The Dead Sea and Masada

For our last day in Israel, we took a day trip to the Dead Sea and Masada. It was very different landscape from what you see towards the Mediterranean side of Israel. And we also crossed into the West Bank area as well.

First stop was Sea Level on our way down to the Dead Sea (which is below sea level).

In the U.S. we have herds of cows but here it's camels!

At the beach on the Dead Sea

It is really salty! Such a strange sensation when you are in the water. It was really windy that day so floating wasn't so easy due to all the waves.

After cleaning up, we drove to Masada. Along the way we learned interesting history about the area and also saw some of the sights (like where they found the Dead Sea scrolls and how the Dead Sea is getting smaller every year due to less water inflow and industrial use).

Masada is an ancient fortification on a plateau above the Dead Sea. It was originally built as a palace for King Herod as seen below.

And is full of Roman structures like mosaics and bath houses.

The fort has been rebuilt around the complex. The black line along this wall shows what is original and what is new (everything below is original).

 

View from the top

 

Some of the structure

The history of Masada involves a group of Jewish people who took refuge in the fortification during the Roman war.  Romans held them in a seige as they built a ramp (seen below) up to the fortress where they used a battering ram to break it open.  When they entered, the 900+ inhabitants had committed mass suicide.

 

After the tour, we headed back to the airport to catch a late and long flight home. It was a great trip (both professionally and personally). I would definitely recommend it to everyone!  There is so much more to see than I had time for - maybe a trip back with Bryce in the future!