Kibbutz Ein Gedi Country Hotel

Busses do not go too frequently, check out the Egged database for planning. Do not imagine En Gedi as a town. The four bus stops are considerably distant from each others. Coming from the north these are: gas station and beach; Kibbuz Hotel; Kibbuz Nature Reserve; Wellness center. In the latter, entrance fee is 50sh a day, you can have moor packs and various kinds of massages too.

Today was a spa day in that I knew we would be spending most of the day at the Ein Gedi Spa on the Dead Sea, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we could spa, we hiked up the Wadi David to see a series of waterfalls. Sunshine and Lior had suggested we do this when we told them where we were staying.
The hike did not get off to a promising start as the parking lot and the first 500 yards or so of the hike are bone dry. So dry, in fact, that you think there can't possibly be a waterfall ...

Our five days in the Galilee and Golan are at an end; today we're off to the Dead Sea! It's easy to pack when you know you can just stuff everything into the trunk of your car. We do a check-check-double-check of the cabin and take some last minute photos. We've enjoyed our stay here at Vered Hagalil. It's conveniently located for what we wanted to see in the Galilee and Golan, so for day trips nothing was really very far. The breakfasts were yummy with the traditional buffet, as well as deli...

At 4:40 AM, it's DARK! Other than the front desk clerk, no one else is in the hotel lobby. At this time of day, it can only be Zabu who walks in a few minutes after us. We meet and I am immediately curious about this man. He appears to be in his 60's, a little more than 5 feet tall with quite a long grey beard, dressed in loose cotton pants and long sleeved shirt. He knows the front desk clerk and walks behind the public area and emerges with a thermos of coffee. He confirms that we have drin...

We lucked out today. Zabu is guiding a Kibbutz sponsored morning walking tour of Wadi David at Ein Gedi. The Kibbutz has a full size tour bus for transportation to the Wadi, which is only about 5 minutes away. As it turns out, there is only one other person signed up and kudos to the Kibbutz for still running the tour! We follow the tour bus, so that we can spend some additional time exploring the Wadi after the guided walking tour. So the only bus passengers are Zabu and the one guest. After...

The early morning packing process begins. The goal to be as compact as possible as we don't really know how compact our car will be. My plan is to take a cab to El Dan car rental and leave from there. Sarah’s plan is to walk to El Dan and drive to the hotel, load the car and leave. Sarah wins out and she and I leave Addison to breakfast as we get the car. After a little wait we get the car, lots of tension and "XXOO…bleep, bleep" and Sarah has made it through the Jaffa gate , up t...

After a restless night, checking my watch every couple of hours, I arose at 4 am, made some quick coffee and worked to hassle my wife and son to get up and ready. We were on the road by 4:45. It was a quick 10-15 drive from ein Gedi to Masada. In the dark Masada was very easy to find particularly since it was artificially lit and appeared like a ominous grey beacon in an otherwise black landscape. When we arrived at the parking lot we walked briskly to a ticket booth, which was open at 5am! A...