Riding a camel in Jerusalem
The camel was asking what I had for lunch!
I had the biggest Schwarma sandwich on Pita bread
and falafel just before I broke this poor camels back!
Here is a quick shot from the end of my hotel floor
overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Every day was
beautiful weather like this. Too bad I didn't get a
chance to work on my tan on the beach!
Another shot, this time from my hotel room
looking straight down Ben Yehuda Street.
Nice view, but noisy. They love to honk their horns all night. Doesn't anybody have to go to
work in the morning?
Here is the great crew from the depot
who took me on a nice tour of Jerusalem.
The history is outstanding. Here is the
western wall (the wailing wall) with the golden dome in the background.
The
compound is revered by Muslims as
the Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary,
and by Jews as the
Temple Mount and both
sides have acted with relative restraint in
the area in recent months, despite
a two-year uprising by Palestinians against Israel.
(from October 2002 USA Today News Article)
I had my chance to roll around in the mud, but alas, I passed on this one.
These are from the Ein Gedi
Spa at the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea (Hebrew:
יָם הַמֶּלַח,
Yām Ha-Melaḥ, "Sea of Salt";
Arabic: ألبَحْر ألمَيّت,
al-Baḥrᵘ l-Mayyitⁱ, "Dead Sea") is a salt lake
between the
West Bank and
Israel to the west, and
Jordan to the
east. It is said to be the lowest point on Earth, at 420 metres
(1,378 ft)
below sea
level;[2]
its shores are actually the lowest point on dry land, as there are deeper points
on Earth under water or ice.
At 330m deep (1,083 feet), the Dead Sea is the deepest
hypersaline
lake in the world. It is also the world's second saltiest
body
of water,
after
Lake Asal in Djibouti. With 30 percent
salinity,
it is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean
[3].
Israeli experts say it is nine times saltier
than the
Mediterranean Sea (31.5% salt versus 3.5% for the Mediterranean). The Dead
Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long
and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the
Jordan Rift Valley, and its main
tributary
is the
Jordan River.
Here I was presented with a great gift
and nice dinner by these wonderful guys.
Thanks (especially to Eric). A very enjoyable evening.
The end of a fine evening in Ashdod.
Masada (Hebrew, ”°fortress”±), ancient ruins on a mountaintop in the desert about 48.3 km (about 30 mi) southeast of Jerusalem, the scene of the last stand made by the Jewish Zealots in their revolt against Roman rule (ad66-73). Two fortified palaces were built there in the 1st century bc by the Judean king Herod the Great. After Herod's death, Masada was occupied by a Roman garrison until the Zealots captured it in ad66. When Jerusalem was taken by the Romans in 70, the last remaining rebels—about 1000 men, women, and children—withdrew to the remote mountaintop. Under their leader, Eleazar ben Jair, they withstood a 2-year siege by the Roman Tenth Legion. All but seven killed themselves rather than surrender when the besiegers finally captured the fortress in 73. Excavated by the Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin in 1963-65, Masada is both a popular tourist attraction and an Israeli national shrine.
Microsoft ¢ē Encarta ¢ē Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The path the Romans (actually the slaves) built to get up to the top.
Catapults built for the movie
Actual Rocks used by the Romans on the catapults
The cable car to the top (easier than walking up the 'snake trail')