Hi Everyone!
We went first to Masada. A giant fortress built by Herod the Great as a refuge from his enemies and a getaway. After he died the Jews rebelled against Rome and the Roman Empire had destroyed Jerusalem. So almost 1000 Jews isolated themselves at Masada. The Romans built camps around the fortress but couldn't get up. They eventually built a ramp but the night before they would reach the fortress, the Jews killed themselves - for the belief of "serving no Roman or any other God".
Today we did another group tour.
We went first to Masada. A giant fortress built by Herod the Great as a refuge from his enemies and a getaway. After he died the Jews rebelled against Rome and the Roman Empire had destroyed Jerusalem. So almost 1000 Jews isolated themselves at Masada. The Romans built camps around the fortress but couldn't get up. They eventually built a ramp but the night before they would reach the fortress, the Jews killed themselves - for the belief of "serving no Roman or any other God".
It was pretty amazing. They had built dams on the streams and cut holes in the fortress to make water cisterns. They had food storage rooms and lived up there for 4-5 years! Quite amazing!
From there we went to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth at -410 meters below sea level. It smelled like sulfur (think Old Faithful x10!) We went to Ein Gedi Spa and from here could change and walk down to the "beach" (really, it's all salt). The spa used to be located right at the water, but the sea has evaporated so much that it is now much further back. So, if you want to ever see the Dead Sea, you better go soon before it's gone for good.
We started by first getting all muddy! There were these big vats of Dead Sea mud and we smeared it all over our bodies. It's supposed to have rejuvenating qualities so we made sure we put it all over to keep our youthful figures (and fix all of our imperfections - hey, they said it works miracles). We washed off in sulfur showers - which burns your eyes! But then rinsed off further in fresh water showers. We then went down the long path to the water so we could float! The water feels slimy and greasy, but it really is easy to float.
They had some more fresh water showers on the beach too, but they are freezing compared to the sulfur ones. We took the trolley back to the mud vats for a 2nd dead sea mud treatment, just for good measure and of course photos!
Basically you sit in the sun for 10 minutes to get all crusy and mummy-like and then wash off, leaving your skin all smooth!
We took the bus back to Jerusalem and are going to take it pretty easy tonight since we have another busy day tomorrow!
Sending love from the tiny room in Jerusalem - yeah, we never got moved to a different space.
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