Day 13

The next three pictures are views from a lookout on the top of the Mount of Olives. Its a beautiful view of the Old City of Jerusalem. The walls that you can see are in about the same place as they were in the time of Christ. Behind us, just over the crest of this hill is the city of Bethany where Mary and Martha lived with their brother Lazarus.




This is one of those things that I saw that made me think about how universal some aspects of human life are. You can see the father of the family with his little boy. He had been trying to convince this little boy to get on the camel. First the father got on himself to show it was OK. That didn't work. Some Mom and little brother got on and went for a short ride. That didn't work either. It made me think about some members of our family. I got quite a chuckle out of watching them.

This was our bus driver in Israel, Ron. He was a great guy.

This is Qumram where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. There are a lot of caves in the area. It was believed that the "Sons of Light" who founded the community hid the scrolls, intending to return to their community and retrieve them. It is speculated that they were carried off by the Romans about the same time that the Romans conquered Masada and may have been used as slave labor in Masada's attack.

This place is called Ein Gedi. It is one of the few places where there is fresh water near the Dead Sea. It is believed to be one of the places that David hid when Saul was trying to kill him. We saw a few Ibex (a desert sheep) in the distance. They are quite common here and we were told that visitors usually get to see them up close.

This is the view from the cable cars which took us up to the top of Masada. You can see the ruins of the Roman fort (the big square). There were several of these forts around Masada. In addition, they built a big wall to keep the Zealots from escaping.

Herod's bath (partially restored). The floor was raised and hot air was circulated below t0 create a sauna effect. There was another room with a bath or pool (above this picture).

This is witness that the Dead Sea tastes at least 10 worst than the Great Salt Lake. I got one tiny drop on my lips. If you should fall and get water in your face and swallow any, the life guard has to do emergency treatment. I wasn't willing to test that rule.

They claim that this mud bath is supposed to be great for the skin. I just thought it looked like fun. There aren't many times when adults can play in the mud and get away with it.

Here I am washing off the mud. The hardest part was getting my feet back under me because I was so buoyant.

There was this old lady who stripped down to her underwear to swim and take her mud bath. I don't know if she just didn't care or thought it looked like a swim suit.