The sunrise over the Jordanian hills across the Dead Sea is spectacular
when viewed from the top of the fort at Masada, even if it was a little
cloudy on the day.
The only problem is, you have to get up at 3am in Jerusalem to meet the
minibus tour in time to walk up the Snake Path by torchlight at 5am.
The obligatory picture of me reading the Jerusalem Post
whilst floating in the Dead Sea. Warning - don't drink
it - it tastes foul!
The Qumran Caves - in 1948, a bedouin found the first of the Dead Sea
Scrolls in these caves. There is nothing much to see now unless you
are an archaeology expert, so we just stopped by the side of the road
to take a photo. Qumran is further north up the Dead Sea from Masada.
The Monastery of Temptation. It is in this area that Christ spent 40
days and nights, in the West Bank north of Jerusalem near Jericho.
Qadi Welt is a canyon stretching from near Jericho almost back to Jerusalem.
This monastery is located half-way up the side of the canyon - one way of
ensuring minimal distractions!
There is an irrigation channel running along the top of the canyon until
it reaches this point, at which the water drops down a waterfall and continues
in a channel along the floor of the canyon, producing a fabulous splash
of green in the middle of all that sand.
