Daytrip to Masada and the Dead Sea

This is the famous mountain top village where Jews that escaped the Romans who conquered Israel about two thousand years ago. The Jews of course didn't want to be killed or become Roman slaves, so about a group of a thousand managed to escape to this mountain about an hours drive from Jerusalem, in the Negev Desert.. Sadly the Romans found them. The Jews tried their best to keep the thousands of Roman troops at bay, by rolling huge bolders down the mountain, each time they tried to climb it. The Jews fought the soldiers for years, until they finally found a way to climb the mountain, by building a ramp made of rocks and dirt. Knowing the Romans would soon be at the top of the mountain, all the Jews decided to take their own lives rather than face the horrible fate that awaited them: murder, rape and slavery. When the Roman's newly built ramp finally met the top of the mountain, the first soldiers to enter were shocked when they found all of the Jews dead: approx. 1000 women, children and men. The Roman government heard news of this and made a decision to not try to capture anymore Jews that tried to escape when they overtook the country. The many Jews that managed to not be found by Roman troops continued to live in their land and all the way up until the present day, there ancestors live in Israel.

The mountain called Masada. We climbed it by taking the easy way, by the cable car.

This is the origional  "snake" path cut into the steep side of mountain by the Jews. It is very difficult to navegate. This is the same path that the Jews warded off Roman soldiers by hurling down huge bolders at them, preventing them from getting to the top.

My son on top of Masada, exploring all the ruins.

This is the remains of a Mikfah or Jewish ritual bath.

There were many beautiful mosaic tiled floors that were well preserved being they are a couple thousand years old !!!!

The total living area on the top of Masada was much bigger than I imagined, just from having seen photos prior to actually being there. It was a good half a mile all around.

The views of the Negev desert and Dead Sea were spectacular from the top of Masada. One can imagine how frightening it must have been for the Jews who constantly watched the thousands of Roman troops, who greatly outnumbered them, encamped below, trying to take siege of the mountain. The ruins of the stone fence fortresses of the many Roman battalions remain today. You can see one of them to the far, middle right of the picture in the shape of a square.

The Beautiful Dead Sea and surrounding Negev Desert

The Negev Desert was not green like this naturally. When the state of Israel was established the Jews worked their butts off to cultivate the dry, barren land, that no one believed could be made to look beautiful like this !

The En Geddi Spa and hotel by the Dead Sea. The owners of this spa is the same company that makes the famous Ahava Dead Sea skin products. Ahava also has farms in this area where they grow plants they use in their skin care products. There are many farms in this area where fruit trees now grow plentiful.

The big outdoor swimming pool at En Geddi Spa, with the beach and Dead Sea right behind.

One of the many smaller mineral and salt indoor pools at the spa.

There are beautiful mountains that surround the Dead Sea.

There's so much salt in the Dead Sea that nothing is able to live there, thus the name was given. Also this area of land is the very lowest point below sea level in the entire world, which makes it such a unique place.

My son searching for salt rocks to take with him as a souvenir. He managed to find a few, which he still has.

Imagine that you anyone can enjoy floating in this sea, without fear of drowning. You just can't sink, because of the tremendous salt content. My son and I loved that feeling of being held up. It was so cool.

At the spa, we enjoyed taking mud baths, which the Dead Sea is famous for. It's said to have healing properties and will cure all sorts of diseases and skin disorders.

After our fun with the mud...........we enjoy showering off and being clean once more.

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