On the Eleventh Day of Adventure...

We left the hills of Judah and stopped by a Look Out or monument to the State of Israel. From here we got a very good view of the mountains of Judah and the new city of Jerusalem. But we did not stay here very long. We headed past Jerusalem and descended to the western side of the Dead Sea to visit the Qumran Community. Here was saw the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls where found. We also visited the ruins of the building called the "scriptorium" where they were written. They took great pains in getting the text absolutely correct by having one person watching each copier.



After getting a better understanding of the Essenes who lived here we headed to Masada, Herod the Great's fortress along the Dead Sea. Once at the top, we toured this huge complex and saw the hot baths, the cisterns and water collecting system, the Synogogue, and the great palace of Herod. This is truly an amazing place considering the amount of hard work by many slaves it took to construct it.

When we got down from Masada we traveled north along the Dead Sea to get to En Gedi. This is the place where when Saul was trying to kill David, David was able to cut the corner off of Saul's robe. En Gedi is a beautiful wadi with a stream running through it. We climbed up the wadi to a water falls, keeping in the shade as it was 116 degrees out. When we got to the pool under the falls one of the members of our team was baptized by her father. It was a great experience.



On our hike out of the wadi we saw a couple dozen Nubian ibex. They are on their way back from just about being extinct. They are beautiful animals! Interestingly, the Bible also calls this place The Crags of the Wild Goats!

As we travelled back up to Jerusalem we stopped in the Judean wilderness to get a view of Jericho to the north and the place where Jesus was tempted to the south. After a time of devotions and silence, we finished our trip at the Knight's Palace in the Christian Quarter of Old Jerusalem. After cleaning up and having a delightful supper we walked to the Western Wall and spent some time there.