Hiking up Masada and waterfalls at En Geti

This morning we got up early and drove to Masada where we hiked up the mountain. The travel guide books say that this activity is only for the "intrepid traveler". I am proud to announce that we are intrepid! It wasn't easy and it WAS HOT, but we made it to the top. Do you see the snaking path up the mountain in the first picture? That was what we hiked up! There is a cable car/gondola thing, but we were too intrepid for that! The path you hike up is actually called the snake path. When we were about 3/4 of the way up, some people were coming down and the girl announced to us (in a cool accent) "Soon up on the top". We repeated that to each other several times on the remainder of the climb.

Masada is the location for the Jews "last stand" against the Romans. There were 1,000 Jews living in the fortress at the time and the Romans were invading. The Romans had made base camps surrounding the mountain and a ramp up to the main gate. When the Jews realized they were going to be overtaken, they decided to take their own lives - rather than fall into slavery. The creed for the IDF is "Masada will not fall again".

From Masada we went to lunch. The guide book gave information about this restaurant that was behind a gas station. I was a little nervous, but since they had air conditioning, I really didn't care. Once again, we were surprised (in a good way) by our meal. You can check it out in the "lunch cam" photo.

After lunch we went to En Geti and had an easy hike up to the waterfalls. It was so amazing. You are just walking along in a dry barren dessert, and then poof -- a waterfall. I went in fully clothed - was too hot to care! This is where David went when he escaped from Saul's wrath. He wrote several Psalms in this location. We could see the inspiration for his words.

We then came back to the hotel to rest (the others went for another dip in the Sea - I opted out) and then had another yummy dinner.

Tomorrow we will head to Qumran on our way to Jerusalem.