Masada, Dead Sea, Ein Gedi

Our first official weekend excursion was the highlight of the trip thus far, taking us to Masada, the Dead Sea, and Ein Gedi national park. We started at Masada bright and early, ready to hike to the top (or take the cable car, for those of us who were sick). Masada is a fortress built by Herod, used as his winter palace. More important historically, though, its the place where the last of the Jewish resistance fighters held out against the Romans in 70 AD. In order to reach them, the Romans had to build a ramp up the mountain, in order to push a battering ram up to break the wall. They finished the ramp one night, and went to sleep, planning on taking Masada in the morning. The Jewish fighters inside knew they had a choice to make. Rather than be taken into slavery by the Romans, the fighters, women and children included, committed mass suicide. When the Romans reached Masada in the morning, they found only 1 woman and 2 children alive. Our group had fun exploring the ruins, especially the Northern Palace where Herod lived. A few of us even got a Rabbinic blessing from the Rabbi working in the ruins of the old synagogue! 

View from top of Masada

Siege ramp Romans built to reach Masada

Bathhouse 

Herod's Northern Palace

Next, we headed down to the Dead Sea. Yes, you float. Yes, it is the weirdest sensation ever. Yes, it is a ton of fun. You start wading in, thinking the water is normal. Once you get about knee deep, you decide to lean back, and suddenly find yourself floating. No matter how hard you try, you can't make yourself sink. This makes everyone end up looking like a beached whale, with arms and legs constantly flailing  trying to propel yourself around, but not being able to get your legs far enough under water to kick. Needless to say, we were highly entertained.  The salt water already makes you skin feel amazing, but then you add the magical element: dead sea mud. There were barrels on the beach of mud, which everyone coats their body in, then waits for it to dry before rinsing off in the sea. My skin has never felt smoother, it was amazing. After playing in the water for a while longer, we headed back to our hostel for the night. 

The next day, we explored, hiked, and swam our way through Ein Gedi national park. Supposedly where David hid from Saul, the park is full of caves, waterfalls, rocky canyons, and lots of amazing views of the Dead Sea and Jordan. There are two canyons, Wadi David and Wadi Arugot to explore. We would hike for a while, swim in a waterfall for a while, then hike some more repeatedly throughout the day. In the afternoon, we ran across the street for one last dip in the Dead Sea before heading home.