HAIFA, ISRAEL MASADA AND THE DEAD SEA MAY 16 th We had to get up early when we arrived in Haifa as the Israeli security required ALL passengers to disembark the ship and go through a face-to-face check in their cruise terminal building on the pier at 7:00 am. Even passengers who had no intent of leaving their staterooms had leave the ship and go through the check to receive a pass which had not only their names but also their photo. As it was still early our bus took us on a little tour of Haifa as people were just starting out to work. We could see the train station near the port terminal and a large memorah on top of one of the nearby buildings. The apartment buildings were clusted close together and looked like one atop another on hillsides above the city. Visable were white water tanks on most of the roofs. We drove through the German Colony which was founded in 1868 and viewed cement block homes with names etched above the front doors. We could see the
golden dome of the Baha'i World Center in the distance. The picture of the famous exquisitely landscaped Hanging Gardens sloping down from the colorful, expansive and well-designed complex is featured on almost every brochure on Haifa as they are the city's most famous landmark. Our bus then left the city of Haifa and proceeded south. Soon we were in the desert again but not until we passed some rich farmlands. Agriculture is a major factor in this country, but it is slowly being overtaken by technology. As we drove we could see a double barbed electrified fence that separated Israel from Jordan. In fact, we saw signs for Eilat the most southern Israeli city; we had viewed this city across the narrow part of the Red Sea when we visited Aqaba in Jordan. It wasn't long before the Dead Sea became apparent; we had no idea it was that large. The guide told us that it had grown smaller in the last years due to increased evaporation and decreased in-flow from the north. We stopped along the shores of the Dead Sea at Qumran Visitor's Center which had a gift shop with many products containing minerals from the Dead Sea. We managed to resist all the oils and creams and especially the packages of mud, but did purchase some Dead Sea bath salts.
In about 3 hours we arrived at the base of an impressive mesa known as Masada. We had driven through much of the Negev desert and descended 3,600 feet toward the Dead Sea. We walked up to the modern park headquarters building to view a short movie concerning this monument. The area is now an Israeli National Park complete with guest house hotel, snack bars, souvenir shop, and first aid services. We took a 3 minute cable car to the top where there are the ruins of Herod the Great's fortress. He built it early in the first century A. D. when he came up with his court of around 150 friends and hundreds of servants and slaves. In the words of Mel Brooks It's good to be king. Of course that didn't last too long as Herod had other problems. Years after that there were uprisings of the Jews against the Roman Empire, which were quelled ruthlessly. A group of Jews, about 1,000 decided to escape the Romans and remain up on Masada. The King had left lots of food and water was brought in by aquaducts from the surrounding mountains. So everything was going well; there were whole families living on the ruins of the King's fortress. However, the Roman ruler at the time couldn't allow the Jews to remain outside his rule, because other tribes all over the empire would feel they too could rebel and leave the
aegis of the empire. So the Emperor sent an army of 3000 troops led by Peter O'Toole (see Masada, the mini-series) to lay a seige on the fortress and starve the Jews out. Alas, the Jews had plenty of food and water to outlast the Romans. Peter was a nice guy and tried to persuade the Jews to give up or else. They said or else. Then with the help of a huge battering ram, the Romans came close to finishing off the gate and planned to storm the fortress in the next morning. Aware of this the leader of the Jews, Eleazar Ben-Yair (played by Peter Strauss) addressed the men and women, saying we can die as slaves for the Romans or we can die as martyrs in the eyes of the world. They all elected to die as Jewish martyrs; so when Flavius (a.k.a. Peter O'Toole) entered the fortress in apparent triumph there was no one there. NO ONE. Where the heck did they all go?? The whole story of the Masada is just fantastic and wonderful; a major part of the Jewish Heritage. It is the most spectacular ancient archaeological site in Israel. It was fascinating (and hot) to walk around the ruins of such a historic site. We could view remains of the palaces, commandant's residence, officer's quarters, synagogue, bathhouses and water cisterns from Herod's time and other buildings from Byzantine times. There were walls and mosaics from a Byzantine church that
could clearly be seen. It was interesting to know Herod had built a swimming pool and to see remains of round columbarium towers that served not only as lookouts and guard towers but also as a place to raise pigeons. Even with so many tourists walking around it was rather breathtaking to consider this ancient engineering feat amid the extraordinary vistas from the summit of Masada's mountaintop fortress and the views down to the Dead Sea. Next, we drove a few minutes to a large fancy resort that featured swimming in the Dead Sea. We ate a wonderful Isreali buffet lunch with salads of pickled vegetables and hummuses (hummi?) plus a buffet of chicken, sausage, rice, beef stew, fish and vegetables. It was followed by an array of desserts that melted in your mouth with sweetness. The resort provided us with towels and we were prepared with bathing suits and Teva water shoes. We needed lockers so Frank laid out $20 deposit for each for a key to a locker. However, Stacey had already gone into the ladies' change room without a key. So Frank asked the woman behind the desk to take the key in and yell for Stacey. Now she could safely lock up her rings as the silver would have tarnished badly in the heavily salted water. We walked down to the sea and left our towels on one of the many plastic chairs at the
shore. There was a covered wooden walkway that went right into the water and lots of folks enjoying the huge bouyancy of the Dead Sea. The water was very warm and extremely salty; we could see crystals of salt at the water's edge. There was a fresh water bubbler to rinse eyes if they may have gotten stung by the salt and outdoor showers and foot washes with fresh water. The experience was really very unique but we could not tolerate the heat of the air and water for very long. Frank kept telling Stacey to keep her hands up and put her feet down, but the pull of the water prevented her from lowering her feet and she kept floating. Finally she got to more shallow water and was able to stand. We may never do it again (thank goodness) but to float in the Dead Sea was both spectacular and surprising. We showered and tried to get the oil off but it would take a few days. The Dead Sea has more salt and minerals than any other body of water in the world so our skin stayed very smooth and sort of greasy quite a long time. After we changed we walked around the resort and viewed the indoor salt water pool where the temperature of the water was 98 degrees. There seemed to be more people enjoying the indoor spa than outside in the Dead Sea. The resort was quite upscale and there are several in this area with more to come as the
economy perks up. There was even a McDonalds across from the hotel. Now it was time to load up in the bus and face a 3 hour ride back. We didn't return to the ship until 8:30pm. There was not only traffic near Haifa, but there were a few security checks that were strict, thankfully. Yes, there was an armed guard that accompanied the bus and we saw several groups of young women at Masada in matching khaki trousers and assorted tops who were openly carrying machine guns. However we never felt scared or nervous - except when we couldn't get out of a floating position in the Dead Sea.