Early morning breakfast and on the road again! To Masada we go. I was actually glad when I discovered that Masada was on the itinerary and disappointed when it was added back. That was the tour guides fault. We came to the site and an executive desision was made that we would all take the cable car. We took the standard tour but I bowed out of the tour early on. One of the ladies on the tour had already been there four times so she also wasn't keen to go again. So we sat at the entrance and chatted till the rest had completed the tour.
The view from the top. Unlike the last time we did not linger there. We got off the cable car at the bottom and jumped straight onto the bus!
Next stop was Qumram which interestingly enough was very close to the kibbutz. Again I had been there before but I was able to get a few more pictures and learn more about the scrolls themselves. One interesting story was that of the first scrolls. They were found in 1947 just before the British mandate ended and the archeologist who wanted to buy the scrolls from the bedouin who found them had one hour to do it. He made it but only just.
Found two great books at the bookshop there. One was on understanding the significance of the find and the other book contains English translations of all the biblical scrolls with notes on what parts were missing, how they compared to the LXX(Greek translation of the OT), masoretic text and others. Very detailed and incredibly useful for text critical studies! Didn't buy any lunch there as the options were too expensive.
Mud. That is what I encountered next. It was so bad I nearly lost my shoe. Let me explain. Kalia is at the top of the Dead Sea.
This is important. The kibbutz has it's own beach front. So after Qumran and lunch we went there. The entrance is far from the beach so we changed there and then made the long trek to the water. Now I expected salt crystals on the sea floor which is what I had last time. Mud. Sticky gooey mud. The salt content at the top is also much less than at the bottom so you are less boyant. Yes it is different from a trip to the Med but not quite the experience I had expected. So I tried to avoid the mud on the bottom and float for a while. What was fun was the shower afterwards. Tried one shower and it was so weak it wasn't funny. Walked closer to the entrance and the pressure improved. Got quite a nice massage from the shower higher up. Eventually had to let go but it was fun while it lasted. Had a Gold Star local beer while we waited for everyone to finish up and then back to camp.
Got back in time for a swim in the pool. Yes two swims in one day. I must admit I liked the second one more! No mud! Met a young lady at the pool. She was the lifeguard I guess, and I mention this specifically because she was carrying an automatic weapon. At the pool! She is an IDF conscript and as such must carry her weapon at all times when on duty. Nice duty sitting at the pool! :) She wanted to know where we were from and then said she wanted to visit South Africa once she had finished her service in a years time. Interesting experience.
After that is was the usual getting ready for supper and the off to bed. Since we were leaving the following morning we also needed to pack.
Good bye Kibbutz Kalia. Hello Galilee. Stay tuned tomorrow for the next exciting installement of "Away in an Israel" :)
-- Post From My iPhone
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