Visiting Home Part 7

After breakfast we headed south to a National Park Bet Guvrin which was really fascinating. I wish we had planned a whole day here because we just barely scratched the surface of the bell caves and the ruins of surrounding ancient cities. The bedrock of soft limestone in this area was perfect for rock quarries and caves. This left hollow spaces throughout the area most likely used as water reservoirs and storerooms. From here we headed further East towards the Dead Sea. We stopped at Massada which was an enormous mountaintop citadel under Herod's rule. He installed two palaces, bath houses, storerooms, cisterns and aqueducts and a defensive wall. As the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD Masada became a refuge for the surviving Rebels in all Israel. With a years worth of food in the storehouses almost 1000 men, women and children were able to hide out and defend themselves against 15,000 Romans. After 5 months, the Romans had almost completed an enormous ramp up the side of the cliff to reach the city. On their final night, when the Jewish Rebels knew that the Romans would break through the following day, the community decided to burn the city and take their lives rather than become slaves to the Romans. When the enemy arrived in the morning they found smoking ruins and 2 women and 5 children. While Ken and I had been here multiple times before it was still quite a site. There were a few new things to see as excavations have continued in the last few years. Our last stop on the bucket list was a float in the Dead Sea the lowest point on earth! It's actually a lake shared by Jordan and Israel and is the result of the Syrian-African Rift. Although it is fed by the Jordan river, the sea is slowly evaporating as Israel and Jordan rely on this freshwater source for drinking and irrigation. The Dead sea is 33% salt making it super easy to float. The salt adds minerals into the water increasing the density of the water resulting in greater buoyancy for objects in the water. Apparently you can try this at home with a cup of water and an egg. Add enough salt to the water and the egg will float. This trip we decided to go to a beach with facilities. It cost a few shekels, but I think it was worth it to get rid of most of the sulphur smell we acquired there. Mineral beach is 417 meters below sea level (which is over 1300 feet!). They had buckets of the "Natural Healing Mud" that some claim stimulates blood circulation and renews skin cells. We thought it would be fun to take a mud bath (this was my first!) It was a bit colder than I remember it but then again the sun was going down and it wasn't nearly as hot as it had been in the summer when we were here before. Back to TelAviv to drop Ken's co-worker off. Her flight didn't leave till 6am the next day. She graciously allowed us to shower at her hotel and then we were off to the airport. Leaving Israel has always been a bit challenging for us. They like to search our bags, and somehow I always pick the longest line with the people whose name on their passports don't match their tickets. So what should have been a leisurely 3 hour wait for the plane turned into a hurried last minute dash for the plane. The flight home was long and my legs swelled up like balloons. Don't you hate that feeling? But it was so worth it to be able to visit our home away from home. And to see our sweet little boys when we got home. A big thanks to Oma and Papa Jim, Auntie Norine, Aunt Deb, Uncle Stevie & Aunt Betsy for making this trip possible.