Sheraton Moriah Neve Zohar

... como un bebe.
Lo mejor de la visita ha sido ver atardecer flotando sobre el mar.


On the way to the Dead Sea, we make a brief stop on the desert landscape Montanya to see the area, including Montanya of Jerusalem, the Jordan River, which separates the Palestinian territories from Jordan. This whole area is described in the Bible, as it was in the Jordan River where he was baptized, and in the surrounding Montanya lost the shoe.
Our guide led us to that area ...

... our bathing suits and were prepared for this chance of a lifetime. It was remarkable. We ventured into the water very carefully because the salt deposits create sharp and awkward layers that make walking difficult. The water was warm and in addition to its salty content, it was also slightly oily, leaving our skin feeling silky. Floating on my back with legs and arms pointing straight into the air was a strange feeling, but lots of fun. It was impossible to sink! It left us wondering ...

... a great hill climber I can draft in the wind.

Incredible long descent which was fast and somewhat of a roller coaster.

And my family will be happy to know that I had my obligatory fall (chain came off on a 16% grade climb) – ouch! And my ham didn’t like the cold or rain, but I finished the last 10 k very strong which was my goal today. Other riders asked me how I suddenly surged during ...

... d** wenigen Stellen am Toten Me**, wo noch etwas Wass** aus den B**gen tatsächlich bis ins Tote Me** fließt und somit ein wichtig** Zufluß ist. Diesem Bächlein folgen wir, unt** d** Brücke durch. Dort war d** Flußb**eich asphalti**t, v**mutlich um im Wint** die manchmal vorkommenden Sturzbäche unt** d** Brücke durchleiten zu können, ohne das die Brücke beschädigt wird. Ohne abzustürzen stiegen wir weit** hinab zum "Strand".
Fast d** gesamte Küstenstreifen ist ...

... Auto zu fahren (z.B. unbeleuchtete Trucks auf den Highways).

Gegen 17 Uhr erreiche ich Karak. Dort gibt es eine Kreuzritterburg aus dem Jahr 1142. Berühmtester Burgherr war Reynald de Chatillon, ein Mann der berühmt-berüchtigt für seine Grausamkeiten war. Er war so grausam, dass er nach der Schlacht von Hattin (1187) von Saladin persönlich enthauptet wurde. Die Burg habe ich nur im Eingangsbereich besichtigt, es war ja schon spät.

Dafür wurden alle Touristen ...

... out at this moment.
The idea is that you climb the Snake Path to Masada in the pre-dawn light and arrive at the top in time for sunrise over the Jordanian mountains and the Dead Sea. They actually close this path at 8 AM because the sun becomes too hot for the path to be passable. Not to mention that the sunrise is glorious and you get to explore Masada in relative peace. You can take an easier route to the mountain-top palace of King Herod, it's the ...

... be a waterfall worth hiking to here. You come to the first waterfall and it's a bit of a surprise. It's not a huge waterfall or anything, but just the fact of it is stunning in all that dry. Rich waded out into the pool at the bottom and we marveled at the water. But we knew there were more to come and had been told that we could swim in any of the first 4 waterfall pools, but not the fifth.
By the third waterfall, we were hot and ready to get into the pool no matter ...

Just a quick note to let you know we had been in Jordan for two days now. This place is amazing. Imagine a clean and tidy Arab City, modern hotels, plumbing that works, food that is safe to eat, good driving and a mild 25 degrees. Jordan is what many arab countries could be if they cared about anyone apart from themselves. Who cares if it is as expensive as ...

... was not that great. We headed down hill towards the dead sea the highlight of the day of course and found out we had to pay 12 Dina for entry. I did not really fancy the idea of paying 12 so wanted to go the local beach instead for 7 we ended up going to the more touristy beach for 12 which was actually pretty good as it had a swimming pool and nicer beach. We headed into the sea and the sensation was quite weird ...

... We enjoyed the tour and then went through the museum on our own. It isn't busy, just the odd small tour coming through. We then take a walk down the hill to find where we get the bus. Real easy with the paper and the words written in Arabic to get to the bus station. There is a bus waiting, but we say tomorrow. They tell us it is 7 a.m. Hopefully there are several busses through out the day, don't think we will make the 7 am one. Came back up the ...