On This Day . . .

We arrived in Ashdod in Israel on April 10, 2016, boarded a bus and traveled to the Masada National Park, 100 miles to the East in the Judea Desert on the banks of the Dead Sea. Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is an ancient fortification built on top of an isolated rock plateau by Herod the Great. To get to the plateau, you can either hike or take a cable car 980 feet up to the mesa . Once on the top a boardwalk takes you to the East gate. After passing through the gate you are on the mesa and have panoramic views all around. Here there are 3 main Places, The Western Palace, the Northern Palace and Herod’s Palace. Below in the valleys are the ruins and remains of some of the Siege Camps. One of the best restorations on the site is the Bath House, that is in the North Palace. After touring Masada, we went to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the earth at 1,407 ft below sea level and was one of the world’s first spas. Here the salinity is so great that anyone can float in the water.