Woke up a couple of times in the night, but eventually slept through til 6:45am.. w00t!
Today we headed south. Drove first through Tiberias, which was easy because it was the Sabbath so nothing was open and no traffic around.
The first stop was Yardenit, an area on the Jordan river just south of the Sea of Galilee. This area has been completely commercialised and is used to perform baptisms. So we get there and are told we can spend half an hour looking around. And I'm like.. you rush us through cool stuff but give us half an hour at a tourist trap? The river was cool and all, but hardly "authentic" (they think Jesus was baptised a lot closer to Jericho, but that whole area is sealed off by the military; plus, the river is completely surrounded by eucalypts which makes it seem like just any other Australian river, not a biblical one). Fortunately Bruce hated the commercialisation of it and got us out of there a little early.
People being baptised in the Jordan River
Photo by Dad
The Jordan River. Tell me that doesn't look like a river in NSW
Next stop was Bet She'an, a cool old Roman city. We had a few talks at the beginning then we had half an hour to roam ourselves. Could have used a bit (lot) longer but did get to go up the hill so got a bunch of cool photos of the city.
View of the hippodrome from the coach
Photo by Dad
Bet She'an National Park sign. Notice the bushes of rosemary - this stuff was everywhere!
Looking down the Cardo in Bet She'an
Photo by Dad
The Bathhouse at Bet She'an
Floor of the Bathhouse at Bet She'an
The Bathhouse Toilets
Photo by Dad
Tree stump on a hill next to the town. This was put there for the movie Jesus Christ Superstar filmed there in 1973
Looking down the Cardo in Bet She'an
Palladius Mosaic at Bet She'an
Columns along the Cardo
Photo by Dad
View over Bet She'an from Tel Bet She'an
Bet She'an from Tel Bet She'an
Roman Theatre from the Tel
The Sigma from the Tel
View over Bet She'an from Tel Bet She'an
Photo by Dad
Columns in Bet She'an
Photo by Dad
The Roman Theatre at Bet She'an
The Roman Theatre at Bet She'an
Drove through a checkpoint and into the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Was a little nervous about this actually.
By this point the landscape was a lot more arid, and a lot more like I imagined Israel would be like. By the time we got to Jericho it was *very* arid.
Arid hills in the West Bank
Photo by Dad
Looking up to the Krntl monastery cable car terminal in Jericho
Looking up to the Krntl monastery in Jericho
At Jericho we had lunch at the "Temptation" restaurant (supposedly this is where Jesus was tempted for 40 days in the desert). Really it's just a big tourist trap, with shops attached to the restaurant and kickbacks for the tour operators. Still, the food was pretty good, even if the toilets were a nightmare.
Gift shop at the Temptation Tourist Centre
Cable car at ancient Jericho
Photo by Dad
Elisha Springs Fountain
Peacock jumping up to a ledge in Jericho
After lunch we took the cable car up the side of the mountain. Had a whole ten minutes at the top which by the time we went for a walk up to see if we could see the monastery gave us really no time at all to enjoy the view, I just got all hot and sweaty (good for the step count though I suppose).
Township of Jericho
Jericho Cable Car
Hillside in Jericho below the cable car
View over Jericho and the cable car from near the upper cable car terminal
Photo by Dad
Steps up to the monastery
Came back down and had a wander around the ruins of the old city. The place was made of mudbricks so there's nothing much left, but there is a tower that they think is one of the oldest human constructions still surviving on the planet.
Ancient tower in Jericho - thought to be one of the oldest man made constructions on earth
Structures in ancient Jericho
Structures in ancient Jericho
Continued driving south through lots of desert and past the odd random camel just standing around.
Random camel by the side of the road
Then it was driving past the Dead Sea on the left and cliffs and canyons of very loose looking rocks on the right. I was vaguely worried we'd be crushed in a rock slide. The Dead Sea sure was pretty though.
Western shore of the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea
Barrage on the channel
Looking south towards the Dead Sea hotels
Got to our hotel on the Dead Sea (I was right - the "fancier" the hotel the less likely you are to get free internet - $15/day here. And "fancy" prices for drinks here too - about two and a half times the prices of the last hotel. I used the drink voucher we got, but didn't buy any more).
Our room at the Daniel Dead Sea Hotel
Of course the first thing we all had to do was go for a swim in the Dead Sea. Which was bizarre and cool and slimy and salty.
So yeah, you totally float much much higher than you do in regular water. It's really hard to describe what it was like. Crazy!
Mum and me floating in the Dead Sea
Photo by Dad
Pam and Peter H, Mum, Heather, Peter D and me floating in the Dead Sea
Photo by Dad
Mum floating in the Dead Sea
After we'd had enough we headed back to the hotel pools for a more regular swim (although they had a pool with Dead Sea water in it, so had another float there too).
Then washed my hair, had a drink with some of the others, had dinner, downloaded photos and suddenly it's 10pm.. hrmmm..
Pool at the Daniel Dead Sea Hotel by night
Distance covered on the GPS: 226.4km (didn't get above sea level all day!)
Steps walked: 15371
Photos on the Canon: 731
Photos on the Sony: 86
Videos: 22
NIS spent: 10
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