Today (Saturday 19 June) we were supposed to start early, but were delayed by a couple of the group ging missing (I assume overslept). Once finally underway we headed east out of Jerusalem at an altitude of 760m (2,500ft) towards to dead sea at -430m (-1,400ft). At intervals beside the road were ramshackle collections of shacks surrounded by apparent piles of rubbish and occasional sheep, horses and goats. These are Bedouin camps each apparently holding about 5 families. We were told how Israel has tried to domesticate them in settled accommodation by paying them for each day a child attends school, there by tying them to one location. Apparently when accommodation has been provided with running water and power the Bedouin have moved their animals indoors and continued to live in tents :-) We passed about 14 of these camps that we saw in the descent from Jerusalem.
First stop was at Qumran where there Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. The land here is unforgiving with no sign of green among the rocks and dust of the hillside. That the Bedouin manage to run sheep or goats in this environment is difficult to believe, but the scrolls were discovered when shepherds tried to locate missing stock.
We continued to a kibbutz selling Dead Sea products, presumeably made from mud, that promised instant rejunenvation, skin repair, hair replenishment and anything else you can think of.. Another member of the party turned over a pack of merchandise to see the price, got out his phone to work out the conversion and rapidly hid his credit card from his wife. In the end he relented and they bought a budget pack. The kibbutz is a real oasis in the arid landscape. The hills are totally barrren and the only green visible is an occasional small plant in the bottom of a dry stream bed.
Next we drove the south end of the Dead Sea to visit Masada, touted as the 3rd stronghold built by Herod on his escape route to Jordan should the populace finally decide to kick him out. He was apparently a great builder and architect, but an unpleasant individual and very unpopular. The fortress of Masada was constructed in 4 years on a hill overlooking the Dead Sea with 300m sheer cliffs on 3 sides. Oppulence was the order of the day with the local rock walls plastered to resemble limestone blocks, frescos, a large bath house with an ingenious sauna system and a water supply system designed to allow 3,000 people to survive a 6 month siege. In the end Herod never visited the fortress, but it was used by the revolutionaries during a revolt against the Romans in the 1st century. The Romans took this as an affront and built a wall around Masada with 8 large forts. When the locals refused toi surrender the Romans built am immense ramp 150 M high to allow their siege engines to approach and breach the walls. Once the wall was breached the revolutionaries realised they were on the way out so they committed mas suicide leaving only 3 survivors. We were told the Romans were so impressed they did not destroy the fortress and one of them fully documented what was there - a great aid to the archaeologists. In the end the buildings ere damaged by a couple of earthquakes and the site was deserted in the 8th century.
We returned to the other end of the Dead Sea and stopped at a "beach resort" to experience the water at close hand. To get to the water we clambered down a long stairway to the "beach" which was a clay bank with several sets of steps designed to enter the water, but all were well above the shoreline. We waded gingerly into the murky water (mainly due to other swimmers smearing them slves with mud) and found that we had picked the wrong spot when my foot sank to knee level in a hole of soft mud. It was not easy to retrieve the leg and we were a little more cautious after that but still found the underfoot conditions challenging. Once we were knne deep we lay back in the water and found, of course, that we floated with our arms legs and heads above water. Big deal. At least the water was at a pleasant temperature.
We were driven back to our hotel and said farewell to our tour guide and the other group members as they were at different hotels. The group was an interesting mix of people, mainly from the USA, but with us from NZ, 1 from Australia and 1 from India. 2 of the group were pastors at home and there was a delightful young woman who is attending a theological college in Washington. A source of "amusement"was the 4 children, 2 of which were constantly asking where we were, where we were going, why, when will we eat, etc, despite having been told exactly the information they were seeking 5 minutes before.
Tomorrow we have a free day in Jerusalem.
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