June 9 Dead Sea, Masada and Qumran

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Today was the first day of our tour. Last night we met our tour guide Evan and the other 23 people on the tour. One thing I love about touring is the people you meet. Our group is from all over the world. The U.S. (of course), New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore, to name a few. Most of us are of THAT CERTAIN AGE, so we have at least that in common. We do have some families, many couples, and a few single travelers, proving the point that anyone at any age can travel anywhere. Being alone is no reason to stop traveling. When you are on tour, you are with family, so don't fret. Get those airline tickets and get out there!

I said earlier that touring is not a vacation. Today we got a mandatory wake-up call at 6 AM, and then off to another amazing buffet breakfast, after which we assembled at 7:55 in the hotel lobby to prepare to board our bus. Now Trafalgar is noted the world over for their modern, comfortable, white tour busses. We have traveled on 10 previous Trafalgar tours on these white beauties. Imagine my surprise when Evan leads us to a GREEN bus! Now this bus is modern, a bit smaller than the huge Trafalgar buses, and is not equipped with a WC (water closet.... ie. bathroom). It is, however, very clean and comfortable and piloted by our Arab driver George.

Cathy and I boarded the bus, scoring the coveted front seat behind the driver for the hour-ish drive into the desert. A word about bus seating. It is standard Trafalgar practice to ROTATE bus seating so that everyone has the opportunity to get a different seat every day. This helps keep things fair. Our rotation is clockwise every other row. So it is unlikely we will make it back to the front before the end of the tour, but every seat goes to the same place so it doesn't really matter where you sit.

Our journey began on Highway 60 heading north. Heading out of town we passed the Jaffa Gate, the Damascus Gate, and the Dome of the Rock. Talk about the trifecta. Although we passed these historic spots today, later we will visit them in more intimate detail.

Not very far from the lush environs of Jerusalem, we entered the Judaean Desert. We were now traveling north on the West Bank of the Jordan River. If you are of a certain age, you may remember that this area was once a place of strife and war. Several years of fighting led to a peace treaty with Jordan, allowing both communities to live in a cool peace. The goal is a warm peace where there is respect and interactions between former enemies, where trade and peace reign. We are not there yet, but the future is coming.

We passed Jericho where God commanded seven priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant seven times around the city walls, then blow the Shofar whereupon the walls came a tumbling down. Frankly, I am blown away that I am on a bus traveling past a place that is so prominently mentioned in the Bible. This is truly an amazing trip.

We traveled north along the West Bank and were soon running parallel to another historical site, The Dead Sea or the Salt Sea. The Dead Sea is 70 KM long, 8 KM wide, and perhaps 1000 feet deep. On the other side, we have Jordan. The Dead Sea has a salinity as high as 34%. The Atlantic Ocean has a salinity of about 3.5%, a massive difference. The salts in the Dead Sea include a mix of minerals that are not seen in one place anywhere else in the world. There are Zinc, Potassium, Magnesium, Sodium, Calcium, and Bromide. This amazing group of constituents led scientists to study the waters and discovered the amazing curative powers of the mineral baths, leading to the development of a cottage industry and the incorporation of AHAVE, which means Love With All Your Heart.

Our first stop, amazing enough, was at AHAVA HQ, right on the Dead Sea. We were given a brief tour, I got to try some incredible hand cream, and we were soon ushered to the shopping area where I parted with $100 for my very own bottle of age-reducing product. Hey, this month is my 70TH birthday. Never too late to start fighting aging, right?

Back on the bus and off to Masada. A very quick Masada Story. In the late 70 CE prior there was a rebel uprising in Jerusalem. The Romans enforced Pax Romana and slaughtered the Jews and destroyed the Temple. A group of rebels known as the Sicari were held up in a mountain stronghold known as Masada. There were 973 of them. Rome sent the Legion X Fretensis to quash the rebels. The Romans numbered 5000 soldiers and 10,000 support personnel. A little lopsided. The rebels were led by Elazar ben Ya'ir and the Romans by Lucius Flavius Silva. The historian was a turncoat rebel named Flavius Josephus.

The story is worth reading about. The rebels were high on the hill feeling very safe. The Romans below were seemingly helpless. Flavius devises a scheme where he builds a defense around the city cutting it off from any supplies in or out. Then he constructed a massive ramp made of stone and wood that is still evident today. He used the ramp to transport a massive siege engine or battering ram and broke through the walls quickly. Instead of finishing the attack, he retreated for the night. During the night Elaza delivers a passionate speech beseeching the rebels to kill themselves rather than have their wives raped and children thrown into slavery. Using pot shards the men wrote their names on them and nine were chosen. The chosen were given the task of assuring every man woman and child were killed then they were to kill each other until the last man standing killed himself. When Flavius arrived the next day, the city was devoid of life save for three people. The story of choosing death over slavery is a poignant one and shows the commitment of the rebels to their cause.

The UNESCO site was amazing. The remains are almost all rubble save for some reconstruction work that gives a visitor a glimpse into what life was like in the first century CE.

After Masada, we headed to Qumran, another historic site where in 1947 two shepherd boys were looking for a lost kid goat and instead found some of the oldest Biblical documents ever found. Although we did not visit the caves where the scrolls were found, we did find a place for lunch. Unfortunately, we are in the travel season and this is a highly visited site so it was PACKED to the extreme. There had to be 25 buses full of travelers all vying for a few feet of ground and a chance to get lunch.

This is where being on tour was helpful. Evan chatted with someone in the restaurant and we were escorted from a very long line for the buffet lunch to a very short line for a sandwich and a drink. I was not looking for a huge meal and doing this was perfect, giving us time to enjoy a delicious chicken cutlet and still having enough time to shop in the Qumran store!

I was looking at some amazing men's rings, handmade in gold and silver with a very ornate center design. Since this is my birthday week, and I was given some money from my mother-in-law, I decided to get a ring. It is gold and silver with the city of Jerusalem engraved in the center.

After this, we headed to the lowest spot on earth, The Dead Sea. I was prepared, having packed a bathing suit and a change of clothes. We arrived at the parking lot and Evan guided us to a place to change. I was soon heading down a very long walkway to the very edge of the Dead Sea. Now the Dead Sea is very salty as I said earlier. It is so dense that you can float in a few inches of water! I got in and noticed the water was warm, black in color, and tasted terrible. In fact, it is considered dangerous to drink so I was careful to keep it out of my eyes and mouth.

Floating was great fun, but trying to stand up was not. You see it is almost impossible to get your legs back under you. You have to do a modified sit-up, where you try to sit up while thrusting your feet out. Somehow you find yourself in a standing position. The water gave your skin an odd feel as if you had put an emollient all over your body. Normally saltwater drys the skin, but the Dead Sea salts nourish making your skin feel silky smooth.

It was getting late so we went back to the bus and headed back to the hotel. After a quick shower and change of clothes, Cathy and I were off to dinner in the hotel. We enjoyed another buffet of various types of meat, fish, chicken, a myriad of salads, olives, peppers, etc. This was topped off with a dessert table with a minimum of 12 options. Dinner and the day were just wonderful. I can't wait for tomorrow when we go the Bethleham!

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