Masada and the Dead Sea

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I'd booked us on the Tour Israel Dead Sea and Masada tourto start the trip. The coach picked us up at 0715, our tour guide was Norbert who delivered the tour in English and French, switching seamlessly between the two making me jealous. I slept though the journey and BAM delighted in telling me about all the cool views and facts that I'd missed. Thanks BAM.

The coach stopped at a cafe/gift shop selling Dead Sea Minerals creams and had a cracking view of the Dead Sea. We continued onwards to the Masada ruins.

Masada is an ancient fort atop a massive mountain. There's a visitors centre at the bottom with facts, a gift shop and a cafeteria. Our tour ticket included the cable car to the top, but the traditional route follows the "snake path" which you could see winding its way up dotted with sweaty walkers. On arriving we were totally blown away by the views. Simply unbelievable. Norbert guided us through the history and significant structures of the site, Herod the Great build the fortress around 30BCE and the Romans eventually besieged it 100 years later. See Wikipedia for more. Although the architecture itself would have made for a fascinating visit, the real breathtaker was the views of the Dead Sea and Jordan from the top. The group went back down to the cafeteria but we stayed on top for another hour to drink in the panoramic views of the Israeli and Jordanian mountains, desert and sea.

The Dead Sea is the world's lowest land point and one damn salty sea (some splashed on my face and I licked it, would not recommend). The buoyancy really is noticeable. I compared it to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, which despite being full of silica, you still sank if you stopped swimming. BAM took forever to lie down, claiming it was "cold". No sea will ever be warmer. The mud is apparently good for the skin so I blacked up for a bit, before floating and relaxing in the sunshine. A fun experience to share with my BAM and definitely worthwhile making the trip. I think the questionable political situation of Israel and Palestine has prevented the "touristification" of the site to its full potential. Beth didn't rinse properly afterwards and she got rashes as a result of dried salt rubbing against her top and skin, so be careful to shower thoroughly.

When we got back to Tel Aviv we searched for a decent place to eat and ended up having amazing Persian kebabs, rice and hummus. Apologies but I can't remember the name or where it was; somewhere around the pedestrian Carmel market area.

JA

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Photos

Dead sea...
lowest of the low