Masada and the Dead Sea

Today was an up early day. We had to be downstairs with all of our stuff at 8 to meet our tour. We checked in with our tour guide, and we were off! We had to pick up people at a couple more hotels (there are different star levels for the tour. We're in 3 star, and we had to go get the 4 and 5 star people. The group today was a reasonable size - 19, but the tour guide, Orna, said we'll be growing larger for the rest of the Israel part of the tour, starting tomorrow. That makes me sad. I liked today, because we each got our own window if we wanted it. Tomorrow, we'll be squished. Well, the next two days are just around Jerusalem, so maybe there won't be too much bus riding anyway.

After picking up everybody else, it was off to Masada. We went down through Beersheva. We didn't get out, but we did do a loop around town to see the city. There wasn't much to see. Then it was through the mountains. It was winding roads for a long time, but through some beautiful hills. 

I think the swirly bit towards the left looks very Tim Burton

 Thank goodness I didn't have a migraine,  because it would have made me really ill. As it was, Steven started feeling sick. Luckily, there was no barfing, but I had Em move to a different row, just in case. Masada is on a huge hill above the Dead Sea, so we needed to go down to the sea to get there. The Dead Sea is over 400 meters below sea level  - the lowest point on earth. So, that meant more winding. When we came I view of the sea, though, it was so cool. 

Our first view of the Dead Sea. I'm pretty sure those stripes have something to do with the salt mining

We drove along it for a while, and finally came to the cable car to take us up the hill/mountain to Masasda. I was hoping Steven would feel better once we got off the bus, but it didn't happen. It was pretty toasty up there, I'm sure that didn't help any. 

Masada was neat. It was originally one of Herod's palaces, but it's famous for all of the Zionists who held out against a Roman siege for years, and when the Romans finally got through, the Zionists committed suicide rather than become slaves.

The remains of the ramp the Romans built to get up the mountain

Then, it was off to take a dip in the Sea. we drove for a bit before we came to the beach. You can really tell by the landscape that the water level used to be much  higher. 

Can you see where the landscape changes at the very top of the lighter hill? That seems to be the old water level

 We changed into our swimsuits and headed down the hill to the water. The path ends where I think the water must have started back when it was built. After that, it's just sharp little rocks. Luckily, Em and I had our flip flops, but Steven was pretty miserable. I got down to the water and was so happy to see pretty salt formations! I had so hoped I would see some (I had seen some in pictures), but I didn't hold out hope. But, they were there! Yay! 

salt formation on the side of the lake

 You're not supposed to take the mud from the bottom of the lake, so they have a couple of barrels of it available for you to use. The kids and I slathered ourselves in mud and headed to the water. 

all slimed up with Dead Sea mud

It was such an odd feeling! You're supposed to walk in until you cansquat, and then try to sit. Your legs pop out from und you, and you just float. It's so strange. You can float without trying at all, even with your hands in the air. You're only supposed to be in for 15 minutes at a time, so that,s how long we were in. When we came out, the water on our skin felt like mineral oil. Steven had been too cold to go all the way in, so he needed help rinsing off the mud. Unfortunately, the outdoor mud showers were pretty cold, too. I wiped him off as best I could, and hhe and I wnt up to the changing rooms to shower and get dressed. Em wanted to go in once more, so Mom stayed down with her. Luckily, the showers in the changing room were nice and hot. mom and Em met us back up at the top when Em was done, and I helped Em get changed (no private rooms, so she needed me to show her how to change without her bits wagging everywhere). We had 10 minutes left to grab a late lunch at the little cafe, so we got some sandwiches and took them back to the bus.

We're not sitting here, we're floating

A few more minutes' drive took us to the Ahava factory. They're a kibbutz that makes skin care products from the Dead Sea minerals. We bought a couple things, just because it's not often you get to buy sea salts at the Dead Sea! They were pretty expensive, though, so we didn't get much.

After that, it was time to go to Jerusalem for our hotels. It took about an hour. The road between the Dead Sea and Jerusalem is nowhere near as winding, for which I am very grateful. Actually, we gave Steven some motion sickness medicine before we went into Ahava, so he conked out almost as soon as we got back in the bus. Em stayed up for a bit, but it soon got dark, and she fell asleep, too. 

As we were driving along the sea coast, we could see lights in Jordan, on the other side. At some point,

It room us a while to drop off all of the 4 and 5 star people, but finally it was our turn. We're staying at the Jerusalem Gate. It's OK. Not great, but not horrible. There is free wifi in the mall underneath it, but there's nowhere to sit down there unless you buy food. I did post a picture of us covered in Dead Sea mud on FB, though I didn't have time to do anything else. We grabbed some dinner downstairs, mostly to keep the kids awake until a reasonable bedtime. It was an adventure in itself. Nothing was in English, so we had to point and hope they didn't overcharge us. It was a pizza & pasta counter. We weren't aggressive enough, because people just came and pushed in front of us all the time. Even when the guy was in the middle of helping us, he would then turn to whatever family pushed ahead. It took us probably 10 minutes just to get our order. Then, there was nowhere to sit. We couldn't take it to any of the other seating areas, because they were all segregated. Of course, we couldn't tell it just by looking, so we got kicked out of two tables before we decided to just take it upstairs.

Everybody else is alsleep, and now that I'm done with this, it's my turn.

Emma says - The Dead Sea was TOTALLY AWESOME! It was so much fun swimming around with no effort, because I didn't get tired at all. The mud was a lot of fun, too. It felt weird because there were a lot of rocks in it and it was kind of slimy, but I made war paint with it. I didn't feel any difference in my skin after the mud, though.