Masada, the Dead Sea, and Purim

Sunday we woke up reasonably early. After breakfast, Shira used her NYC-skills and hailed us a cab to the bus station and it was off to Masada. We got to experience some “Israeli Hospitality” when I asked the guy who sold me my bus tickets, what platform the bus left from he answered “I’m not information.” Luckily after only a little wandering we found the Masada bus (it was pretty obvious once we looked for the other really-touristy looking people).  Additionally I was surprised by the fact that while this ride was about half as long as the Tiberias-Jerusalem haul, it cost more. It was a pretty scenic ride, we didn’t realize how big the Dead Sea was and that desert could be so interesting looking. We arrived at the Masada bus stop and headed up the hill to the Visitors Center. Ayal, our guide from Jerusalem recommended the museum before we headed up to the top of Masada. That was a great recommendation as the museum was well done and very interesting. It gave a great overview of the Masada story, so we were ready to ascend the mountain. We decided to take the cable cars and smashed on with a number of tour groups. The cable cars can hold eighty people, but not comfortably. When we reached the top it was a pretty amazing site. Not only were the views incredible, but you could walk freely through most of the ruins. After a lot of walking around and taking numerous pictures we headed back down the cable car and did some shopping. The gift shop at Masada is sponsored by Ahava. While I didn’t buy any Ahava products, my purchase qualified me for a ton of free Ahava products.

It was then off to Ein Gedi Public Beach for a dip in the Dead Sea. We got to experience some more “wonderful” Israeli bus driver hospitality. As the bus driver has a bus with a bunch of tourists on it and drives by the beach stop without an announcement and then seems surprise when everyone wants to go to the beach. He did agree to turn around. We had a HUGE lunch at the beach restaurant. It was overpriced, but the food was good (and the large meal actually came in handy later).

Here are the pictures from Masada and Dead Sea: Masada and Dead Sea Pictures

After some souvenir shopping it was time to take a quick trip into the Dead Sea. We didn’t have time for a long swim so we just went in for a wade and some pictures. The water actually felt pretty good nice and warm.

While waiting for the bus we met a guy from Torino, Italy (which of course led to some good Olympic stories). We amazingly found the right bus back to Jerusalem Central Bus Station. While there we picked up some Purim costumes (on sale). We headed over to the Conservative Synagogue in Jerusalem for a really great Megillah reading. We got to hear the Hatzi Kaddish  sung to Lady Gaga. After the services we went off to find something to eat and stumbled across the Waffle Bar. It is exactly as it name implies it is a countertop restaurant that serves waffles. We were able to fulfill the commandment to have a festive meal on Purim. (Photos from Purim will be in a later post).