Day 7, Masada and the dead Sea, 10 December 2017
For this penultimate day of our trip, we had planned for a big day out into the Judaean desert and to see the Masada Fortress and the Dead Sea.
All the guidebooks and posts that I had referred listed Dead Sea and Masada among the top few ‘must see’ places in Israel. No trip to Israel would be complete without seeing them. And, how else you acquire the bragging rights for a unique floating experience?
Breakfast area in the hotel was crowded. An agricultural conference for Africa, about technology for arid zone cultivation, had ended in Tel Aviv the previous day. As the African delegates were having a good time at the lavish buffet counter, it took us some extra time to finish the breakfast.
After exiting from the hotel, we saw a petrol pump on the opposite lane and drove up to fill the tank. Out of the city limits, gas stations are sparse and we didn’t want to run out of fuel in the desert. But soon I was reminded that all cities all over the world have become unlivable and it is not that easy to go to a place just across the road. Drove for a mile and back to take the U-Turn and stopped at a few traffic lights before reaching the pump. In the process, earned some angry honks.
Like all other Israeli gas stations that I went to, this one had its pump instructions in Hebrew only. Since I hadn’t picked up enough Hebrew in the last one week, I got an attendant to assist. The old man spoke in a nice slow English. (Who knows, he could have worked for BBC). Many of the Israeli ATMs were also linguistic challenges for me.
Petrol is very costly in Israel. At 137 rupees per liter, it is almost twice more painful at the pump. Israel doesn’t produce any worthwhile oil. As its oil rich neighbors are hostile, it imports all its needs from distant countries and transportation costs are higher which in turn leads to higher prices.
They also seem to have learnt the Indian way of fuel pricing. More than half the retail price is just governmental tax. With these high prices, it is no wonder every driver is an angry man on the road!
We took the Highways 6 and 31 to first go to Masada. Despite the proximity to the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Judaean desert is a wholly different world. For the first time in my life, I was driving in a desert. And, this is a special kind of desert.
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| Driving in the Desert |
The Negev desert forms more than half of the land mass in Israel and the Judaean Desert, in which I was driving, is the northern part of that Negev desert, but just a few miles south of Jerusalem. From the hilly Jerusalem, the desert descends down by a steep slope to the Dead Sea. The scenery of the limestone colored desert was too weird, with not a green spot visible in the horizon.
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| Judaen Desert |
The land is crisscrossed by mountains and valleys, making it a bit eerie. Further, the roads were narrow with just two lanes and very winding. It wouldn't be too hard to end up in the bottom of a wadi, as they call a valley there!
It was almost noon when we reached Masada (Hebrew for fortress) and the sun was blazing overhead. Scorching. Now I know why all the tour companies actively canvass for sunrise tours to Masada.
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| Masada and the Dead Sea |
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| In the Masada Fortress |
King Herod was a megalomaniac builder king who ruled Judaea two thousand years ago, between BCE 37 and 4. He was the guy who built the Second Temple in the Temple mount. He built this as his winter palace, here atop a mountain (1350 ft) in the barren desert. Though a Jew, he ruled Jerusalem as a Roman representative. After his death, the Jews revolted against the Romans, but the Romans overpowered the Jews and destroyed the Temple and everything. A small army of resisting Jews, the Zealots, took over this palace and ran guerilla attacks on the Romans. When Romans laid a siege, Zealots held out for three years, but couldn’t sustain. When the end was imminent the Zealots chose to sacrifice. As suicide is prohibited in Judaism, the Zealots drew lots and killed each other in turn. (Not a bad idea, because, the alternative option of torture at the hands of Romans could never had been hardly more attractive than death). A Jewish historian, Josephus Flavius, has recounted the dramatic story from two women and three children who had survived.
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| Magnificient ruins |
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| Could have been the original view |
Masada, a place of ancient somber doom, is now a symbol of valour and resolve for Israelis. Next to Jerusalem, Masada is the most popular tourist destination in the country. Newly enrolled soldiers come here to take the oath - "Masada will not fall again!"
In the foot hills, near the car park, there were the usual accompaniments (to any museum anywhere in the world) like souvenir shops and canteen, all selling doubly priced items. Sampoo always goads me out in places like these.
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| Snake Path |
There was a hiking path called snake path, to reach the mountain top, but, in the scorching sun, it looked menacing from any of the angles I checked out. So we opted for the steeply priced cable car ride. Pity the Romans, however mighty they might have been, they didn’t have this luxury. Once arrived at the top, it was a great sight from the top, the vast lime stone desert and the Dead Sea and I imagined all the story stuff.
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| Carefully excavated walls |
Masada was long forgotten, for nearly 1800 years, and serious archeology had been taken up in 1960s only. But, the great excavation and preservation work has brought the ruins alive. We walked around the Herod’s Palaces with plastered walls and colorful mosaic floorings. There were also many buildings that must have been the administrative offices, store house and a large bathhouse, There was an old Synagogue- the oldest one of its kind. It is believed to have been the last stronghold of the Zealots.
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| On the top |
After sometime, it was all overwhelming with too much archeology. We rushed through the final walking track and came out exhausted. Besides costing two hours, the visit had drained us considerable energy. Took the rope car down and got into the car to proceed to Dead Sea beaches.
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| Ein Gedi Oasis |
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| Visitor Center |
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| Lowest Place on the Earth |
After driving for about ten minutes, we came to the Ein Gedi oasis, but it had been closed, well before its stated closing hour. Disappointed, we drove back and after driving along the desert roads, reached Ein Bokek beach with its gleaming hotels, waving palm trees and fashionable tourists.
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| Ein Bokek |
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| There was a McDonald |
With many high rise buildings, landscaped promenades and a shopping complex (with a McDonald), we felt we have arrived back at civilization. There was a car park, with no parking meter. A rare one in Israel, I felt happy, but they charged for the loo. Nothing is more anti-civilizational than asking someone dashing to the loo to pay two shekels, (even collecting parking charges in the desert), I was pissed off.
Sun had set and it was fast becoming dark when we went to the beach. Even in the twilight, the sea was very attractive with its azure blue colour. Really a very nice colour for something that is dead. There were public shower stalls and changing booths in the beach.
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| Dead Sea |
I had been sufficiently forewarned as to what to do to prepare for a Dead Sea floating experience. These are the recommendations: No wounds or abrasions- stings miserably, don’t splash, don’t immerse the face and at any cost, don’t let the sea water get into your eyes – you may never forget your visit to the Dead Sea!
We took a fresh water shower first and I waddled into the sea till I could comfortably squat and gently lied on it. I was floating! The warm sea water was very thick. It was gritty also. It was all funny and childish. A big group of noisy Chinese girls was also happily wallowing in that shallow pool. After spending some time happily lolling, as it became very dark, we came out and ran to the shower.
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| Floating, Really! |
Floating in the Dead Sea is not all that it's hyped up to be, at least for me personally, because in any other sea , I could rather float and be able to swim, dive and splash at the same time. Here, you just float for a while, take a few photographs and come out. Worrying all the time about water entering your eyes, nose or mouth.
Situated in the lowest part of the earth (some 400 meters below sea level, there’s a sign board telling this), the Dead Sea is not a sea, but a lake (like the Sea of Galilee). It is a terminal lake, that is, it is fed by the Jordan River, but has no outlet. Hot desert air evaporates huge amounts of water and makes it’s the sea very salty, indeed the saltiest on the earth. So, a terminal lake on the desert bed with an intensely saline water leaves little scope for any other name than the ‘Dead Sea’! But no doubt this is the best place to be in a sink-or-swim situation, as your body can effortlessly stay afloat with the high specific gravity of the hypertonic saline waters. No matter how terrible a swimmer you are, you just cannot sink here! Even a rock could float here.
In recent decades, the Dead Sea is rapidly shrinking because of diversion of the Jordan River to the north. (Dead Sea is dyeing!). To prevent the total evaporation, Jordan is laying a waterway connecting the Red Sea and the Dead Sea.
After changing, we went to the McDonalds in the nearby shopping complex, had some comfort food and hit the road back to Tel Aviv. We stopped for diesel at some gas station in a desert village and had a refreshing coffee. The roads near Tel Aviv were congested with the crowds returning from the Sabbath holiday outings. By 9 pm we were back at the hotel.
After a thorough shower in the hotel room washing off all the salt, we had last night before us to check out the famed night life of Tel Aviv. We were told that, at 9.45 pm, it was too early to visit a night club in Tel Aviv. The concierge mentioned one joint, Kuli Alma in Central Tel Aviv, some kind of Art gallery and night club. Israel’s new trend is these ‘gallery bars’ as people have come to consider it is fashionable to get drunk in some art exhibition or boutique. We drove to Rothschild Street and found a place to park along the kerb and walked to the club. When I asked a young man on the street (who looked like a prototype of night club frequenting species) for direction, he gave us a puzzled look and told ‘why, you are in front of it’.
We went inside and found a few dimly lit interconnected halls where many groups of youngish people were busy chatting over drinks. Nobody from the staff paid attention to us, we could have well gone to the shelf and picked up a bottle and helped ourselves. But there was a dense cloud of cigarette smoke in the air which turned us off. I wondered what fun they could have in that terribly hypoxic atmosphere. There were many artsy murals on the walls, but the ambience was clearly at odds with our taste, we didn’t feel like appreciating the art, and ejected ourselves and came out. It took a while to ventilate out all the lungful of smoke we had breathed in.
Then we drove to a Miznon, a street side restaurant in King George Street. It has been well reviewed by almost all guidebooks. Guide books had got it correct this time, the place was good. It is run by a celebrity chef, Eyal Shani, who has made a name for himself in making simple comfort foods like cauliflowers and pita breads into signature dishes.
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| Miznon |
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| Miznon was lively |
There was an enjoyable party vibe in the restaurant, all staff were young and energetic. The guests were also seemingly enjoying the vibe. I checked out the menu and the prices were reasonable for Tel Aviv standards. After some time, the beer arrived first. It was a Maccabee beer and it was a kosher beverage, we learnt. More taste, less guilt! They also gave us some bread and cabbage pickles. (Good). The main course of roasted cauliflower was very good. We could not finish it. (We should try it home). The chicken livers packed with a filling in a pitta bread was also great. The food was in big potions and satiated us neatly. Afterwards, we strolled in the streets for some time before returning to the hotel in the midnight.
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