Ein Gedi, Israel Travel Blogs

Day 16: Wadi David
May 31, 2008 (6 photos)

... touches our skin and our souls.  Life is so good! Now we start our hike higher up the Wadi, heading towards Ein Gedi Spring.  The path gets steeper and steeper. Harvey handles these trails with the sureness of a mountain goat.  At ...

Day 15: Masada, Ein Gedi Spa at Dead Sea
May 30, 2008 (6 photos)

... a 50 minute or so hike up and a 2 minute or so ride down! We hop into our car and Zabu shows us around the Kibbutz Ein Gedi botanical garden.  This garden is one of the reasons that I had wanted to stay here.  We recognize many of the species ...

Dead Sea Spa
Sep 27, 2007 (15 photos)

It was heat, mud and salt... Pictures speak for themself...

The Dead Sea: Spiritual Water and Tikkun Olam
Mar 27, 2008 (22 photos)

... International Union for the Conservation of Nature initiative that is looking at spiritual sites all over the world. Linda selected Ein Gedi as Israel's case study because of its Biblical references and asked me to see if I could find more information for ...

Day 14: Fort Belvoir, Beit She'an, Qumram
May 29, 2008 (6 photos)

...  We spent a whirlwind day driving from Eilat to Jerusalem, exploring a dirt back road and driving up to a military base, hiking into Ein Gedi, taking the cable car up to Masada, and then they were really nice and stayed with us until we found a hotel ...

Death Mountain, Dead Sea
Jul 2, 2008 (31 photos)

... extra bucks to take the cable car.  I silently cursed the taxi driver again.  Although the tourist sites in Israel are expensive, they have much more development then almost any other place we've been.  You know, they have informative ...

Madaba / Mt. Nebo / Dead Sea
Mar 19, 2007 (12 photos)

... exhibited less than complete faith, he was not allowed to enter. We reach Mt. Nebo, and marvel at the amazing views into Israel in the distance. A sign points out the direction of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jericho, etc. There is an ancient church on the site ...

Oh Jerusalem
Jun 19, 2009

... memories etched into our brains. With these impressions fresh in our minds, we left for the Dead Sea. Our destination was Ein Gedi, a veritable oasis of lush greenery in an otherwise stark and barren setting. We had reservations for the guest house at ...

Dead Sea/Mt Nebo
Dec 28, 2006 (8 photos)

Dead Sea & Mt Nebo

This is odd
Jul 22, 2008 (20 photos)

A profoundly odd experience. That is as good as I can describe getting into the Dead Sea. It looks like normal water, when you touch it, it feels like water. But then you walk into it and realize that somethings odd, eventhough your feet don't touch the ...

Eventually one gets used to everything
Oct 19, 2009 (1 photos)

... (who i met last month in Sinai and who has become to be at the top of the list of "What I like Best in Israel") played an Israeli song by an unknown-to-me singer Dudu Tessa. It is called "Eventually one gets used to everything". It been a while ...

Finally I can float!
May 19, 2007 (41 photos)

Today because of a lovely thing called Shabbat, where all the buses stop from Sundown Friday to Sundown Saturday, we were forced to pay to have a tour to visit the Dead Sea and Masada, an ancient (I mean biblical times...) palace, where King Herod ...

Long Time Gone but Time Well Spent
Jun 23, 2007 (56 photos)

... ; family in their time of mourning.  So in stead of experiencing an Israeli/Jewish wedding I have seen very closely an Israel/Jewish funeral and mourning process.  I cannot say I understand everything about it but it was very moving and very raw, ...

Pesach
Apr 27, 2008 (19 photos)

... ; it was interesting to see haredis in their dress pants and dress shirts making the hike.  at least there were no fur hats. after ein gedi we spent the afternoon at the dead sea. the dead sea doesn't get boring. afterwards we took the bus to be'er ...

The Dead Sea
Nov 25, 2006 (6 photos)

At 1000 ft (300 m) below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth. Because it evaporates so quickly the water is saturated with minerals at 27%. That's the reason why it's so easy to float on it. In fact, it's absolutely impossible to sink! ...

Driving myself (crazy) in Israel
Oct 28, 2008 (10 photos)

... going for awhile.  Finally I passed each of them.  About 15 kilometers before Masada I passed the lush oasis of Ein Gedi in an otherwise barren landscape.  And then finally, Masada.  Masada was a fortress palace built by King ...

Floating in Paradice
May 2, 2009 (13 photos)

Jordan is amazing. Everyone should make sure they float in the Dead Sea at least once in their life. Just a quick note , off to Amman to try and get my screen on my laptop replaced so I can catchup sometime. Photos as soon as possible team

Below Sea Level
Dec 15, 2007 (37 photos)

Our first excursion that Yael had arranged was walking in the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, shopping at the Ahava Factory shop (Annie had already bought a whole stock of products in Tel Aviv :-), a cable car to the top of Masada and finally a float in the Dead ...

Hot spas at the Rainbow Camp
Mar 13, 2008

... there a bit after midnight. On Thursday afternoon I had taken a bus 1 hour east from Jerusalem and got off 10 km before Ein Gedi. Yonotan and David (hippy types from yeshiva) had told me about the Rainbow Camp and I knew I wouldnt get many more chances ...

Sabbath at the Rainbow Camp
Mar 14, 2008

The stars had disappeared and in there place a virtually cloudless sky greeted my morning eyes. I took a dip in the spring and did some sunbathing. Noam - the kind of leader of the camp - invited me over to a tent where they were drinking some arabic ...

Climbing Mountains In The Lowest Place On Earth
May 7, 2009 (9 photos)

... more sights. Up and out, we hit the road on our way to Mount Nebo, the famous place where Moses took his people to view Israel and where he later died. We passed a few watermelon stands on the way, and Ben resolved to buy a big watermelon on the way back ...

The Dead Sea
May 1, 2007 (3 photos)

... Earth, the Dead Sea is 1,317 feet below sea level.  As rain water absorbs salt from the surrounding areas of Jordan and Israel, it flows in rivers into the Dead Sea.  Because the Dead Sea has no natural outlets to the ocean, the water is trapped ...

Masada and the Dead Sea
Dec 4, 2007 (10 photos)

Masada: big, fortified, majestic, enigmatic (site of a mass suicide to avoid Roman capture), ingenious (water collection systems), perched on a table-like mountain overlooking the Dead Sea and desert.  the pictures say it best.  magnificent. ...

The Road to Ein Gedi
Jun 5, 2008

... and there in the distance was the Dead Sea. We headed south for an hour along it's receding shoreline and turned into Kibbutz Ein Gedi.   Driving through the lush palm trees of the Kibbutz it was not surprising to find that the Guest House was out ...

Mar Muerto
Apr 15, 2007 (4 photos)

El mar muerto, nos sorprendio para bien! disfrutamos mucho la experiencia de flotar sin importar los kilos. Nuestra parada para nadar en el mar fue en un basural pero, con aguas termales y barros que contienen propiedades y son arcillosos. ...

Masada and Dead Sea Spa
Oct 21, 2007 (19 photos)

... how he felt like a second class citizen and was considering a return to the mother country. This is a big controversy as the Israel right of return allowed in 1.5 million Russians, many that were "half" Jewish. Many Israelis claim that most are not even ...

The Dead Sea
Jul 16, 2008 (6 photos)

After a good nights rest! We rode to the dead sea and the Jordan river

Dead Good at the Dead Sea
Dec 27, 2007

With an early start we set off for the dead sea. Our first destination before we hit the Dead Sea was Bethany Beyond the Jordan, where it was officially declared in the year 2000 to be the place where John the Baptist did his thing and where he baptised ...

How Low Can You Go?
Nov 28, 2005 (4 photos)

... . Typically people go to the nearby ruins of Masada first thing in the morning and then relax and float in the Dead Sea at Ein Gedi. We opted to float right away and save hiking Masada for the next day. On the way we passed by a guy standing with ...

a tense moment
Mar 19, 2008

I feel kind of like a tourist attraction in the old city now. I've been studying here nearly 2 months and its old hat to me... well my black hat is quite new (only kidding!) The other evening I went to get a falafel in the courtyard(a kind of ...