An Israeli Road Trip

A float in the Dead Sea was a must-do on our road trip.  In the ocean, Peter, without a lot of body fat, sinks like a stone.  Buoyancy was no problem in the Dead Sea which is ten times more salty. 

Even though a small country, there is too much territory to cover in a short one week road trip.  We decided to keep the north until our next visit and concentrate on, to us, the more unusual desert terrain in the south of Israel.  We rented a car and took off from Jerusalem, driving east through the West Bank to the Dead Sea, then south to Ein Gedi Kibbutz, where we stayed two nights.  We continued south, stopping in Masada, and then to the Jordan border at the Red Sea, where we dipped our toes.  After our two day tour in Jordan, we recrossed the border and stayed in Eilat, the Israeli Florida for one night, heading north along the Egyptian border to Mitzpe Ramon and then onward to the corner of Gaza - as close as we could get - and back to Tel Aviv.

It was a road trip of extraordinarily diverse and fiercely majestic desert topography.  We stopped at several important historical sites, touched on the ancient Incense Route, had a float in the Dead Sea, marvelled at the number of troops training in the desert and covered our ears as fighter jets roared overhead, were shocked by the obvious poverty of the Palestinian villages and discussed the walled modern Jewish settlements in the West Bank.  So much to learn and see and lots of questions to ask.

To get to our first overnight stop we had to take the Israeli controlled highway through the Palestinian West Bank.  Because of regional turmoil, we were advised not to get off the road - a sobering thought for us Canadians.  This is not a political blog and we are not knowledgeable enough to comment beyond saying that the current geopolitical situation in Israel seems tragic and insolvable at the moment.

In the distance, on the hill, a walled very modern Jewish settlement in the Palestinian West Bank.  

A Palestinian town of, essentially, shacks, often in valleys under a settlement.

Touted as the site of the Good Samaritan's meeting with the ill traveller, this small museum of lovely mosaics had it's own ramp off the highway on a postage-size plot of land, bordered by high, barb-wired fencing in the West Bank.

First glimpse of the Dead Sea as we descended through the arid hills to the world's lowest point at 400m below sea level.

65 km long and 18 km wide with the Jordan-Israeli border going right down the middle, the Dead Sea is edged by inhospitable but magnificent rocky mountains at the north end while at the south it is shallow on a vast plain.  Although water flows in from the Jordan River and there is no output, evaporation is so high that the mineral content is enormous.  Only a few bacteria can survive. 

The view out our window at the Ein Gedi Hotel on the Ein Gedi Kibbutz.  About 120 people live in this oasis kibbutz, one of the most successful kibbutzim in Israel.  The hotel had cabins spread over it's property with a large dining hall and terrace.  Those living in the kibbutz had jobs they rotated through.  They hire Arabian workers who live in residential buildings just off property.  There are many houses, a hostel, conference hall, small grocery store, etc.  Pretty cool.

The kibbutz is also a beautifully lade out botanical garden.  This prickly tree was one of it's oddities....

...with little paddle leaves among the thorns.

The Ein Gedi Nature Reserve beside the kibbutz is located on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert.  The sheer cliffs are dotted with caves where Jesus and John the Baptist among many others hid in their day.  We spent a short day hiking the myriad of marked trails followed by a dip in the sea.

The area has always been a desired place for agricultural settlements because of four fresh-water springs that generate approximately 3 million cubic meters of water a year.  There are ancient irrigation systems, cisterns and aqueducts.  Waterfalls, a dime a dozen where we come from, are a major and unusual attraction in the desert.

Flash floods are a hazard when hiking in the wadi's or two dry river beds in the reserve in the winter.  You're supposed to listen for a rush of water and then head to higher ground in a hurry!

We think this flimsy barrier made of logs and palm leaves is supposed to protect the path from rock slides?!

These raw cliffs with the Dead Sea in the background made for a stunning, if a little treacherous, hike.

The small streams of green were a welcome colour change to the sandstone monotone.

Well-appointed cliff climbing

Jordan vaguely visible on the other side.

As usual, depth is difficult to get on camera.  The peak over me was very high and the edge I am standing on drops dizzyingly. 

Our hotel in the Ein Gedi kibbutz is the green on the far side of the valley, mid picture.  An oasis indeed.

Ruins of a 3rd century CE synagogue, perhaps the oldest discovered in Israel, had a lovely mosaic floor.

We were shuttled from a spa to this bare necessity, rather unattractive beach set-up.  The bottom of the very shallow sea was thick with continuous crust of salt making wading very slow and painful.  Soon this end of the sea will be above water - it is dropping about 1 m per year and the sea as a whole has receded about 25 km in length.  Better go for a float soon!

Floating was effortless.  Actual swimming strokes not so easy.

Salt rock.  That's why it was so painful wading.  The bottom was prickly, jagged.  Ouch.

Next stop, the UNESCO world heritage site, Masada, a plateau, 450 m above the nearby the Dead Sea.  Masada history makes for an interesting tale; it was the last bastion of Jewish freedom fighters against the Romans in 66 CE.  According to Josephus Flavius who recorded the tale (and may have added imagination to reality, it is thought), the Romans laid siege to Masada over two years with 8,000 troops, 8 camps around the base, and a ramp made of earth on a slope up to the top.  Once the ramp was high enough, the Romans built a battering ram to pummel the wall to which the 960 Jewish rebels responded by supporting the inner wall with wood and earth.  The Romans set it ablaze.  As the rebels lost hope, the leaders decided that it would be better to take their own lives rather than live in shame and humiliation as slaves to the Romans. Possessions and homes were burnt and ten men were chosen by straws to kill the others and then themselves. Two women and five children survived by hiding in a cistern and recounted the tale.  Importantly, Masada became and remains a symbol for the Zionist movement, a Jewish cultural icon of a "they'll never take us alive attitude" and a symbol of humanity's struggle for freedom from oppression.

We chose to hike up and down via an ancient path instead of taking the gondola.  From part way up the sediment left by the ancient Dead Sea is scored by cracks and fissures.  Definitely "badlands".

A view of the "Snake Path" we climbed - an apt name - under the gondola cables.  The visitor's centre is way below.

King Herod who ruled from 37 BCE to 4 BCE, was taken by the natural strategic advantages the high mesa afforded.  He chose it as a refuge and a winter palace.  Luxurious palaces were built and his storerooms were stock-piled.  This picture is taken from the top tier of the north palace, looking down on the middle tier with the three people on the bottom tier 30 m below.  A cliff drops precipitously to the desert floor and river beds way below.  After Herod's death a garrison was placed here.

Twenty-nine long storerooms were stock-piled.  When the Jews revolted against the Romans, they took the garrison.  It became a safe place to flee to and more than 900 lived there for several years until the Romans retook the site.

As we have seen before, the Romans loved their baths!  Consisting of a dressing room, a tepid room, a cold room and a hot room, above.  This room had a double floor, the upper floor held up with stone columns.  Hot air flowed between the floors and rose through clay pipes embedded in the walls.  Each room was decorated with frescoes with a vaulted ceiling.  Nicer than many modern spas.

On the edge, in the wind!  Easy to see how this place was considered to be impregnable with it's sheer sided cliffs.

At the bottom.  The plateau is way above with the development hidden from below by it's height.  It was not discovered until the 19th century and excavation only began in earnest in 1963.

After our side trip to Jordan we went north from lacklustre city of Eilat along the Egyptian border.  A razor bladed fence ran the entire length on the Israeli side with watch towers on the Egyptian side.  Daunting!

Maktesh Ramon, the world's biggest crater, 300m deep, 8 km wide and 40 km long and millions of years old.

Of course, we had to climb down from Mitzpe Ramon, the town that is perched on the edge of the crater.  Totally barren and inhospitable plateau moonscape after descending the initial canyon like cliff.

And then a few flowers and green along the wadi at the bottom.

A long way down and up kept us warm on an otherwise cold day.

Built on a hilltop with cave houses and storerooms carved into the hill like a honeycomb, Avdat was a 2nd century BCE stop on the Incense route from Petra to the Mediterranean coast.

And finally, Ein Avdat national park.  A steep winding canyon leading to a...

pool of icy cold water, considered a freak of nature in the hot desert.

It was a great road trip.  There is so much more to see, as always.