Rolling in Black Mud at the Dead Sea

400 meters below the average sea level: the last stop of our road trip through all of Israel was the famous "Sea of Death" - or Dead Sea - the deepest hypersaline lake in the world! After visiting Masada, we seeked for a refreshment and went to one of the Dead Sea's beaches (beware of sinkholes!) to jump into the supersalty water...(the water was warm like a baby's bathtub, so far for the refreshment, lol).

Lilly, completely covered in black mud, enjoying the Dead Sea. (Washing that stuff off is another story *sigh*).

Very creepy experience (later funny): The high salt content (~ 34%) keeps you easily afloat. Swimming is not really possible, because the "water" is very thick. Never duck your head under, it literally burns your eyes out (not that I tried or something). Why the shoes? Well, you have to walk in and the underground nearly scratched our soles.

The shore of the Dead Sea (lonely beach^^).

Bizarre salt formations at the shore (try to walk on that!).

Rather typical Israeli breakfast: you realize something?? Yes, half of it is salad and vegetables. (That ratio also accounts for the rest of the diet here O-o).

Flower tree in En Gedi - I had to climb it!! (and I did, haha).

~*~

End of my Israel Road Trip =) I hope you enjoyed the travel report!

Love,

Royal Desert Fortress: Masada

Road through the desert.

Driving to the South of Israel, the scenery changed drastically, as we made our way into the desert of the Negev. Last stop on our big road trip through Israel, we drove to the Dead Sea. Hills of sand and rocks surrounded us for hours and no green far and wide.

Short driving break. Practical outfit: shirt new yorker, shorts hm, sandals keen, sunglasses nazareth, bracelet hm, fish necklace zafed.

Food to survive the long drive: Super yummy cookies from a bakery^^.

Plan for the day was the desert fortress Masada, a national sanctury to the Israelis. It is located on top of a plateau cliff and you have to either walk up (not during the day!!! HOT.) or get up there by cable car.

King Herod built this fortress and he made it quite splendid: there are several palaces and store houses, a clever water system and even a sort of ancient thermal wellness spa.

Great view over the Dead Sea!!

Ruins from the ancient buildings on top of the cliff. Masada is a highly frequented spot of touristic interest. Despite the effects of an earthquake on the fortress, the desert climate keeps the ruins in a good condition.

Leftovers from inhabitants of the royal fortress: ~ 2,000 years old. They also had quite amazing (gold and silver) jewellery in the museum. The vials and bottles in the picture were used for --- Make Up!!! Believe it or not.

***

The story behind Masadas importance

Actually, Masada is famous for a very sad incidence that happened long after King Herod left the castle. The Romans invaded the country and the only resistance gathered at the old castle: Jewish rebels. The Romans tried to take the castle by military force, which is not an easy task, because the fortress is in on top of a remote cliff. (The leftovers of the Romans' military camps are still visible around Masada today!). The night before the Romans were about to finally break into the castle and presumably enslave all the rebels and their families, the leader of the rebels held a very passionate speech with the result that he claimed it would be more noble to die instead of becoming Roman slaves.
He chose nine other men (it is said that they drew lots) and they proceeded to kill all the 2,000 people in the fortress: their wives, children, relatives, everyone. Finally, one of the ten men got chosen to kill the other nine men. After he did that, he commited suicide.
The Romans took the castle on the next day and they were left speechless about the massacre they found inside. It is said in the historical record that only two women and three children survived, because they successfully hid in a small cave. Nowadays, Masada is a national symbol for Jewish resistance against oppression. In fact, the picture in the museum shows belongings that were left from the rebels. They also found shoes, braids of hair and children toys, as well as food. I could'nt help it... when I stood there, looking at all those things, I cried my heart out... What a terribly sad story.

Nazareth: City of Mysteries

Lilly, with her third pair of sunglasses -.-

I broke my second pair of sunglasses in Nazareth (one screw is lost), so I was forced to buy a new pair at the Bazaar. This is how I got those fancy pink ones! Really, you cannot go out of the house during the day without sunglasses. Nazareth is a beautiful city, but the traffic is crazy...I would not dare to drive a car there. The food is amazingly delicious - I'd like to spent a week here, just eating through all the yummy restaurants!! We spent the night in an old convent (very calm place to sleep^^) - Galila had to be smuggled in. Here is an impression of our adventures in Nazareth:

HL, T. and Lilly after visiting a mosque, on our way to the Bazaar in Nazareth.

HL, bargaining at the Bazaar about buttons for a new DIY-project.

The Church of Annunciation: at this place Mary is supposed to got informed from the Angel Gabriel that she'll have God's child. It is the biggest Christian church in the Middle East.

Did you ever see an Arabic cemetery? Well, I didn't.

We found a great little restaurant at the Bazaar and stopped for a traditional lunch^^.

Israeli dishes: Falafel, pitta bread, lebone cheese (white), humus (beige), salad and more salad XDD. You drink mint leomande with it or/and water.

For dessert, there is strong black coffee and small pancakes with honey that are filled with white cheese or nuts. Super-yummy!!!

***Have a great evening, my lovelies!***
♥♥♥

Lake Kinneret: The Mount of Beatitudes

The Church on the Mount of Beatitudes, North Israel.

In the warm afternoon sun, we reached the famous Lake Kinneret (Genezareth) on our road trip through all regions of Israel. It was already a little late, so we rushed to visit a few of the many holy places along the lake (which close before 17h). At the place of this church, Jesus is said to have given the blessings from the Bible (~therefore Mount of 'Blessedness' would also fit as description). Isn't it beautiful??! Many pilgrims visit this cloister every day.

A look in the garden around the church (yaay, palm trees^^).

~An exotic blossom~.

Great view over the Lake Kinneret^^. It is the fresh water lake, which is most below the mean sea level in the world. Many events in the Bible are connected to the Kinneret!!!

Lilly at the shore of the Kinneret (I am in the middle of a monk cloister there, so swimming is forbidden, lol. And I only took the shawl of my shoulders for a second to shoot the picture).

We drove to this beach and jumped into the lake. YR complained that a fish bit him, maybe that is a lucky sign? He told me: "Lilly, you have to be careful; this is fresh water, it doesn't have much buoyancy!"- I laughed at him an explained that this is the only type of lake we have in Germany =))). [In Israel, swimming in the Dead Sea and the Red Sea is fairly comfortable, because the high salt content keeps you at the surface).

Look at our poor sweetheart Galila! I totally used this situation, catched her and washed her ears (still wet, hehe). After that she looked too miserable for my initial mission to train her in swimming a bit. Instead, she was more interested in drinking the water from the lake (out of my hands of course, spoilt dog!). She looks really like a baby German shepherd dog, does she?

***

Only a few more weeks left in Israel. I feel very happy here, but I am also looking forward to go home and see my friends and family again. Hopefully they will still recognize me (tanned as I am, haha) *-*. Love,

Nimrod: Castle in the Sky

The boarders to Lebanon and Syria are in sight from here! The Golan heights don't only have the most beautiful waterfalls (here), they also surprise their visitors with a castle in the sky =). Okay, but at least as close to the sky as possible! Nimrod is a famous fortress in Israel - initially build by Muslims, later taken over by the Crusaders that came to the holy land and a few hundred years later it got destroyed by a severe earthquake.

Lilly, enjoying the view over the valley below the castle. (shirt+belt noname, pants hm, necklace+earrings souvenirs, hat outdoor shop).

A hidden water cistern in the castle. We found doves and bats there! Magical, hu??!

What the earthquake left of this gigantic fortress... (walking there is only allowed on special trails).

On this day, Galila (our rescued puppy dog) was strong enough to follow us around the castle by herself. She messed with other dogs, got lost between the rocks and was too small to climb some of the huge stone stairs.

Portrait of HL, YR and Gaaalilaaa!!!

During a road stop at a small café...we smuggeled Galila in and she was patiently sleeping under the table for an hour. She is the most well-behaving puppy I ever saw! (sleepily opening an eye for me =)).

***

The Nimrod castle was the most Northern point of our road trip. That day we headed back to the South, in search of new adventures along the way =). More soon. Love,

Pik'In: Visit in a Druze Village

Arabic dessert: looks like coloured carpet and tastes sweet like the sin... =)

The Druze people are a minority in Israel, living in their own cities and villages in the north. Pik'In reminded me of an Italian mountain village. People were very friendly!

My friends and I were allowed to visit the first family of Pik'In during our road trip. This is how their living room looks like. (Yeah, that's Kennedy on that poster!). I bought a pair of green chandelier earrings from them =))).

We spent the night on this Israeli version of a camp site: an outdoor living room with carpets... XDD. There was no electricity and no warm water, so we had a fire in the evening and drank whine while looking into the stars.

This cute yard belongs to a wavery in Zafed, a city in the north, widely known for its popular art galleries and the ultraorthodox (strongly traditional Jewish) people living there.

*** Okay, now finally Galilas story :D ***

This is my friend HL, carrying around the newest travel group member: puppy dog Galila^^.
The night before, we were driving at a deserted mountain street and Galila directly ran in front of the car. HL stopped and little Galila was so miserable, that T. picked her up and we decided to leave her at the farm where we planned to spend the night.
Just that they did not want her! We gave her sugary water and she throw it all up again during the night. The next day we took her to see a vet (who also did not want to keep her). She said that the little one was just two months old back then! YR made the best name suggestion for her:

We named her after the region that we found her in: the mountains of Galilee (Galiläa). For the rest of the week-long travel, she was sitting in a small basket on the backseat and we would take turns to feed her and cuddle her. What a strenous travel for such a young dog! By this point, it was still not clear what would happen to her. She was like our baby and enjoyed the affection not only from us, but from random people in the street that stopped to pet her and love her. However, there is an happy ending for the abandoned puppy dog... HL and YR took Galila to live with them ( for happy ever after of course). Doesn't it sound like a true fairy-tale?!

Love,PS: Check out this turtle!! I was so excited that I jumped out of the driving car ("Lilly!!!")...

... More soon from the Holy Land ...