Well, another day, another pack-up-and-leave routine. Our first stop was Masada, the mountain top fortress city. It’s a tough sixty minute hike up a winding mountain trail to get to the top, but we took the easy way up – a nice modern cable car! George & Donna’s daughter Laurie did the walk up in less than forty minutes, and arrived shortly after we did. Wow she is one tough woman.
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| Our preferred method of transportation. |
| One of many water cisterns in caves and carved out caverns in the mountain. |
| One of something like twenty storerooms for food – which were of course covered in those days. |
| Overhead view of remains of magnificent three tier “North Palace” built for King Herod at Masaba. |
| Wider angle view of the remains of the storehouses. |
| Dove loft for communications carrier doves – the communications centre! |
| Overhead view of the remains of the hastily built Roman ramp that reached the city gate. |
| Dead Sea beach |
| Mud plasters and *salt water* rinse showers – for others, not for us! |
| Ritual bath in Qumran – always has 7 steps to represent 7 steps of purification. |
| Water cistern in Qumran – one of many. |
| Pottery Kiln – one of several. |
| Cave where Dead Sea Scrolls were found, looking west from Qumran. They were undisturbed for almost 1900 years! |