held by 1000 defenders, for even two years after the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman Empire (it all makes sense - the fall of the Second Temple) - the last Jewish stronghold. In 73 AD, the Romans launched a 10,000 men strong attack on Masada, surrounding the mountain with a ring of eight camps (still visible as we looked down, and built an earthen ramp on the east side of the mountain. On top of this they created a tower and battering ram. When it was clear that they would be defeated by the next day, the defenders chose to commit mass suicide rather than submit to the Romans and slavery. Some of the relics found that reinforce the story of the Jewish stronghold, were pottery shards with Hebrew writing indicating the names of those that were there. So lots of history and emotion on that plateau. Even today, part of the swearing in oath of the Isreali army is "Masada shall not fall again."

We have posted lots of photos of archeology, so will try to limit to some of the unique features of this site. Below is the heating area for the sauna. Camel dung was used as fuel and the floor tiles would heat. The columns you see were holding up the floor of the bathhouse - so the hot air would circulate underneath and heat the the room - early sauna. Although can't imagine that smelled good - but then again, I've not ever smelled camel dung...

Our favorite part was the lower terrace of the North Palace - the "Hanging Palace". You can see Jim coming down the stairs to get there. No cable car here.

But really stunning - well worth it.

Of course, whatever goes down, must come back up. Here we are on the lower terrace looking up to the middle and upper terrace (where the tourists are). Fortunately, the path was on the northwest side of the mountain, so during morning hours mostly shady.

There was a small synagogue, which I didn't photograph because a group was praying in it, but in this small area off to the side was a scribe working on a Torah scroll. I assumed he had air conditioning in there! I think that this is a new feature here as I saw an article touting "after 2000 years, the torah is being scribed at Masada again" and that was May, 2011 and it had a photo of this same man.

Below are the niches for funerary urns. I actually meant to put in a photo of something similar that we heard a tour guide describing as pigeon coops and explaining that pigeons were used as carriers of messages. Apparently they also served a culinary function.

And all of this surrounded on three sides by the Negev.

I had to take a photo of this because it was the only plant that I saw. There were a few small olive trees as well. But otherwise completely barren.

It was getting close to noon - we had seen the whole thing, and were hot, exhausted and hungry.

I should add that I am not sure how hot it was, but we thought it was manageable (seems like we were more miserably hot in Galilee and Tel Aviv) - maybe we just had it so built up in our minds that we were relieved to have done it without passing out. I know it is hard to see as it is hazy, but this is looking out east over the Dead Sea.

Back down the cable car, we headed back up along the coast of the Dead Sea to the Ein Gedi Spa. I should qualify that it is a scaled down version of a Spa by U.S. standards (sort of combo spa/rest stop) but the only game in town other than going to one of the few public beaches, and it had a restaurant/cafeteria.

After a quick lunch we plopped into the mud baths.

Let that cake on a bit, then showered it off in outdoor sulphur showers. We then took the shuttle down to the water's edge with signs indicating "The Lowest Point on Earth". All along the road were "danger" signs - apparently all of this mud is like quicksand and very dangerous.

Salt crystals edge everything - you can see them on the ramp leading in to the water, they are all over the sea bottom as well - no sand or rocks, just salt formations - so one is advised to keep your sandals or shoes on when you go in, which we did.

You can also see the salt crystals on the posts of these shade covers.

So in we plopped - water is like bath temperature. Even though we'd seen photos of floating in the Dead Sea, it is truly a unique feeling. And supposedly very medicinal.

I know it is hazy, but what you see at the top of the photo below is the east side of the Sea, which is Jordan - so we have now seen Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan!

We ended our spa adventure with 30 minute massages, then were back on the road to Jerusalem - and managed to gas up the car and return it by 5:30 p.m.

Between the heat, physical exertion, mud and sulphur baths, float in the sea, and massages we were relaxed like mush. So actually, a pretty "high" point of the trip.