Masada and the Dead Sea: Israel is a startling contrast to Egypt

We started a long day with a bus ride from our port call at Ashdod on the Mediterranean Sea heading east toward the Dead Sea via Jerusalem.

I am showing Petra since it will figure in as part of the importance of Masada - being on the direct trade route to Jerusalem.

The gold dome is the Dome of the Rock (Islam). Near the exact center of the picture is a dark gray smaller dome that is the Jewish synagogue. Just off to the right of the photo would be the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. All three major religious faiths represented in a triangle in the holiest place in the world within a kilometer of each other.

We made a short overlook stop on Mount Scopus to get a view, and a review, of some of the ancient and modern sites in this wondrous city.

I want to take a moment here to mention that Israel is no more “dangerous” than any other large modern country in the west – America, Europe, Canada, etc. If a bomb or a nutcase can wreak havoc in almost any major American city as has been demonstrated much too amply in the past few years, then the bombs and nutcases in Israel, or anywhere else for that matter, are not that different. In fact, I believe that Israel is one of the safest countries in which to travel. The infrastructure is vastly superior to any other we had thus far seen in the middle east or in southeast Asia. Their internal security is consistently ranked as one of the best, if not the best, in the world. The citizens are more aware of their unique position on the worlds stage than most other countries in the region and, thus, make you feel welcome and safe immediately. Okay, enough of the polemics, I just had to get that off my chest.

We last visited Jerusalem about five years ago and sent a glorious day walking from one “must see” site to another. This time we only had a photo stop, but our guide, Achiya (ach-ee-ya) took the time to give us a quick review of the history and provenance of the major attractions: the Dome of the Rock; the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; the main Synagogue; the Mount of Olives; the Western Wall; and a few others. It was a half-hour well-spent.

Back on the bus and another hour and a half to our first stop – a potty break at Qumran, the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The restaurant/gift shop/Dead Sea cosmetic palace/toilet facility was doing a thriving business from both souvenir hinters and those trying to buy back youth and vigor by way of Dead Sea mud, salts, and somewhat dubious (to my mind) beautifying skin care products – all at rather “interesting” prices… We did get to see several of the caves as we made our way toward Masada, but the bus didn’t stop so pictures were not possible.

Masada: a mountain stronghold that was originally King Herod’s winter palace. I never knew that Masada was one of the major points in the Roman trade routes from the east. It lies in a direct line between Petra and Jerusalem along the west bank of the Dead Sea. After Herod died in 4 AD, the palace became a retreat for a band of ultra-religious Jews from the Jerusalem area in about 65-66 AD at the time of the Great Revolt against the Romans. These rebels, we know them as the Zealots, were ostracized by their own people for their ultra-conservative views and actions (they apparently had a nasty habit of killing those in strong opposition to their beliefs). The Romans needed to take back the stronghold and laid siege in about 70 AD. What remains of the Masada fortress tells an amazing story of both Roman and Jewish history.

We never thought that some of the best-preserved and most interesting Roman ruins and artifacts we would ever see would be in Israel!

Rather than go through the entire story and the well-laid pathway that the Israeli government has provided for visitors, I will let some of our pictures do the talking.

 The arrow shows the bottom cable car station from the top of the mesa.

This is a telephoto shot of one of the eight the Roman Camps (the square thing to the left of the cable car station in the photo above) used to lay siege to Masada in about 70 AD.

A view from the cable car as we came into the top station.

Once up top, we were shown a metal model of the entire site and given a preview of both the history of the site and of what we would be seeing during our walk.

This photo shows a black line running around the perimeter of this room. That line represents the ruins as originally found by the archeologists. Everything above the line is a reconstruction. Everything below the line is original and restored.

Our guide is showing us what we will be seeing when we go to the overlook railing. Every major section of the site had one or more of these metal models to show the detail of that place.

 A panorama from the very top of Masada.

The arrow shows where the panorama above was taken. and where we were stationed to look over the edge.

The view from the top looking down over the guest apartments in Herod's main palace in the complex.

A model of the Roman baths that were constructed on the mountain top. Roman baths in the middle of the desert!!!

The first room was the cold room. A quick dip in cold water to get the blood circulating.

The second room was a plain room that was at "room temperature" to get used to the stifling heat and humidity coming up in the hot room.

The hot room had a raised floor under which hot air was circulated. In addition the hot air was piped along the walls in terra cotta pipes covered with stucco. The bright spots on the far wall are meant to simulate the fires from the outside furnace used to create the hot air (see next photo).

A view from the outside of the hot room showing the furnace used to create the hot air. Keep in mind that this was a wood-fired furnace. Wood in the middle of the desert - had to be hauled in on camels over the sand dunes from Jerusalem.

The siege ramp built on the west side of the mountain. This is all that is left after several millennia, but you can imagine that this ramp was built by slave labor from sand, rocks, debris hauled in from far away.

As we waited fro the cable car to return to earth, I took this shot of a lady and here child near the bottom of the pathway. They had walked down from the top. That speck in the red circle is them.

Here is a zoom blow-up of that speck in the prior photo. 

Here is another similar shot. The man and his son are even farther away than the prior couple.

See, it really is two people.

This is the cable car. It may look small, but it can hold up to 80 people at a time.

 

We then took the cable car back down to our waiting bus for a short hop to the Lot Resort on the edge of the Dead Sea. The Lot is one of about a dozen new hotel-resort complexes that have sprung up along the southern edge of the Israeli side of the Dead Sea. There are several hundred, possibly over 1000 rooms, along with the requisite restaurants, spas, beaches, pools, and playgrounds that now serve both Israeli and foreign nationals as a prime vacation spot. Maybe there is something in that Dead Sea mud after all…

The Lot had spectacularly clean rest rooms – always a plus for North American travelers, and a HUGE buffet for our luncheon. After much munching and a couple adult beverages, we retired to the changing rooms and got ready to do the Dead Sea Float.The Dead sea Float is where you enter the water and lie on your back so you can read a book, take a selfie, or otherwise act touristy. I confess to trying it and then flailing around like an overgrown puppy as I tried desperately to get my legs down so I could get a footing again. Finally, Bonnie had to hold my arm so I could pivot and get my center of gravity under me rather than next to me… That may sound like much ado over little, but you do not want to get any of that lovely, warm, clear, water in your mouth, eyes, nose, open cuts, lacerations or any abrasion. Since the mineral and salt content are around 35%, it burns! I did get a few drops of water in my mouth from all that flailing around and I swear that I can still taste it.

Sadly, we had only about an hour to enjoy the water, so we did our floaty thing, showered on the beach, took to the real swimming pool to try to get the last vestiges of Dead Sea water off, then re-dressed and bused back to the ship. Whew, what a day!

Tomorrow we are docked in Haifa and will be visiting the Crusader city of Acre. That should be yet another view of this fascinating country. Stay tuned…