Friday 6/6 Masada and the Dead Sea tour

We woke up early. Before 8:30am we had to wash, pack, check out, find our new hostel, check in, then go to where our tour left from. We gave ourselves an hour and a half =P

We had showered the night before, so it didn't take us all too long to get ready to head to our new hostel, the Jaffa Gate Hostel. We found it relatively quickly with the help of some shop-keepers around the area. When we got there it was obviously too early to check in. The door was locked and the area quiet. We saw an envelope with our name written on it, hanging by the door. The reception had left a key and welcome note for us. Yay. We got into the reception and found that the desk was only manned from about 9am onwards. No fret. We left our bags with a nice note, behind the main desk and then went out to wait for the tour bus.

We thought the tour was leaving from our area, David Street. The problem is that there seem to be a lot of places, streets, etc with the name David, here in Israel. Go figure. At aout 8:45 we were still wandering around trying to find the damn place. After a few directions from people we got walking in down a road and thankfully ended up at the meeting place, the David Citadel hotel. Thankfully, there were still other people arriving as well.

Our tour guide wasn´t too bad. He was quite a funny, knowledgeable guy, and I think he had probably done this sort of thing for a long time. Our bus went down south from Jerusalem. On the way Emma was quite under the weather, putting a bit of a bad start to the day. Our first stop was an outlet of Ahava, the company that makes cosmetics and skin treatment creams from the chemicals and minerals in the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea (for those who don't know) is called that because nothing lives there. Why, you say? Nothing lives there because it has a high (highest in the world) concentration of salt, plus a few other chemicals. It was formed because it sits at the lowest point in the world, 400m below sea level. Water travels down towards it but cannot leave. The water then evaporates, leaving the salt and chemicals behind. Over millions of years it has gathered enough salt make up 33% of itself. The next saltiest place on Earth only has 22% and usual bodies of water only have 2% or some such.

With Emma sick and me without particular interest, we didn't watch the movie they screened about how some group of doctors first discovered the thing and made the company. I bought some sprite for Emma and some barbecue Pringles for me at the shop there, both a little overpriced.

We continued then to Masada, the fortress city build on a plateau high atop a mountain. We went through the visitor centre and boarded a cable car up the mountain. People often climb up a steep path but it was (a) too damn hot, (b) Emma wasn´t feeling great, and (c) the rest of the group was taking the easy way up. Cable cars are quite nifty. It was real smooth and didn't rock at all. I could see how they had extra cables and elongated layout of the pulleys to give stability in both directions.

Up top it was quite interesting. It was basically the ruins of an old city, partially restored in places, and overall quite empty. An interesting thing was that there was a thick black line painted along where modern repair and reconstruction had been done. Above the line was new and below was the original stone walls and foundations.

It was interesting seeing the layouts of the Roman camps that besieged the city, from up high. The views from up there were also spectacular.

After an hour and a half of boiling sun the Masada info ended and we thankfully made our way back to the cable car station. We went back down to the bottom and had some free time there. I bought my first shot glass for the trip! Yes, cheer, people, cheer.

And, we got some lunch. Lunch was falafel and pita, plus a weird banana and strawberry juice drink. Interesting but good. While waiting for the bus, outside, there were some birds asking for food. A Japanese couple gave me a few crumbs they had and I got a bird to land on my hand and eat from it. Was quite cool. Short, cheap thrills.

We got back on the bus and drove back up north a short distance to Mineral Beach on the Dead Sea where we were going to have our floating experience. There was apparently a sulphur pool as well (like a natural hot bath) but neither of us went in. I think it cost extra too. Instead, we went down to the water and took turns covering ourselves in the black mud and then floating in the sea.

The mud was thick and black. I covered myself on the front and on my arms and legs. Felt quite weird but looked cool. I washed it off under a shower they had right there. The water sprayed out with a vicious force, probably done that way to get salt and mud off of the beach-goers. Then, I went into the sea.

Wow. It´s hard to explain the floating in there. I would have to say, think about all you have learned about mobility in water and then throw it out the window. You are almost forced to lie down on your front or back, as standing upright required effort. Bizarre. After we both had our turns we moved our stuff a bit closer so we could keep an eye on it and then we both got in the water. It was fun.

We got out, showered down and changed, and then boarded the bus once more. The bus headed straight back to Jerusalem without any stops. It dropped us back by the hotel where we left that morning.

We needed some cash so we went to go find an ATM. We got a bit lost, walked all the way through the Arab quarter to the Damascus Gate, and then around the old city back to Jaffa Gate. We had no luck in finding ATMs except for one which didn't accept our cards (even though it should have, damn it).

Disappointed, we returned to our hostel. What did we see on the way? About 200m from our hostel was an ATM and money change place. Damn. We got out some cash, bought some food for dinner and then headed back to the hostel. We made some uni-style sausages (involving slices of bread. Rolls are for fancy people).