A busy weekend! Saturday 1/23: Masada

After an early night on Friday, Lee and I got up early on Saturday morning to drive down to Masada - the palace in the sky. Masada was listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site in 2001, which means it's cool. Super cool, in fact. (Sidenote: On the way down, we're cruising through the desert, when suddenly the car in front of us slams on their brakes, and we follow suit. Bounding across the road in front of us is a herd of Ibex! They just cruised on by and jumped up the hillside....Ibex! Wow!)


(sproing...sproing...sproing..)

Anyhow....

Sometime between 37BCE and 4BCE*, King Herod built a massive magnificent winter palace - which he never used - and this natural plateau/fortress was the last bastion of Jewish freedom fighters against the Romans (during the Second Temple). The assault ramp, camps, and assorted ruins are the most complete surviving Roman siege system in the world. I told you it was cool.

*BCE = BC, CE = AD.


(There were metal 'maps' in all the different areas on Masada. This is the northern palace)

So, I want to give you back story on this one, as it was so interesting. Herod built this huge palace with enormous cisterns scattered all over the grounds in order to keep water available - not only for drinking, but for ritual bathing, community swimming pools, and fountains. The cisterns were filled by a crazy intricate system of trenches built into the mountain, so pack animals that carried the water to fill them didn't have to go all the way to the top, necessarily. Ornately decorated, there were two palaces, a few bathhouses, enormous storerooms, dovecots, fields planted with crops of every type....it really was a self-sufficient city or township. The plateau was situated on two major trade routes, so it was perfectly located. And with obvious natural defenses, it was a prime location to hole up during a war.


(Inside the southern cistern; Water trench; Ruins of storehouses)

So, on to why it's super famous here. During the Great Revolt (Jews against Romans) in 66CE, there was a faction of zealots (called the Sicarii) who used this fortress to hide out from the dominating Roman forces. Not a lot of zealots, mind you- we're talking like under 1000 people (including women and children) who tucked themselves up and away on top of the plateau. The varied groups of settlers/rebels created a life on Masada for themselves- building ritual bathing houses, synagogues, and living in the casements and palaces conveniently built by Herod.

After the Romans conquered the rest of Judea, Masada was the last remaining Jewish stronghold. In 73 or 74 CE, the Roman Tenth Legion Fretensis (whatever that is) attacked Masada. With 8,000 troops, they built a siege wall, camps and an enormous ramp from the floor of the desert to the height of the plateau. (That is somewhere along the lines of 450 meters, folks, it was an incredible feat of determination to have made this thing.) After the siege had been going on for several months, they Romans brought a siege tower and battering ram up the ramp (!!!!). Finding the ram was ineffective against the reinforcing wood and earth walls the rebels had built, the Romans lit fire to the supports instead. With the favor of the wind, this tactic was going to work.


(The still-standing ramp)

Knowing that the Roman army would breach the fortress walls by dawn, 10 community leaders, rather than have their wives, children and neighbors raped/enslaved by the Romans, murdered the population of the stronghold. These 10 men then drew lots for who would kill the other nine and then commit suicide - suicide, of course, being a cardinal sin, and the loser would not be granted entrance to the hereafter. The very surprised Romans entered the city to find all but 7 inhabitants dead - the survivors were two women and five children who had hidden in cisterns to avoid death.

This was the last Judean holdout - the Romans then held all the land, and kept guards at Masada into the 2nd century.

So, wow, right? Crazy zealots.

Now the site is an active archeological site, which you can wander around in all day. To access the plateau, you can either walk up (eastern or western sides) or take a cable car. The walk on the eastern side is called the Snake path, and probably would take a good hour or two to ascend- it's steep and winding. The western side goes up along the siege ramp the Romans built oh-so-long ago, but to get to it, you have to drive from a town way in the middle of Israel. As we wanted as much time as possible on the site itself, Lee and I took the cable car up - and holy cow. The views are unbeatable. In fact the views from the entire site are unbeatable - you get a panoramic view of the entire area, and across the Dead Sea into Jordan.


(The Snake path, with our cable car shadow)

We wandered through the ruins, and noticed something interesting - they're rebuilding them. That's right- they're rebuilding an ancient world heritage site. And to show the difference between the 'new' walls and the old walls, they've painted this hideous black line all over the place! It's on nearly every wall at the northern palace, and at various other places around the ruins. It was distasteful and tacky - and unbelievable. Because they were doing this, it made it hard to discern what was actually built by Herod, what was modified by the rebels, and what was further modified by the Byzantine monks who took up residence after the Romans left. So, eyeballing everything with a cynic's eye, we spent nearly four hours wandering around on the plateau. There were some astounding things- the water cisterns were feats of genius, and the mosaics in the palaces were gorgeous - intricate, with many patterns and colors. And seeing the gigantic siege ramp - built of wood and earth - to the height it was built....incredible. The things that we believed to be remnants from the historic times were well worth seeing. And there aren't any warnings to stay back from the edges, or any high fences to keep you from falling off, or any real "don't walk here" zones- pretty much people are able to climb all over everything. I kinda liked that part, although it undoubtedly damages what's left of the actual ruins.



(Wow pretty...what is that ugly black line doing everywhere?? Lovely mosaic flooring)

....oh yeah, and during the summer, they do a sound and light show projected on the western wall of the plateau. The equipment litters the site at various spots. Talk about eyesore!

We headed back down the mountain in the cable car, and took off to see what else we could see. Unfortunately, Quamran (where the Dead Sea scrolls were found) closes at 5pm, and it takes 90 minutes to get up to the caves and back. As it was already past 4, we headed back to Jerusalem, driving past the beach where I had my float in the water, and past all the camels on the roadside, and into the hills. We had Petra scheduled for this coming weekend, but due to unforeseeable events, we'll probably postpone that for a while. As Lee's contract is being extended, we're not forced to cram everything that's left into the remaining three weeks, so there is time still to do it all.

A busy weekend! Friday, 1/22: Holocaust Museum (Yad Vashem), and some cool churches

Because our touring weekend had been aborted last weekend due to unforeseeable (and unfortunately unavoidable) circumstances, Lee arranged for us to have a car this past weekend, and we elected to try to get out to see some of the other 'hot list' locations - starting with the Holocaust Museum right here in Jerusalem.

Known as Yad Vashem, the museum is tucked back in the Jerusalem forest, in a very serene setting. The museum was built and runs entirely on donations- the entry is free, and you can get an audio tour for 20NIS each. Photography is not allowed in the museum, so you don't get any visuals to go along with this post, sadly, but I'll do my best to try to describe it. The heart of the museum is in a triangle shaped concrete building, approximately 300 meters long. Most of the triangle is underground, with the top 1/8 being above ground, and with a glass roof that acts as a skylight. All the coloring is somber - muted greys and black, very dimly lit, very hushed. Entering the pyramid, you are immediately confronted with images of pre-holocaust life. Followed by artifacts salvaged from the bodies of partially charred victims at one of the concentration camps- photos, lockets, papers, letters....personal items, private items. The entire museum is very classy, and all of the displays are respectful - I never felt that there was any attempt to overstate, or shock viewers. The path through the pyramid zig zags back and forth across what they call 'recesses' - pathways that bisect the triangle at regular intervals. Using a combination of maps, video testaments, pictures, and a huge number of artifacts - a collection like I've never seen - the museum takes you on a chronological path through Nazi Germany's rise to power, and their eventual decline- and all of the atrocities along the way. Towards the end of the path, the stories turn to those of Jewish uprisings and heroism, that we westerners don't often hear about. The very last chamber was a circle - a large circle- that was probably 40 meters high, filled with volumes and volumes of books - each book was filled with the names of holocaust victims. So many books. And they're still collecting and documenting names for this display - it was very powerful. We were chased out of the museum at closing time - 2pm, as it was Shabbat - and hurried through the rest of the grounds to get out- there are ENORMOUS gardens and other exhibits, but as we didn't have time, we'll have to try to get back at some point. 3.5 hours! Not enough time to see everything.....


(Jerusalem forest/Ein Kerem area)

As it was still daytime, and we had the car, we decided to check out a few more things in the Jerusalem forest area (ok, so what happened was Lee pulled out the book and goes "hm. do you want to check out the Church of St. John , it's near here." and I said "might as well, we're here."). The area we were in is called Ein Kerem, an Arab built neighborhood, littered with Lebanese cedars and pines. This part of town is historically important, as these were the stomping grounds of John the Baptist. We drove through a cute residential area, nestled in the hilly woods, and parked in an underground lot. Walking up a little hill, we came to the gates of the Church of St. John.


(Courtyard of Church of St. John; Some of the prayer mosaics)

Apparently this is where Aphrodite was found in a well (at least a sign claims that), and is the birthplace of John the Baptist. The courtyard is lined with a prayer translated into 40 different languages. They're all hung in unique tile mosaics, it was lovely. Inside the blue-themed church itself, there is an altar, of course, where John the Baptist was said to actually have been born. The church is Franciscan-run, and built in several styles- Roman, Byzantine and Spanish. Pretty. Very pretty, in fact. We did a quick photo session, and wandered back out to the main street.


(A special rock? It had a special place in the church!)

There was a signpost directing pedestrians towards several other sites- Church of the Visitation, Mary's Spring...a few other places further along. We headed towards Mary's Spring, and took a look at the stream running from under the mountain - supposedly this spring sprung forth from the rock at the moment Mary met the very-pregnant Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mum), to warn her of Herod's intent to murder all children in the land, thereby preventing the prophecy of Jesus coming to fruition.


(Mary's Spring; Mary's Spring)

Up a steep hill from here is the Church of the Visitation, commemorating that fateful meeting between Mary and Elizabeth. Supposedly built on the spot, the church is colorful with beautiful paintings, and has well tended gardens. And some very interesting signs.....and monks. Who I did not photograph. Lots of monks.


(Up the steep hill; The amazing paintings inside the church; Well-tended grounds)

As the afternoon was waning, we decided that was enough touring for one day - besides, we have a very early morning on Saturday. We're going down down down into the desert to Masada. King Herod's castle in the sky. More blog on that soon!

Bobbing along on the top of the beautiful Deeaaaaddd Seeeeaaaa

As I'd rented a car for the weekend, and Lee wasn't here to make use of it with me, I decided to go do one of the sites not on his short list - the Dead Sea.

About 30 km east of Jerusalem, the drive is fairly quick. The landscape changes rapidly from the scrub growth and trees of Jerusalem to the rolling creme colored hills of the desert. And down down down you go. At the lowest spot on earth, you get some pretty fantastic biological benefits. Not only does the air have a higher saturation of oxygen (which increases your metabolism...for some reason), but as you get closer to the sea, there is also an increase in bromine in the atmosphere - which is a sedative - and magnesium - which helps skin allergies and clears your bronchial passages. So, highly metabolized, totally chill and itch-free is what the Dead Sea does to you before you even step foot into it.


(Already feeling groovy, and not even there yet!)

Along the road are multiple signs showing you how far below sea level you are, and at each signpost, and sometimes just scattered around at random intervals, are camels. Tied up and bedecked in colorful blankets. I noted a few handlers, but it didn't look like every camel had a guy hanging out with it...they were just standing about...looking bored. Actually, I don't know what an entertained camel looks like, so perhaps it wasn't boredom at all. I also saw my first herd of camels, being shepherded by a man on a donkey. In a date grove.


(A dressed up camel; Naked camels)

I accidentally drove past the beach I'd intended to go to, and stumbled upon the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Unfortunately, as this was Saturday, the site was closed, but I'll make a special trip back there to check it out before we leave Israel.

Making a quick U-turn, I got back on track, and headed to the Kalia beaches, at the most northern point of the Sea. This particular area is less popular than the beaches near the big dirty resorts at the southern end, and also the very well traversed beaches near the Ein Gedi nature reserve (where I'm determined to go for a hike before the weather gets too hot!). To get to the Kalia beaches, you drive through some bombed out homes and buildings that are remnants from when this part of Israel was Jordan, which is now situated on the other side of the Dead Sea. You go from an old war site to a parking lot beyond a barbed-wire fence, and into a very plush resort setting.


(A dichotomy: Bombed towns to perfect beach in a one minute drive. The land on the other side is Jordan)

Most of the beaches charge some kind of fee to get in, so I paid my 35NIS (just under $10), and walked into their bar/cafe/shop area - all open aired and reminding me a great deal of Hawaii. Or Cabo...or any other beach resort, really, without the huge hotels. To get to the beach and sea itself, there are several meandering paths, on multiple tiers, that lead through an assortment of shaded rest areas, with chairs and showers and basically very comfortable surroundings. The beach itself is peppered with plastic lawn chairs and shaded canopies, that are open to anyone who snags them. I made my way to a less crowded part of the beach, and got a couple of chairs in the shade (it was close to 80 degrees, sunny and warm with a nice breeze). The 'beach' is not really a beach, but crumbled sandstone, it's almost like sand...but bigger...not that great on the feet, to be honest.



I stripped down and walked to the waters edge, a little nervous that it was going to be cold. Which it wasn't. It was perfect - maybe 70 degrees? The instructions say to walk out until you can squat down and lean back for your float. Easier said than done! The floor of the sea is squilchy mud, of varying depths and viscosity, so you sink and slip and slide and stumble and fall frequently trying to get out to deep enough water for you to settle onto. Everyone looks like an idiot walking in. Everyone.

The Dead Sea is 33% solids. Very salty, and loads of assorted minerals. It's impossible to stay grounded in it. You bob. Laying back into the water was heaven - the closest way I can describe it would be like floating on an inner tube in a pool of baby oil. Very nasty tasting baby oil. The effect the water(?) had on my skin was amazing. It is no wonder people pay so much money for the products derived from this place. You're not meant to submerge your head, and no wonder- the water tastes so foul and is so poisonous for you to ingest.....and I wouldn't want to try to wash that residue out of my hair. No way.

After floating so comfortably for about 20 minutes (the guide books recommend not staying in for much longer than that at a stretch- it's very dehydrating to stay in the water), I stood up, scooped some mud off the bottom and smothered myself in it. Everyone was walking around caked in black gook from the bottom of the sea, I figured that I'd give it a try myself. Settling down in the sun, I let the mudpack dry for a while, and then eventually crinkled my way back down to the water to rinse off.


(I wasn't as muddy as some, it's hard to apply yourself!)

I can definitely see how you could spend an entire day, or weekend, here. It was the most relaxed I'd been in a very long time. I'm determined to go back (hopefully with my new friend here!), and spend more time sunbathing. As it was, I was a little weird sitting there by myself, without a book (duh, forgot it....of all the things to forget...), so I dried out in the sun, gave myself a fresh water rinse, and headed back to Jerusalem....perfectly chilled out.

Palestine Part 2 - Herodian, Shepherd's Field and Solomon's Pools

Read Part 1 first!



After crossing back into Israeli territory, we almost immediately crossed BACK into Palestine a little further north. To see Herodian. And then Shepherd's Field and perhaps Solomon's Pools - if there was time in the waning afternoon. The second crossing was a piece of cake- it was a different border, and we were simply waved through. They DID, however, use the racial profiling method of determining who could get the wave-through, and who had to be stopped and searched.

Herodian is a mountain in the middle of the desert- the tallest mountain around for miles and miles. A palace in the sky built by King Herod. This amazing man-made landscape was controlled by Jews during the revolts (AD 66-132) and in modern times as well. Great! Only, because it was Shabbat, it closed an hour earlier than we were expecting, so we weren't able to ascend to the top to see what must have been amazing views and to explore the ruins. Sad. We're going to try to make it back next time we have a car....hopefully earlier than 20 minutes before close.


(Parking lot view at Herodian; The mountain not ascended.)

Southward! On to other sites!



Lee was using the GPS on his phone (which worked spotty, at best, in Palestine) to get us to Shepherd's Field- a Christian plot of land and gardens which house an archeological dig from the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries. Because of the spotty GPS, we got to see a slice of town life, and some side streets, and a building that was well enforced, with a bunch of Greek writing on the outside. At that point, we decide to give up on Shepherd's Field, and head south again, past Bethlehem, and on to Solomon's Pools. Suddenly, a sign! A sign that says "Shepherd's Field --->". Hooray! We parked the car (on a sketchy street), and walked into beautifully maintained gardens, with MANY tiny congregation areas all over the place - even underground! It was a wanderer's paradise, and we spent quite a bit of time checking everything out and taking plenty of photos. There were active excavations going, unearthing a monestary from the Byzantine era, which seemed to be open to the public. We wandered ALL over the place, into underground caverns (some with little congregation sites....those little things were everywhere.) It was very serene, and it was well worth getting lost in Palestine to finally find it.


(Chapels in Shepherd's field; Soot covered ceiling in tiny congregation area; Walkway to excavations)

Miraculously the car was still where we'd left it, so we jumped in and headed down to Solomon's Pools. Passing right by Bethlehem AGAIN on the way down. We also drove through a refugee camp, which was terrifying and depressing. While it wasn't a tent city, it was a run down crowded township, which had speedbumps on the road every 50 meters or so. As was deserving of the oddity that we obviously made, we were stared at by every person on the road. I made a request not to go that route on the way back.

Solomon's Pools were reservoirs built back in Roman times, and through a series of pipes (some of which I saw when I was at the Israel Museum art garden), supplied Jerusalem with water. Yes, it was plumbing on a massive scale. The pools are enclosed in chain link fence, and not accessible on foot. And they're MASSIVE. Each are easily the size of a football field, and 30 meters deep. That's a lotta water! We had to park on the side of the road, just outside of the refugee camp to get close enough for photos, so we didn't linger very long. Besides, we couldn't get closer than the fences.


(Photo through chain link of one of the pools. Huge!)

Figuring that was enough for one day, we got a little lost getting back on the freeway, found the football stadium, made a few U-turns, and crossed back into Israel problem-free.....only to rush Lee to the UK...please send your thoughts to his family.

Palestine Part 1 - Bethlehem

(Wheeee! Tiny car! Bethlehem, next right.)


The past two weekends in a row, Lee and I have had a car for our use, so we, of course, did some wandering. Our trip last weekend was aborted, as it was getting late in the day when we got started on our adventure, but THIS weekend, I rented a car and we headed.....dun dun dun.....into Palestine.

We ended up crossing over and back three times- once through a VERY highly protected border, and two other times where the security was essentially nil, and we had no troubles whatsoever. Taking an Israel-plated rental car into Palestine....thank goodness universally it is understood that tourists are a bunch of idiots.

Cruising south out of Jerusalem on a major highway, and suddenly there are VERY ANGRY SIGNS warning about the border, stating that if you are Israeli, you will not be permitted in. There was a line of cars, each one being stopped and searched at border control. We passed through uneventfully enough (although not knowing where the trunk release was in the rental probably seemed suspicious), and headed south towards Bethlehem.


(Lee: Honey, you might not want to be obvious with the pictures.)

Palestine is poor. Poor and in constant strife. And it shows. The difference between being in Israeli controlled areas and in Palestinian controlled areas is dramatic. Much of Palestine is not rebuilt, or is in serious disrepair; where Jerusalem (and the rest of Israel) looks prosperous and clean and established, Palestine is dirty and shuttered and, well...tired. However, there are MANY areas of interest in Palestine, so into Palestine we must go.

Bethlehem is much like the rest of Palestine - poor, dirty, untended, with the noted exception of Manger Square. Comprised of a parking lot, the Church of the Nativity, the Bethlehem Peace Center, and a menagerie of kitschy gift shops, the square is exactly that - one square block just a few steps away from the main highway. We obviously went for the main attraction - the Church of the Nativity - the oldest continuing operating church. Since 326, when Constantine built it. We parked the car in the large lot, where we were approached rather aggressively by locals looking to beg, or sell us some thing or another. We quickly exited the car, and headed towards the church.


(Enter, all ye tiny people!)

The building is imposing and enormous, but with little external decoration. Except the Christmas light, which are still up (or perhaps they're year round?). Passing through the appropriately named Door of Humility, you enter a massive entrance hall, with loads of fantastic glittering decorations, and wooden doors in the floor that open up to show an intricate mosaic flooring that dates from the 4th century. (The church was destroyed and rebuilt, as with most things in this part of the world).


(Mosaic in the floors; The soaring ceiling, complete with god rays.)


(Blessed be the shiny things.)

Down a short flight of very-worn stairs, under the main church, is the Chapel of the Manger, where a 14-point star (originally donated by France, stolen, and replaced with a replica) marks the site of Jesus' birth. (Did I just type that??? That's where this whole crazy history started!) Long lines of worshipers waited, somewhat impatiently, to touch the star - with their foreheads, mouths, hands....any body part that would fit under the vestibule that covered the star itself. Skipping this ritual, we explored the remainder of the building, which was large, and ornately decorated, and very much in use. The gorgeous chapel attached to the Church of the Nativity is called St. Catherine's Church, and it is where midnight mass is held (and broadcast worldwide) on Christmas Eve.


(He was born right there; St. Catherine's church)

As there was not much else that held our interest in Bethlehem (the Peace Center looked liked it might be worth checking out on a day when it was open....or not under construction, as the signs inside indicated), we got back into the car and departed.


(Mostly not open, but shows promise!)

Crossing back into Israeli-controlled areas was a bit nervy - we had to hand over our passports and undergo a bit of questioning. Then on our way again.

We had more things to see in Palestine - I'll write about those in "Palestine Part 2 - Herodian, Shepherd's Field and Solomon's Pools"