Gedi Ruins

... overnight there concludes our journey before returning to Cairo. The majority of the group is continuing on to Jordan to visit the magnificent ruins at Petra. It is time to leave the frigid Chicago winter behind and head to the hot desert sands of Egypt!

... walking off again to eat ice cream.  No complaints about that either.  Having said that we did go to see the Gedi ruins (which some people pronounce Jedi, ha, that would have been ace), very very old, well preserved Swahili city ruins with lots ...

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... nbsp; The lighting at the top for sunrise was amazingly dramatic.   The top was very large and sprawling, full of ruins including a massive underground cistrin.  By 10am it was unbearably hot so we descended by cable car even though I could ...

... by a Bedouin boy about 60 ago.  We have our own viewing of a short movie and then walk through the ruins of an ancient Esseane community.   Taking pictures of a few of the caves that the scrolls were found in.   Then ...

... Romans stormed the area and occupied it for 20 years.  In 132-135 C.E., Bar Kokhba's Jewish fighter's lived in the ruins.     During the Shabbaton weekend, there were several workshops, "getting to know you" activities, Shabbat ...

... conceding defeat and years or slavery the Israeli people commited mass suicide. Only 10 people lived to tell the tale. The ruins themselves were a bit dissapointing but I think the place is justafiably impressive because of this history lesson I just gave ...

... 't a long hike, and within 40 minutes we reached the top. As I have expressed before, we are both a little weary of ancient ruins (how horrible that must sound to you all!), but the views from the top were spectacular. Down below was the Dead Sea and the ...

... got a late start out of Jerusalem due to some additional site-seeing and a few navigational challenges. 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 ...

... 's really not much to see.   Any artifacts have been removed to museums.  Otherwise there are series of foundation ruins scattered about the mountain top.  The most interesting, I thought, were remains of Herod's palaces hanging on the ...

... of Jewish pride.  Military ceremonies are still held on the mountain.  We spent a couple hours wandering around the ruins.  There are amazing views over the Dead Sea and the surrounding desert.  You can see the storage containers ...

... each...god bless the visa card) for a cable car both ways, up to a huge desert plateau, where we toured 2000+ year old ruins, and got some stunning views of the Dead Sea and the Desert... On the way down, we talked with a group of American tourists ...

... have sweated out the last of the Bedouin tea as I felt good after the hike. The top is just a huge bonanza of history and ruins. The best preserved Roman siege sight, the water system, etc. This is my second time here and would love to come ...

... so could not est the # of Sept's.     Went to where the Dead see Scrolls were found and toured another uncovered ruins, more Sept's.The next stop on our tour and one of the most fascinated places, Masada. This required a lot of walking but ...

... could attack and rob them and here is where the story of the good Samaritan takes place. They even believe they have found some ruins of a hotel along the way and have a little building there now.  We saw camels, sheep and Bedouins.  They used ...