masada, the dead sea, jerusalem: israel - part 4

Sorry for the delay...things have been busy busy which is a good thing but also quite a tiring thing! Here is the last installment of my Israel photos.

Smack in the middle of the hot, dry desert was Masada - a huge fortress and ruins of ancient palaces built atop a plateaued rock. This was surreal! The desert landscape was gorgeous, but it was so absolutely broiling in the sun. How anyone built anything there 2000 years ago, let alone on the top of a 1km high rock, beats me! And how they maintained a water supply and food storage is even more incredible. The photos don't do it justice...the scope of this rock and the scenery was breathtaking!


Masada overlooks the Dead Sea, so we stopped to take a dip. This is the lowest point on the Earth's surface. It is also the saltiest sea! Does it look like we are sitting in shallow water? We weren't we were floating! You can't sink the in the Dead Sea, as the salt content boosts you right up to the top. It's considered extremely healthy {just don't stay in longer than 10 minutes or else you will get pickled}. The mud at the bottom of the sea has tons of minerals...made our skin look awesome!


Onto Jerusalem...another amazing place! I wished we had more time there as there was so much to see. We took a tour below the Old City, in an excavation site...there are more cities beneath the Old City that they are uncovering as we speak! The Wailing Wall was particularly emotional, and I thought of all of the wishes and prayers that must have been made on the wall.


This is a small, mystical town in the mountains called Safed. Comprised of many art galleries, it is a very spiritual place, and you can feel the peacefulness. Madonna visited Safed the same day we were there...unfortunately we missed her though!



We went to a food market in Tel Aviv and I just wanted to share this photo...I loved the colours of all the spices in their baskets!


Some views of Haifa, the city where we stayed. It's gorgeous, and built on top of a mountain. Here are some views of the Baha'i Gardens from the top of the mountain, and one from the bottom.


And of course I took a photo of an Israeli license plate for my collection.
Well there was our trip in a nutshell!