Day 7, Ashdod, Israel

Our first day at Ashdod we went to Masada and the Dead Sea. We went through Jerusalem on the way, so we had a stop there on Mt of Olives and looked across to the old city. Then it was about an hour bus ride to Masada, past Jericho in the Jordon Valley.
Masada is a fort built on a rock in the middle of a desert. It has a sad story behind it. Some Zionists last occupied the site, holding off the Romans for three years. The Romans filled in this huge gully to make a ramp to the fort, and rather that letting themselves be captured, the Zionists committed suicide. When the Romans got there, only one woman and one child were still alive.
Luckily there was a cable car going up to Masada. Richard did have his eye on the track, but we'd had enough character building. Besides - it was stinking hot!

They have excavated quite a bit of the fort. It was really interesting to have a look around it. It was quite a flash place in it's time.

It's a bit hard to see, but this is a model of what it looked like.
From Masada we went to a hotel resort by the Dead Sea. So it the middle of the desert, beside this sea that has 30-35% salt and can't support any life, there is this series of flash resort hotels. Had an awesome lunch, (not many drinkers on the Holy Land Cruise, so the free wine went down well for some).
The swim in the Dead Sea was a real highlight. You can't help but float, a really weird feeling. It's a bit hard to get upright to be able to stand up!! But you can even float standing up. The water has that silica feel on your skin. The bottom of the sea is salt! They advise not spending more than 20 minutes in the sea, and then have a wash under the fresh water shower. I think the really salty water might cause you to dehydrate.

It was about a two hour bus trip back to the boat, so it was snooze time again. Another long day.