Israel – Qumran, Dead Sea, Temple Mount

The day before we left Israel, Saturday, we went to explore the southern part of the country which is primarily desert. Passing through the yellow barren landscape reminded me a lot of the southern part of Morocco.

First stop was Qumran which is where Beduin shepherd boys discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. It was a lovely spot with the caves carved into the sides of the rising mountains at the side of the flat valley of the river Jordan. At the base of the hills there original creators of the scrolls, the Jewish sect known as the Essenes, lived a communal, early monastic life dedicated to copying texts and worship. They have uncovered the ruins of the community since the scrolls’ discovery.

Qumran – the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found

Ruins of the Essene community

We visited the hilltop ruins of Massada which was originally a country palace/fortress for the paranoid King Harrod the Great (ruled around year 0). It was later used by the Zealots as a refuge from persecution by the Romans in 70 AD. It took the Romans two years of siege to destroy the small Zealot community. The hill top plateau is so high and desolate that you now have to take a cable car up or there is still a snake path for the very vigorous.

Cable car looking up at the hill top of Massada

Snake path the adventurous can climb instead of taking the cable car

Ruins of Massada

Dad hiding from the strong sun

View from the top of Massada – the square on the left is the remains of one of the Roman camps

Hazy view of the Dead Sea

Our next stop was for some frolicking in the Dead Sea which is the lowest point on earth, currently 430 meters below sea level though it recedes by about 2 meters every year. In 1967 they placed a marker showing it at 394 meters blow sea level – just a reference on the rate of shrinkage. The only source for the sea is the river Jordan and water flow has decreased dramatically due to water diversion for irrigation.

The water is so dense with salt that you don’t actually have to do anything – you just float. I didn’t believe it but it is true. I could stand vertically and not do anything to stay upright. You are only supposed to stay in for 10 minutes at a time because if you stay in longer your body can absorb so much salt that it can raise your blood pressure! The mud is supposed to be very good for your skin so we had fun covering ourselves from head to foot. This was a lot of fun and definitely a highlight for me so far on this part of my trip.

The Dead Sea bathing area with the hazy mountains of Jordan on the other side. The River Jordan and Dead Sea are the border.

Some brave souls were doing stand up paddle boarding – I would not want to fall off!

Dad demonstrating admirable floating skills

Enjoying the healthy mud – our skin was really soft after

Friday was the last real day of our tour so it was very sad to say good bye to the folks from our group. Despite some grumbling about some of the weak/contradictory commentary from our guide and the slowness of some members of the group it was a lot of fun in the end.

We had Saturday at leisure in Jerusalem as it was the Shabbat and everything closes down. Personally I figure that the guide company can’t work out the logistics of finding things that are open so they just turn us loose. Dad and I spent our remaining time exploring the Old City again including revisiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and wandering through all the quarters. One of the down sides of Shabbat is that almost all restaurants close at sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. Not a problem for residents but a bit baffling for tourists. Thanks to a friendly local Arab man at the grocery store we found out that the YMCA has a good cafe and it stays open during Shabbat. So we ended up having both Friday dinner and Saturday lunch there. It was very good and the setting was lovely. The YMCA was built in grand style in 1929 by the same fellow who did the Empire State Building.

Hanukah decorations – celebrations start Nov 26

On our last morning in Jerusalem (Sunday, yesterday) we got up very early and made our way to the Temple Mount. This area was the site of the Second Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. Since then the area of Israel and the Palestinian territories has gone through many waves of Arab settlement and rule. The Temple Mount are is today dominated by the Dome of the Rock mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque (where Mohammed ascended to heaven). The site is only open to non-Muslims from 7.30-10 am and 12-2 on Sundays. We wanted to make sure we got in so we arrived punctually at 7.00 and took our place behind a couple of more eager tour groups. We had to go through the usual security of bag scans and metal detectors. They confiscated bibles from some people in front of us as it is a place of prayer only for Muslims. This is also the reason we weren’t able to go into the Mosques, but rather walk around the quite large courtyards around them.

The tile work on the Dome of the Rock was very lovely especially when the sun shone bringing the colours to life and making the golden dome shine (gold leaf donated by the King of Jordan about 50 years ago).