Some last impressions from Israel. Enjoying the desert around Mitzpe Ramon. The town is situated on the edge of a cliff and overlooking big dry valley. One of the highlights is a walk along the cliffs and observing the ibex at sunset. With this beautiful and peaceful silence my trip in Israel comes to an end…
Leaving the coast of the Red Sea along the border with Egypt, the road leads back into the Negev desert. More rocky and hilly landscape, with dry valleys and small oasis. A few remote settlements along the way. But there are also groups of cyclists on the road, fighting against the heat and covering big distances. Myself prefers a short hike in the desert, enjoying the few colorful plants growing there. At the end of the day i was ending up in Mitzpe Ramon. More about it on my next blog.
After a long drive trough the Negev desert along the Jordan border, the road ends in Eilat at the Red Sea.
It appears as holiday destination like so many others on this world. Israeli and tourists all over the world coming here for some relaxing days, parties or a foodie weekend at the sea.
There’s not much more than the beaches in front of big hotels, food courts and bars. The landscape around is stunning tho. If you get on an elevated point you can overlook the Red Sea and its riparian states, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. All within a coastline of approximately 35 km.
„There must be a place to access the Dead Sea, isn’t it?“ I asked the nice young lady at the entrance of En Gedi. I had that experience of floating in the highly saturated salty sea twice when i traveled Jordan in 2014 (click here). Since i’m so close to that unique waters, i wanted have at least another short dip on this side of the sea.
„There’s a spa at seaside nearby, but it costs a fortune to get in“ she replied. „Better drive south to En Bokek. There’s a public beach without an entrance fee.“ she advised me. Thankfully i drove along the coast. The sun already was near the horizon when i arrived at that beach. The town provides changing rooms and fresh water shower at the sandy beach. Behind the beach are a few big, modern hotels and even a shopping mall. People enjoying to float on the water or sunbathing in the late afternoon sun.
Quickly i got myself into the water, and once again felt that strange sensation of the strong buoyancy. Literally lying on the water surface and looking over to the reddish mountains of Jordan, it felt like being on another planet, where gravity is different and light shines from an another sun. That thought carried on when i traveled into the night, followed by a cloud shaped like a space ship.
There’s not just one En Gedi, i found out when i approached the area. My quick research earlier learned me about a kibbutz and a nature reserve, an oasis, with the same name. It’s not exactly the same spot, as i expected. The nature reserve lies not inside the kibbutz, as i thought, but a few kilometer up north of it. So be aware of it if you want visit it.
There’s a parking lot and big picnic area with some shops and cafe in front of the entrance. A friendly young lady at the booth explained me about the ways and activities within the UNESCO heritage nature park. I was poorly prepared about this spot and already bit late on the day. I was happy to learn, there are some shorter walks along a creek. So i followed the ‚wet trail‘ upstream. Beautifully along the green bushes inside a deep valley with incredible views over the Dead Sea. On some rocks i found to my surprise a couple rock hyrax glaring to wandering tourists. These cute mammals are seen often in Southern Africa, known also as rock dassies.
Along the way are several small waterfalls. Day visitors use the chance to have a dip in the tiny pools to cool off or just having a rest there. My walk ended on the higher and more famous David waterfalls. A cool rest under the spray of the falls, a couple pictures taken and the joy of the view for a few minutes longer. Too soon i had to walk back, but on a slightly different route to enjoy the view over the Dead Sea bit more.
In the tiny rental car the Judaean Desert felt even more huge. A black bitumen road navigates between stony fields, rocky areas and along deep, dry valleys with some rare, green oasis. I have to admit, i always do enjoy traveling trough lonely deserts. All in a sudden a deep blue surface appeared on the edge of a plateau. I reached the Dead Sea region.
Not far from here i arrived at the foot of a mountain. On top of it is the legendary fortress of Masada.
Built by Herod the Great it has two palaces for himself and fortified city on the plateau of the mountain. Beside the space for the inhabitants it also has huge storage rooms and a clever system of water drains and cisterns. King Herod enjoyed life up here with big, painted halls, terraces overlooking the Dead Sea and even heated baths.
Later the fortified city was occupied by the Jewish on the First Jewish-Roman War. The story tells a sad end of the folks up there. When the Romans besieged the fortress, they even build up a ramp to breach the walls. The people inside the city decided not to go in slavery but rather commit a mass suicide.
Nowadays a cable car brings the tourists on the top. There’s still a long, steep way uphill for the wanderers. I preferred to spend some time up there and wander between the ruins. Some wall paintings are still well preserved, as parts of the Roman bath is too. Even the earthen ramp, which was built to breach the wall, is still good to see.
The view is just stunning. On the back raises the mountains of the desert with its nice rock formations. On the front lies the blue Dead Sea with the Jordan mountains on the other side. It was so beautiful and magic, i spent longer than planned, but regret not one minute of it.
„There’s a sniper observing the area“ the Palestinian guide was pointing to the watchtower at the wall corner.
From there, a huge wall expands on both directions. This wall, also known as West Bank Barrier , was build by Israel for security reasons, as they claim. For the Palestinians it’s rather an act of segregation and further restriction of their freedom.
On the Palestinian side, it became a canvas for graffiti art. Palestinian and international artists put their messages and art on it, making it a huge board of resistance and shout for more freedom and peace.
There’s quite a controversy about the birthday of Jesus. While some historian beliefs it was actually in Nazaraeth, where he supposed to spend also his youth, other stays with the place written in the Gospels: Bethlehem.
After entering the city trough heavy guarded check-points, we stopped at one of the best known graffiti by the anonymous artist Banksy.
The main program lead to the spot where, according to the gospels and the belief of christians, Jesus was born in a little shack. Around this place a big church with several units and chapels were build.
This Church Of The Nativity has different section according to different Christians churches, similar like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Old Jerusalem. And like there, here too they have this agreement of ‚Staus Quo‘.
In the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem stands a big building which host now the Armenian museum.
These rooms was build originally in the 1850’s as a pilgrim guesthouse, became later a monastery, a seminary and also an orphanage of survivors of the genocide from 1915.
After a five year renovation it just reopened recently as a museum and memorial of the Armenian Genocide in 1915.
Beside many handicrafts and artifacts of the Armenian culture, especially also the famous ceramics and ornaments, it tells the story of the tragic incidents and deaths from the 24. April 1915, which is still denied by the Turkish government.
To understand Israel, one have to understand the history of its people.
The traumatic peak of the Jewish diaspora was the so-called holocaust in the 1930’s in Europe. The official website of Yad Vashem explains:
„The Holocaust was unprecedented genocide, total and systematic, perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, with the aim of annihilating the Jewish people. The primary motivation was the Nazis‘ anti-Semitic racist ideology. Between 1933 and 1941 Nazi Germany pursued a policy that dispossessed the Jews of their rights and their property, followed by the branding and the concentration of the Jewish population. This policy gained broad support in Germany and much of occupied Europe. In 1941, following the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Nazis and their collaborators launched the systematic mass murder of the Jews. By 1945 nearly six million Jews had been murdered. „
Walking through the rooms of museum/memorial, the visitor learn about how the hate against the Jewish people raised. It displays many individual fates and the suffer of an entire folk. Not to forget all the heroes, who fought and helped these people to escape.
It’s a place to remember the loss and keep in mind to fight for a peaceful future. At least i’d like to understand it that way. Unfortunately, i was informed at this very day, that Israel army attacked and destroyed the airport of Aleppo, which is crucial for the help of victims of the recent earthquake in that region. This incident wasn’t confirmed, nor denied, from the Israel officials. But it let me a bitter taste when thinking of the future of this region.
rene bauer photography 