Simple as A, B, C - landing in the Dead Sea

 Wow!  Another action packed day - some great hikes and a ton of interesting information.  We started the day at the Bet She'an National Park- the remains of an entire ancient city - right next to the Tel of the original city.  Theaters, bathhouse, Palladius street, the brothel, bathrooms, a giant amphitheater, temple, the whole shebang!  Just beyond these ruins is a giant mound - a Tel- which is the layer cake of ruins of the original city and civilizations that came before it.  A great hike with a spectacular view of the surrounding area. (can you see the stair case that we took to get to the top of the Tel in the background?) We passed an arena on the way in where the blood sports all took place - our guide keeps telling us that a great night in the arena is always followed by a great night in the brothel!


Next, we headed over to Jericho - the oldest city in the whole world!  The drive to this town was really interesting.  We passed shepherds walking their sheep (young kids with a flock and a dog) and miles of wilderness - yup...the wilderness that Jesus spent his time in.  This region we went through was the West Bank - an interesting array of settlements.  In this area which is within Israel's borders, there are Palestinian settlements - they are called A settlements - A stands for Arafat - and these settlements are under the Palestinian Government.  The C sections, which we see along the way are all fenced in - these are areas under Israeli control, they are Israelis living in the West bank.  Also in this area are B settlements which are Palestinians who live along the Israeli Road and pay taxes to Palestine (the B stands for both.)
This area and the Gaza strip are areas where The Palestinians continue to send rockets and attack.

As far as Jesus goes, this is an area that Jesus would have had to travel to to get to Jerusalem.  Here is where Zaccheus climbed the syamore tree - and the area where Jesus was actually baptized in the Jordan River.  Jericho is an oasis, with fresh springs.  And of course a Tel - another big mound or mountain of layers of ancient ruins from the original city.  We ate in Jericho in a nice Palestinian restaurant.  

Our last stop was En Gedi - a nature reserve...another oasis in a vast area of nothing!  We hiked up ancient steps through a spring fed Oasis to David's Falls.  This is the area where David was hiding out from Soloman - who heard that David was coming for him, so he went after David.  In the end, David had the opportunity to kill Solomon, but didn't - he said he could no kill someone chosen by God.  Beautiful hike - but hot!  With a fabulous view of the Dead Sea.  Psalm 104 describes the area.

We finished the day at the David Hotel on the banks of the Dead Sea - we swam in the indoor, outdoor dead sea salt water swimming pool.  You could not even sink your self - hot water, hot tub, cocktails out on the back deck area.  We are doing Masada tomorrow - and after that we have a free afternoon to take advantage of the Spas at our fancy hotel!  

42 floors, 5.9 miles







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