No problems getting back to the Jordanian boarder and crossing into Israel. It was strange though. Once we arrived in Eilat we were suprised to see men and women(!) in shorts, tank tops, t-shirts and flip flops. It could have been any US city in the summer. We also saw women's hair, which we haven't seen in a while. Not a headscarf in sight. Things were very modern too. The facilities were clean, organized, and made sense to our American sensibilities. And, one of the most shocking things of all, the cars stopped for us at crosswalks. Even seemed annoyed with us that we hesitated to cross in front of them!
I knew that where we were going was an isolated place so I jumped at the chance to go to a grocery store before leaving Eilat. This grocery was very much like the US and had checkstands and scanners and carts and everything. I bought water and food stuff to get us through a few days at the Dead Sea. Good thing too. There are no stores at all so you are at the mercy of the hostels and their overpriced food.
We missed our stop at Massada, but I blame that on the driver. Luckily there was one coming in the other direction so we hopped off that bus and onto another one. We went about 12km out of our way and it took about an extra 30 minutes.
The Masada Guesthouse is by far the nicest place we have stayed so far. Very modern, but still a hostel, with an elaborate breakfast buffet. It was full of Israeli high school students taking their school trip, but we knew that coming in. The kids were loud and a little wild, but overall no problems.
Steve and I got up at 5am so that we could make the climb to Masada to see the sunrise. The kids slept in, of course. After getting off on the wrong trail at first (No our fault this time! We were following some French people who looked like they knew what they were doing!) we made the 45 minute climb. After the not-as-cool-as-we-thought-it-would-be sunrise, we walked around the ancient palace/fortress (wikipedia Masada for the story) before descending and getting back to the room around 8:30.
We then had to move hotels because each one only had one night and, lucky for us, they were opposite nights. We heard some people did not get rooms last night and had to sleep on the beach.
The Ein Gedi Guesthouse is a lot like the Masada one so the rooms are nice as well. We couldn't check in so early so we stashed our bags and walked to the nature preserve next door. At first we thought that the Israeli idea of nature was not so great, but then we found the first of the waterfalls. The water was cool and kids were swimming so Cora got in with her clothes on, of course. We then kept climbing and the waterfalls got more beautiful. You would never know this from the road, but this area between two mountains is an oasis and the water here is very pure.
After finally checking in, we changed into swimsuits and headed to the Dead Sea. The beach was 800m down the road. We knew it would be a cool experience but did not anticipate just how great it would be. The floating sensation was amazing. The kids loved it. The dos desnudos struck again and we also put on the mud that is so good for the skin and are now all soft and clean. The air here is amazing as well. It looks very hazy but that is because we are at the lowest place on earth and the air is very oxygen and mineral rich.
Overall, a great day. We take the bus to Jerusalem tomorrow: the last city on our middle east tour.
I knew that where we were going was an isolated place so I jumped at the chance to go to a grocery store before leaving Eilat. This grocery was very much like the US and had checkstands and scanners and carts and everything. I bought water and food stuff to get us through a few days at the Dead Sea. Good thing too. There are no stores at all so you are at the mercy of the hostels and their overpriced food.
We missed our stop at Massada, but I blame that on the driver. Luckily there was one coming in the other direction so we hopped off that bus and onto another one. We went about 12km out of our way and it took about an extra 30 minutes.
The Masada Guesthouse is by far the nicest place we have stayed so far. Very modern, but still a hostel, with an elaborate breakfast buffet. It was full of Israeli high school students taking their school trip, but we knew that coming in. The kids were loud and a little wild, but overall no problems.
Steve and I got up at 5am so that we could make the climb to Masada to see the sunrise. The kids slept in, of course. After getting off on the wrong trail at first (No our fault this time! We were following some French people who looked like they knew what they were doing!) we made the 45 minute climb. After the not-as-cool-as-we-thought-it-would-be sunrise, we walked around the ancient palace/fortress (wikipedia Masada for the story) before descending and getting back to the room around 8:30.
We then had to move hotels because each one only had one night and, lucky for us, they were opposite nights. We heard some people did not get rooms last night and had to sleep on the beach.
The Ein Gedi Guesthouse is a lot like the Masada one so the rooms are nice as well. We couldn't check in so early so we stashed our bags and walked to the nature preserve next door. At first we thought that the Israeli idea of nature was not so great, but then we found the first of the waterfalls. The water was cool and kids were swimming so Cora got in with her clothes on, of course. We then kept climbing and the waterfalls got more beautiful. You would never know this from the road, but this area between two mountains is an oasis and the water here is very pure.
After finally checking in, we changed into swimsuits and headed to the Dead Sea. The beach was 800m down the road. We knew it would be a cool experience but did not anticipate just how great it would be. The floating sensation was amazing. The kids loved it. The dos desnudos struck again and we also put on the mud that is so good for the skin and are now all soft and clean. The air here is amazing as well. It looks very hazy but that is because we are at the lowest place on earth and the air is very oxygen and mineral rich.
Overall, a great day. We take the bus to Jerusalem tomorrow: the last city on our middle east tour.
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