Amateur Adventures # 60: Wandering in the Desert
![Masada Cover.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfCfxPrsekdL2JSFxjsgeKZDL6ZQHWpY8r1xdZwW7EDa4/Masada%20Cover.jpg)
Hey Steemians
Time for another travel adventure. But we are going to leave China briefly (mostly because there are several hundred photos between Xian and Huangshan that I can't quite locate at this moment - I truly hope that's a temporary state!)
So in the mean time I thought I'd revisit some of our adventures in Israel. A place I haven't shared too much of just yet.
![Header-large.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmUiW99wkuRQrsBwsaCiAmWKY2KKE6adAarzkdwXCke8dv/Header-large.png)
Israel was difficult for me for a number of reasons - arising partly from being raised with strict catholic doctrine and partly from my own views and feelings about that general part of the world, the political climate and the social structure of the country.
At this point my mother who was the driver of the Catholic faith in our family was already very sick. She never traveled out of Australia but had always dreamed of visiting the Holy Lands. I was by 2012, when we visited Israel more of a non-practicing catholic and actually was not that keen to go. Ironically @cryptoandzen - much less religious (though very much spiritual) had it near the top of his travel list. I got Morocco so it was only fair he got Israel.
So naturally our trip involved a lot of seeing the places I'd read about as a child in the very first book I remember owning. A very big, very heavy hard cover picture book of the Bible. (Actually they did a pretty good job turning it into a story book.
I recall standing on Mt Nebo - where Moses was shown the promised land - looking at the vast desert and thinking I hoped it was a hell of a lot greener all those thousands of years ago. You very much feel like you are wandering the desert once you get to exploring the interior of Israel.
![Masada 1.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUY6gtFCXU6RX6MUPQB3B3odTkzRae3Dk8RTuutKCZ9mi/Masada%201.jpg)
Once such deserty place is Herod's Fortress - the famous Masada.
Sitting on the edge of the Judaean desert it towers above the Dead Sea. Herod (yep the one in the stories who was concerned about losing his earthly kingdom to Jesus of the babies and ordered them slain) built his palace on top of the mountain turning it into a great fortress.
![Masada 5.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQme7r9m3bLQST36bXo3YexzG93zsN6G1EEy43H5ZFJBW6p/Masada%205.jpg)
The fortress was built around 35 years before Jesus was said to have been born. It is on a large plates that rises 14000 ft high. Not only was it rich and luxurious with Roman bath houses and luxurious living quarters, but the fortress could store vast amounts of drinking water and food and combined with it's height was almost impenetrable against a siege.
![Masada 10.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTsutrXkQmdJyDJjYTg4VRaGWYASpG8B5pgW8rQ2tHXbD/Masada%2010.jpg)
In it's time the fortress would have been an amazing architectural feat. There were large cisterns built into the mountain, and an intricate system of waterways connecting the valleys which flooded annually, to the cisterns. When the waters came once a year, the constructed waterways would catch as much of the water as possible, and channel it into the mountain, filling the many cisterns. This supply of water was enough to provide clean drinking water for the entire year until the next rainy season.
![Masada 13.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmQApjyJKq3eS9dX6dMNH7LwypCNzvSyzFBT9BhFTi9VJ5/Masada%2013.jpg)
There are two ways up the mountain to the fortress - based on the time you have available and you level of fitness! You can make the long climb up the snake path (we didn't have time and I'm sticking to that story) or you can catch the cable car) As the cable car slowly rises the female Ibex (mountain goats) stop to watch them passing. The ibex graze the side of the mountain looking for what little grass there is. A tough way to get a feed!
![Masada 16.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNahNEvCyDQQwT95V1t3S8QeUxNPyo1EdzkmGTWAbfBEV/Masada%2016.jpg)
![Masada 2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmTr9FmNPeDWcbFDEjjRo9A2xU72QPJrH5PKcqMAQ3csBc/Masada%202.jpg)
![Masada 3.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYePdxsJ5PGi1M5uSMjRwFbiM4Ut8nfES9y4JBFrbp1pw/Masada%203.jpg)
The snake path - which rises 400 meters takes up to 1 and a half hours to hike - though much quicker on the way down! During the Jewish occupation of Masada in 70AD this of course was the only way up or down.
![Masada 15.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmfH6DCfHNcqNrzcH9Gk3uUFn21XvQUxCtHPGKETRs6Rhz/Masada%2015.jpg)
The siege of Masada, which happened during the first Jewish Roman War (73-74 AD) was one of the most significant and controversial events in Jewish history where almost 1000 rebels committed suicide rather than surrender to the Romans, and the Jewish people see this as a place of reverence.
![Masada.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYAkUeMKAi5M9bCZ9ayhnXBRvC9XGCPtVDEN3hsJPQgYd/Masada.jpg)
We visited Masada during the day - in late April early May and temperatures were already soaring (in fact the snake path closes at 10am due to the heat) While we didn't get to see Sunrise, I've been told it is an amazing sight. There is no doubt that this is a must see on a trip to Israel.
![Masada 11.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmatFHCbg45hdEfeh6Mx7ySXKFhJXPmAJcVaUL4CEVeo82/Masada%2011.jpg)
![Masada 6.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQbd8rvggisMuwyd8PF3AbaSCUNG7kkaEtgkk8AkX966r/Masada%206.jpg)
![Masada 12.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmdF6TYLoQoMcyavN7CSKhJmnn8BcixFeTdLbN9Gv64WcP/Masada%2012.jpg)
![Masada 7.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZaBQZd7GKgCAvG6xAwwU9KCWrwc4zUze3siyMpn87oh1/Masada%207.jpg)
![Masada 8.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmNj7nQHSUuakCoRq6iKLx5Mt7DdPuGeMgLrZ83kLJBWcT/Masada%208.jpg)
![Masada 14.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPhnLdS9uSm7eBNZjAUvU9FQHdkJ1GsLEi3CDHyjAfCE3/Masada%2014.jpg)
I hope you enjoyed todays advneture and it inspires you to get out andsee this wondrous rock we live on!
Til next time Steem on in Love and Light
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!steemitworldmap 31.3157599 lat 35.3466682 long Masada Israel - D3SCR
Like Xian another spot we've both visited, but I was in Masada many many years ago with a low-end camera - some 35 mm slides hidden somewhere in the basement so it was great seeing your photos!
Re: your comment on politics, I was with the UN in Cyprus and a buddy and I took our 2 week mid-tour leave in Israel because it was safer!
Mostly we stayed on the beach in Tel Aviv and drank a lot of beer, but we did take a 3 or 4 day bus tour to Jerusalem, Dead Sea, Masada and Eilat, so some history and culture too.
The reality of the place is often different from media portrayals - as I learnt during the few months I traveled through the middle east! I have to say I didn't feel entirely safe or at ease - yet being in Egypt in the middle of their first democratic election excited me more than scared me! There was such a show of military might at least at the time we were travelling around Israel and we frequently shared the road with tanks and military transport. We were just short of strip searched with the car pulled apart at a Westbank checkpoint so I guess it does depend where you go.
Mind you, it was the tail end of the Arab Spring, Syria had just started started a civil war on their border so hanging around the Golan heights was probably not the smartest idea! As my Dad frequently asked - why do I need to turn overseas trips into an extreme sport!
I would have loved Tel Aviv and Elat but never quite made it!
You're young enough you should be able to get back there - Tel Aviv is interesting, Eilat has expanded a lot since we were there so very touristy now I think. Safe travels!
Amazing Post..Your progress is impressive!Thanks for sharing with us.
thank you glad you liked it
Wow.....excellent photography, nice travel, great post, thanks for sharing
thank you so much!
I loved our visit to Masada. We brought home a print of Masada from a famous Israeli artist. I had a plaque put on it that reads "live free or die." The view of from up there is amazing. Thanks for taking me back!
Glad you enjoyed it! When is Morocco?
April. Can’t wait!
Wow, that's an amazing place to have a fortress built on, the terrain provides incredible vantage point. Love the view of the Dead Sea, it kind of just blends with the desert.
Ive discovered everything worth looking at is usually right at the top of a big hill lol
Awesome photos and a great write up as always! I'm not sure if it's somewhere that would ever end up on our list really but an incredible place to explore I'm sure! Hoping I didn't just miss it somewhere but did you mention what these were shot on?
No I didn't mention it :) it was a Samsung NX300 with an 18-200mm lens (I did not want to cart around a lot of different lenses so thought it was a good multipurpose lens. Can't remember the filters - I always have a UV filter and probably had the polarising filter as well..
Mostly shoot on smart settings as I don't want to get too obsessed with the photo side and forget to actually experience it. I occasionally will take the same shot with my phone for quick social media updates if I'm feeling mean to my friends stuck back home lol.. plus the Samsung phones take really nice shots now too (I used to work for Samsung enterprise division in Sydney - they pretty much insert a chip so you cant use anything else lol)
Ah fantastic, perfect versatile focal length for trips like this! Absolutely, I think when it's about travel photography choices change a bit, ease and speed tend to take priority a lot more! Especially with lots of light there's not really any reason not to use a smartphone a lot of the time!
Great Pics! Wanna go there too now! Following you now!
thank so much
Sick photo of zipline, makes one dizzy
its a long way down!
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Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable mentions list in today's Travel Digest!