Masada and Dead Sea - Day 73

I forgot to mention in my last blog that I had the most delicious hummus of my life yesterday. I never considered hummus a meal but people eat it as an entree here, and it's terrific! My host, Erez, took me to this famous little restaurant and we had hummus with ground meat and hummus with boiled chickpeas, accompanied with pita bread. So sad I can't return again since I'm leaving tomorrow.

Today, I took a daytrip out to Masada and the Dead Sea. The public transportation here is quite convenient and quite expensive. For a two hour drive out to Masada I could catch a bus by the side of the road and pay onboard.

Masada is a towering plateau in the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. I hadn't originally planned to visit there but I'm really glad my host convinced me otherwise. Not only is it visually stunning, it has a tragically inspiring history. The short version goes like this: Masada is the last Jewish rebel stronghold against the invading Roman military. It becomes evident one evening that the Romans will enter in the morning and they can defend no longer. They decide to commit mass suicide before the Romans enter so as to not become slaves to the enemy. Ten men were chosen to kill the women and children and each other. The last man left takes his own life. Freedom or death.

The plateau can be accessed by cable car or "The Snake Path." I decided to take the cable car up and walk down - again, suggested by my host. One can easily spend hours on top going through the ancient structures, palaces, and compounds, some of which are very well preserved.

After hiking down the mountain, I took another short bus ride to Ein Gedi, one stop on the Dead Sea. There is a free public beach so I was expecting hoards of people, but it turned out to be surprisingly manageable. I guess all the tour groups are taken to the fancy spas scattered throughout little resorts along the Dead Sea.

The beach (at least the one I visited) was a pebble beach and the rocks closer to the water were covered with salt residue and salt crystals. I planned the best I could given that I didn't bring a swimsuit on this trip at all. So I went in with my underwear and a "quick dry" t-shirt. To anyone who plans to swim in the Dead Sea in the future...wear shoes/sandals. The rocks on the bottom were so sharp that I nearly cut my foot open and almost lost my balance numerous times. All because of the salt crystals. But once you get in about waist deep, it's possible to just sit back and float. It really is true - the water has amazing buoyancy. In fact, it's difficult NOT to float. Even as I was treading water, the water was pushing my legs up to the surface, so I was either floating on my back or my stomach. And you definitely cannot submerge your head.

So after a quick shower at the beach, I caught the bus back to Jerusalem. Erez is working a night shift so I'm "home" alone. Time change tonight for Jerusalem and they spring forward an hour. My next update shall be from Haifa in a couple of days.