We were surprised that this is what large portions of the land looked like as we drove around. You could see random shepherds guarding their sheep on these hills. It really didn't look like there was much food to eat.
We visited the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan River. It is right on the border, and the buildings you see are actually on the side of the country of Jordan. This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.
George had told us the water was so contaminated here. These people might regret this. They were even taking big gas cans of the water home with them.
Masada was an incredible site we visited today. It is about 60 miles away from Jerusalem. It is “one of the most awesome archaeological sites in Israel” and is the second most visited site after the Wailing Wall. Herod had built a fortress here in case he needed to escape the more populated areas. It was on the top on this mountain, and it had an intricate system to capture the water from the mountains. It is truly amazing to see the delicate aspects to this fortress built to long ago. After the Romans destroyed the temple, about 1,000 Jewish rebels escaped to Masada. Shortly after that the Romans came to invade it. The Jews watched as the Romans built a wall around the mountain and cut off food and water supplies. When the Jews saw that they would be captured, the decided they would rather die than be slaves. The night before the siege, the Jews committed suicide. It was a hollow victory for the Romans as they only found one women and a few boys hiding in a cistern when they invaded. You can see the cable car we rode up the mountain.
That is the Dead Sea in the background.
This is one of the many cisterns that held the spring water that was captured when it rained.
Herod used the same under floor heating system that we saw at Beth Shan.
Here is a model of what the fortress looked like in Herod’s time. We took a cable car to the top - they somehow hauled materials up there to make this!
This was a synagogue. See the black line on the wall? Below the line marks is what was in tact, and above the line marks what was restored. They are original stones, they just fell and were put back.
This shows how they captured the water. You would pour the water on the mountain and it would flow in channels into cisterns.
These Israeli soldiers were happy to pose for a picture.
This is the area where David hid from King Saul. Although this is not the same one, you can see a cave like David would have hid in.
After Masada we headed to Qumran. It was made famous by “the greatest archaeological find of the twentieth centry” - the Dead Sea Scrolls. Portions of all the Old Testament books except Esther have been found in the caves here.
14,000 scroll fragments were found in this cave. George challenged our group to try to throw a rock into it. Tim was able to do it!
Our last stop of the day was at the Dead Sea. It is 1,400 ft. below sea level and is the Earth’s lowest elevation on land. It is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean. Because of this you just float in it. They warn you strongly to not let it get anyone on your face, especially in your eyes. George said it was not possible to get a sunburn here because of the high oxygen content in the area since it is below sea level. Not sure that is true??
The mud from the lake (yes - it is really a lake) is considered to be good for your skin. In fact, they sell it packaged all over the place. People come here to cover themselves with the mud.
We headed out with the Cobbs and Vances to the Old City (the area inside the Jerusalem walls) to see the Light Festival. It only occurs once a year, so we thought we should check it out.
It was CRAZY crowded. Check out my face! Not sure why I looked like that - awful. But I wanted to show the crowds.
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