Masada and En Gedi

If you can imagine isolation in a desert, near a vast body of water from which you cannot drink, atop a 350 metre mountain, surrounded on all sides by Roman encampment, at the end of a three year seige, with 960 rebel fighters, mostly Samaritans and Essenes, but also their children and mamas, grandmas and rabbis and old men and fathers, you have a pretty good picture of the setting of a massive suicide that prompted the Masada memorial.

At 4:45 am we were already climbing the Snake Trail that led 1000 feet up the cliffside and at 5:30 we reached the summit in order to catch the sunrise. Bar Mitzvahs were already in progress with all the singing that goes with, school groups that arrived by bus gathered for photos, and an air force commissioning service readied to commence.

First built as a hide-out for the Hasmoneans, then as a winter palace for Herod and family, the fortress ruins are elaborate with cisterns for rain collection, ritual baths and even a swimming pool. The winter palace construction marvels architects today and reminds this Tolkien fan, of the White City as portrayed in Peter Jackson’s interpretation as seen in his film, The Two Towers.

Just a few km north of Masada lies the En Gedi Kibbutz. It is the only living community botanical garden in the world and houses about 500 people, and comes complete with theater, secondary school, hotel and zoo.

We planned to reach Nazareth by day’s end so made our way north, thankful for air conditioning in the 36 degree heat. I left Gord to all the driving and navigating as I was suffering from heat exhaustion and was quite useless. I am feeling much better today but am ever more aware of the importance of hydration and staying out of the heat as much as possible.