Masadah, Ein Gedi, The Dead Sea, Kibbutz Lotan
This week has been crazy!!! Last Thursday I left for the week, beginning with the Old City of Jerusalem. Then we drove south through the desert to the Dead Sea. Driving through the desert we passed Bedouin tents in the sand dunes and camels standing by the side of the road. When we stopped for lunch, I saw a camel up close:).. After this, we were driving along the border of Israel and Jordan until we reached the Dead Sea.... I forgot to mention how hot it was-stifling!! We went to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found! The landscape was amazing-the Dead Sea with huge sand dunes and date palms growing all around. After this we went to Ein Gedi, a nature preserve in the desert with natural waterfalls!... the scenery reminds me somewhat of the Grand Canyon. The hike was long and hot but we finally reached some water and splashed around in it. We spent the night at a hostel right on the Dead Sea and woke up at 3:30 AM on Friday to hike Masadah. Masadah is a palace created by King Herod that later became a Roman garrison. The hike was definetely one of the most difficult that I have done-stairs and stairs in fairly warm weather! But, the sunrise at the top was definetely worth the hike! Later that day we went to the Dead Sea where we swam and lay in the sun! The hotel gave us mud which felt amazing on the skin. The sea is beautiful with salt formations around the outside. The bottom is rock hard and if you have any small cuts you definetely don't want to go in, but everyone floated!!! It was the wierdest feeling because I didn't need a floating device to just lay on my back or stomach forever!
After the Dead Sea, we drove to Kibbutz Lotan which is 20 min. from the southernost point of Israel. We spent 2 nights on the Kibbutz which is a reformed and ecologically minded kibbutz. Basically they try to recycle everything so the buildings are created with tires and mud... it's really interesting! The last night we went to Eilat, the southernmost point of Israel, bordering Jordan and Egypt, where there is an amazing open-air market. I bought "Israeli" pants which are called fisherman pants.. I'll take a picture and post it sometime! Also some other clothing because everything is very inexpensive.
