Masada and the Dead Sea, Israel

Day two in Israel. Now this was a great day. This was my favorite day and one of my favorite things I've ever done. It was so unbelievably cool. Most of the coolness is awarded to the Dead Sea, but Masada was amazing too.

Neal and I got up nice and early and joined a tour group for the day. This way our transportation was provided for (remember this was Shabbat, and everything was pretty much closed) and we had a guided tour of Masada so we knew what was going on.



Excited to start the day

So much cheese

The landscape started like this:


Not at all what I was expecting from a desert country. Trees? What is this madness? There were whole forests haha. It goes to show just how ignorant I am.




And then things got real. About an hour and half in, we reached the landscape traditionally associated with Israel.




Yup, looks much more deserty


Can you see the three holes? Those are the caves the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. 


And here we have the magnificent Dead Sea herself. We drove down almost the full coast line (sea line?) North to South. With the sun sparkling on the water and the deep blue water looking magical I was pretty excited.




But that would be for later. Our first site was Masada, which we scaled via cable car


If you haven't picked up already, there's going to be a lot of sand in this installment.



Our guide with her pink umbrella

Masada was a really neat place. I had never heard of it before researching Israel just prior to the trip. All these ruins, built and used by so many people. It's incredible to think that people living in 36 bc managed to build all this, on top of a mesa no less.



Below the line is original, excavated ruins, above it, reconstruction




During the times of the Roman Empire, the Roman army tried to seize this place from religious zealots who had occupied it at the time. This square along with others are the remains of the Roman camp.



Inside the bath house built by King Herod








Lunch break! I think I took a photo of every falafel I ate. That promise I made a while ago about not too many food pictures? Yeah, sorry about that. It's just, there's so much food in my life.


 And then onto to the moment I had been waiting for. The lowest point on land, ladies and gentlemen, the Dead Sea!

It's not so glamorous from this angle

I was not disappointed. I could stand straight up and float! I couldn't sink if I tried. It was incredible. Once your feet aren't touching you just lay back and let the salt water do the rest of the work. It was such a great end to a great day. It blew my mind. It didn't blow my mind that nothing lived in it though. One tiny drop of water and I was gagging. The stuff tastes like acid.

Everyone was covered in this special Dead Sea mud that was supposed to be good for your skin or something. We weren't really sure, but we had to try it anyways.





Hooray for mud!

What is incredible to me is the fact that while I can look up Israel on a map, and I can see pictures of it on postcards, it doesn't really sink in that Israel is a real place until I'm there. This is true of every place I've been. Right until the moment I step out onto the soil, the place in my head is still imaginary, it's still a distant fantasy that hasn't manifested into reality yet. And then Bam! I am bombarded by trees and cars and mountains and seas and then suddenly it all clicks into place how real it is. How big and wonderful and magical our world is and just how much there is to be explored and discovered. The vastness and the beauty is too much to comprehend and this was a very real discovery during my day at the Dead Sea. It reminded me of why I love traveling much. Because I love exploring all this world has to offer. Mind-blown. 

Thanks for reading,
     -Natalie

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