Day 6 - Masada, Kfar Hanokdim Camel Experience and The Dead Sea swim!

Today we headed for Masada.  This fortress\palace was built by Herod the Great atop a large plateau over 1,470 feet.  Later rebel Jews occupied Masada seeking solitude from the Romans.  In their arrogance, the Romans built a ramp over two years in the making to capture the Jews only to find that they all had taken their own lives.  One woman and a few children survived from the 960 plus that occupied the old palaces.  The Jews had come to the conclusion it was better to die than serve as a slave to the Romans.

   

 

Leaving Masada we now continued our desert journey and arrived at  Kfar Hanokdim for a traditional lunch and camel ride.  We enjoyed fresh tea and coffee and listened to our host as she spoke of her life and the traditions within it.  The camel ride allowed us to see the desert and brought a new perspective on it.

  

  

At last we were able to swim or actually float in the Dead Sea.  Ten times more salty than the ocean, the salt content is 30% which will not allow you to sink but sit on top of the water.   Awesome for the girls to experience this and get a chance to cover themselves in the therapeutic Dead Sea mud.  Though the girls look like they are on the beach, they are actually in about four feet of water! A large percentage of the bottom of the sea is covered in salt that has crystallized guaranteeing you should wear water socks for this float!  This was our last day in the desert and tomorrow we head to Jerusalem for our final four days.