guard on the street outside the port area
View over Jerusalem
We made a brief photo stop at a high point overlooking Jerusalem then headed down to the Dead Sea, 400 metres below sea level, my ears popped as we passed the sea level mark and continued lower, then along the coastal road to the Fortress of Masada. It was an imposing sight, a mountain block detached from the rest of the escarpment, its’ plateau 450 metres (1400 feet) above the level of the Dead Sea.
Me at the top of Masada
View from the top of Masada with cable car at the bottom left
The history of Masada is fascinating in that it was laid siege to in the first century by 8000 Roman troops, the 960 defenders of the rock, when all hope of holding out was lost, decide it was better to die by their own hand than become slaves of the Romans, subsequently they killed all their families then each other until the last person killed themselves. We took the cable car to the top and our guide, Helen, led us around describing the purpose and history of each building, there are lots of buildings still standing or reconstructed per the original. After a while, we took off ourselves having arranged to meet the guide at the bottom around 02.00pm. It is a very interesting site, much more has survived than I had imagined and much more was there in its’ time.
We met the guide back at the bottom and moved on to the Lot Hotel and Spa on the shoreline for lunch and a close up visit to the Dead Sea.
The beach area at the Dead Sea
Lunch was buffet style and was not too bad and after we had eaten, we went down to the waters edge where we had free time for a swim. We were warned not to stay in the water too long as it can cause undesirable physical effects on you, the chemicals in the water can also damage your skin and destroy any clothing immersed in it and you should make sure you don’t swallow any or get any in your eyes. It is also very important that you thoroughly wash and rinse yourself after bathing. We had about 2 and a half hours at the beach front and Izzy and I spent most of it swinging in a big hammock, we returned to the bus at 05.45pm and made the two and a half hour trip back to the ship.
