Israel Discovery
Day Five – 30 Nov 2009
Weather: Sunny, 22 at the Dead Sea and 17 in Jerusalem with cloud.
I wasn’t sure what time the wakeup was, but as Zvika says, “trust in Zvika” and sure enough, a wake-up call came at 6:45. I put out my luggage and went to breakfast which was a little unusual. The scrambled eggs were a strange consistency and a pastry we tried we couldn’t identify. Plenty of choice though.
I went out to the beach to take some pictures of the water and surrounding mountains. The hotels are right next to table top mountains that remind me of Wyoming except that there is no colour. We loaded up the van, figured out our seats and set off by 8:25. It was my day in the front seat.
At 8:40, we pulled into Masada. If you have not seen the mini-series Masada starring Peter O’Toole and Peter Strauss, I highly recommend that you watch this before coming to Israel. It’s a TV mini-series from the 1980s and quite well done. The basic facts of the story in the mini-series are real with some shooting done from the mountain. It will put the visit into perspective.
Essentially, the story is that the mountain was fortified by Herod as an escape location and years after he died, Jews escaping the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem went to Masada. After a few years, the Romans decided they could not permit the Jews to remain free and surrounded the mountain. The only way to attack the mountain was to build a ramp and roll up a siege machine to breach the walls, the remnants of which remain to this day.
It took some time and thousands of Jewish slaves. Once the walls were breached, the Romans found that the 900 Jews on the mountain had been killed (fathers killing their families and a designated group killing them, leaving one Rabbi to kill the last man and then commit suicide). The story was written by a Roman who got the Jewish perspective from a woman who hid away with some children during the killings.
We drove in under the visitor’s complex and parked then walked up to the first floor where Zvika showed us a model of the mountain and gave everyone some information (much of which you would learn from the mini-series). Then we went up another floor and were shown a short clip on Masada. After the film, we boarded the cable car and were treated to a spectacular view as the cable car moved up to the mountain.
The ride only took a couple minutes. Interestingly enough, the cable car brings us from 400 m below sea level to sea level.
Zvika led us inside the walls where a group of young soldiers carrying weapons were being given a lecture. Zvika told us that young people from around the world come to Israel for up to 3 years to serve in some sort of youth program. He believed this group was Russian.
We proceeded to the north end of the mountain where Herod had a palace constructed. Mosaics and baths are still visible and much of the walls are still intact.
There is a black mark along the wall which indicates what is original and what is restored.
Needless to say, the views from the mountain are breathtaking. You can even see the remains of the original Roman camps below.
After moving through the palace, Zvika showed us a model to illustrate how water was collected. A system of small canals had been dug into the surrounding hills to the east and when it rained (even at great distances) the flash flooding would be channeled into the canals and fed into underground cisterns under the mountain. When the Zealots took the mountain, they had enough water for years.
We proceeded along the walls to a synagogue where Zvika said the men designated to do the killings had drawn lots then we walked to the area where the wall had been breached and looked down on the remains of the original ramp. Zvika showed us another palace Herod had constructed for visitors including baths with intact mosaics.
A short walk brought us back to the cable car. (I was a little surprised we weren’t given 30 minutes to walk around – we certainly had the time available as we finished the day up fairly early). We took the cable car back to the complex below and got some time to shop. There is an Avala factory outlet there where you can get Dead Sea products. I got everything I needed as a free gift when the cashier grabbed a handful of small containers and dumped them into my bag with the three t-shirts I had bought.
We left just after 11 and drove along the Dead Sea towards Jerusalem. The scenery is excellent. We stopped near Jericho for another Zvika’s Choice lunch – chicken schnitzel in pita with a drink for 35 shekels.
After saying hello to the camel, we proceeded away from the Dead Sea and began to climb back up to sea level and another 800 m up to Jerusalem. Along the way, we saw Bedouins who live just off the highway, complete with a pipeline to bring them water (provided for free by the Israeli government).
We drove through a tunnel and voila, Jerusalem. Zvika drove us up to Mount Scopus then to the Mount of Olives where we got a great view of the city.
Zvika pointed out the major points and the story behind some locations. We can see the wall being built between Israel and the West Bank from here.
Then we proceeded to the Church of All Nations where the rock that Peter is said to have fallen asleep on is located.
Outside the church is a small garden of olive trees that are believed to be 2500 years old.
After checking out the inside, we proceeded up towards the walled city where Zvika took us for a walk to see King David’s tomb and one possible site of the last supper.
We returned to the van and drove to our hotel.
The Jerusalem Plaza seems, so far, to be one of the nicer hotels on this trip despite the odd piece of peeling paint in the hallway. The room has TV with a great selection of English language channels, kettle, shampoo and stuff, hairdryer, clothesline, bar fridge and safe. The internet is like the hotel in Tel Aviv. $20 US for a day – wireless from the room.
At 6:30, we met up with Zvika for our highlight dinner (and the last dinner of the tour which he decided to combine with the optional since everyone decided to go). The optional is Jerusalem by Night and cost $18 US. We drove to a grill not far from the hotel and gorged ourselves on salads, pitas and chicken and beef/lamb kabobs. The waitress laid out more than a dozen small bowls with various salads including carrots with peppers, cabbage, mixed veggies, hummus and sesame dip etc to put in the pita. The chicken on the kabobs were delicious.
When we were done, we drove towards the Old City. We drove through the Christian, Armenian and Muslim sectors until we approached the Western Wall.
Zvika sweet-talked his way into the parking lot and after the van was checked by security (including the mirror under the van looking for explosives) we drove through a security gate and parked. Zvika reminded us of the advantages of the van as opposed to the bus as a bus load of people would have had to walk quite some distance.
We crossed the square and came to the Western wall which was well lit. Dozens of people, most Orthodox Jews, were praying at the wall with men on one side and women on the other. Zvika took the only man in the group to the men’s side and the rest of us went to the women’s side. It was nearly impossible to get to the wall and a group of tourists dressed in pinks and reds really stood out in the sea of black. As we walked back to the square, we noticed that the women exited by walking backwards.
We met up with Zvika and continued with the tour as he pointed out various locations. With almost no traffic, we were able to cross the city quickly and he brought us to the Knesset.
Across the street, he showed us a Minora that the British had given to the young nation as a gift. There were a number of figures on the large statue and Zvika gave a comment on a number of them.
We returned to the van and drove to a spot where we could get a look at the Old City lit up. The parking lot had a number of cars with steamed up windows. We took some pictures (of the Old City, not the couples) and returned to the hotel by 10:30.
Optional Opinion: I’ve heard others say this optional wasn’t worth it. Heck, it was $18. It was either that, or sitting in the room for the evening. The optional got us oriented so that we knew where to go for the free time we would have in the next two days. It also gave us an idea as to how busy the streets in the area are after dark so that we would feel pretty comfortable walking around.
It was a long night though. The temperatures at night were quite cool – about 10 C and the rooms are not heated. I slipped in under the blankets and was out like a light.
Go to Day Six
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