South to the Dead Sea

Soon after we left Jerusalem, the landscape started to look very desert-like. There was a noticeable drop in altitude as well. We passed clusters of Bedouin shacks and groves of date palms. Aside from a quick rest stop (camel ride, anyone?), we proceeded directly to Masada, the fortress built by King Herod on a wide rocky plateau that overlooks the Dead Sea. The terrain around Masada is so rugged that it was hard to imagine people traveling through this region on foot, or even on a donkey, before there were roads. 

At a rest stop on our way to the Dead Sea

 

Looking down at Masada

Most people have heard the story, recounted by the Jewish Roman historian Josephus, of how a small band of Jewish rebels held out against a Roman assault in the year 73 CE. To help us understand what happened in Masada, Alon reminded us of conditions in Judea in the 1^stcentury CE: great economic hardship among the populace; rampant corruption among the high priests in Jerusalem; widespread resentment of the Romans. In other words, the place was a powder keg about to explode.

After the death of King Herod, his sons were unable to govern effectively and Rome set out to take control of the kingdom. By 73 CE, the Romans had subdued the entire territory except for Masada, where a group of rebels and their families had taken refuge. For two months, the defenders of Masada successfully resisted the Roman siege. When it became clear that they could hold out no longer, rather than surrender and give up their freedom, the rebels decided to kill their families and then themselves. Out of 960 Jews, only two women and five children were found alive when Roman troops entered the fortress. The fall of Masada is considered the final act in the Roman conquest of Judea.

Masada is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Israel. Although there is a walking path to reach the site, our group saved quite a bit of time by taking the cable car. Seeing the views from the top made it easy to understand why King Herod chose to built a fortress here.  

A view of the Dead Sea from Masada

A view of the Judean Desert around Masada

Over the years, archaeologists have excavated the ruins of two multilevel palaces built by Herod, a synagogue, ritual baths, storerooms that could hold a year’s worth of food for 10,000 people, an impressive water system that included 12 cisterns, living quarters for families and soldiers, and columbarium towers (used for pigeons). 

Exploring the ruins

Entrance to a bath house

Original painted decoration in the bath house

We didn’t see any pigeons, but we saw plenty of large black hawks soaring overhead and then swooping down low over the ruins. We also saw plenty of noisy medium-sized black birds with orange tipped wings. We learned that they were Tristram’s grackles, a member of the starling family that’s native to the area. 

A Tristram's grackle

After a few hours in the sun climbing over Masada’s ruins, we were tired and sweaty and ready to chill out at a Dead Sea. The name of our hotel in the town of Ein Bokek was the Spa Club. Immediately, I pictured a fashionable resort property. On the short bus ride to the hotel from Masada, Alon tried to warn us not to expect too much, and it turned out he was right. While the hotel had a great location, right on the beach, and it had its own spa, nearly everything about the place had a tired, shabby look – the lobby, the cavernous dining rooms, and even the elderly guests, who roamed around in shapeless white bathrobes, conversing in Russian. It brought to mind Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, or a Soviet-era resort on the Black Sea in the 1960s. 

I couldn't resist picking up this chunk of salt and licking it. Yes, it was very salty!

My first look at the Dead Sea on the day of our arrival in Ein Bokek

Despite that disappointment, I was excited to be at the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. What I really wanted to do was to float in the mineral-rich water. I got my wish the next day when all donned our bathing attire and trooped down to the beach together. Before we entered the water, Alon reminded us to avoid splashing since you don’t want to get the water in your eyes. As I quickly discovered, floating is easy. What’s hard is putting your feet down again. 

Floating in the Dead Sea was a very strange sensation.

After we floated for 15-20 minutes, we got out of the water and tried another Dead Sea ritual, i.e. slathering our bodies with mineral-rich mud. All the touristy shops were selling bags of the mud, as well as pricey skin and hair care products made with Dead Sea minerals that reputedly have health benefits. 

We also got an up-close look at the Judean Desert when we went for an off-road jeep tour. In small groups, we bounced and jounced through the canyons, up and down dried riverbeds, and across the rocky landscape. Three to five million years ago, the entire area was flooded. Our guide broke off chunks of rock that were 96% salt. From an overlook on Mount Sedom or Sdom (as in Sodom and Gomorrah), we looked out at basins in the sea that are used for the extraction of minerals such as potash, bromine and magnesium. Our off-road adventure concluded with a picnic lunch under the acacia trees at Zohar Gorge. A Mamluk road linking Jordan and Gaza went through this spot 600-700 years ago. The ruins of a Mamluk fortress still stand on a cliff in the gorge. 

With John, Sue and our jeep driver 

Salt rocks in the Judean Desert 

Basins in the Dead Sea for mineral extraction 

Zohar Gorge

Ruins of a Mamluk fortress in Zohar Gorge  

Before leaving the Dead Sea area, we visited the En Gedi Nature Reserve on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert. The park is quite large and its cliffs are home to a sizeable number of Nubian ibex. At one time, they were considered an endangered species, but due to Israeli preservation efforts, the population has rebounded. We were amused to see several ibex standing on their hind legs as they munched leaves from the bushes. The male ibex, with its large curved horns, looks quite regal. We didn’t have time to see the remains of an ancient Jewish settlement that existed for over a thousand years in En Gedi. However, we hiked to a small waterfall called David’s Spring. According to Jewish tradition, the young David hid in En Gedi after fleeing from King Saul around 1000 BCE. 

Ibex at En Gedi 

Ibex on the move

David's Spring in En Gedi 

From En Gedi, we traveled north to Qumran, on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Qumran is best known today for the caves where several ancient scrolls were discovered in the 1940s and 50s. Some of these scrolls are displayed in the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. They were written by members of an ascetic sect called the Essenes, who came to live in Qumran in the second century BCE. During periods of danger, the Essenes may have placed their library of scrolls in the caves for safekeeping. The site has been extensively excavated and remains of the Essene settlement include assembly halls, a communal dining hall, ritual baths, a watch tower, and a pottery workshop. Archaeologists have also found their scriptorium, i.e. writing room, complete with desks and inkstands. 

Qumran caves

Reproduction of a Dead Sea Scroll in the museum at Qumran

Ruins of a ritual bath at Qumran 

After our visit to Qumran, it was time to head back to Tel Aviv for the final night of our OAT tour. However, I had arranged to extend my stay by a couple of days. I’ll tell you about exploring Tel Aviv on my own in my next post.