This week-end, another trip in the desert, towards the Dead Sea, to see the ruins of a place called Masada (romanisation from metzuda, "fortress"). This fortress is built on top of an isolated rock plateau, or large mesa, and Masada became famous after the First Jewish-Roman War (also known as the Great Jewish Revolt) when a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to a mass suicide of the site's Jewish Sicarii fugitives when defeat became imminent.
On the way, in the desert, a monastery (St. George) caved in rock:
After another hour driving in the desert, a mosque, this place is supposed to be related with Moses or something, I couldn't find too much, those guys were not quite in a very good mood that day, I think they were on the way for a ritual or something...
Finally, reached the destination :) To get up there, it's preferable the cable car :P
OK. So this fortress was built by Herod, and in my opinion he was a fucking genius. He took the strategic advantage of the position, this fortress was virtually impossible to conquer in a regular battle - this is why the Romans built camps around it, they needed months to conquer it, after several failed attempts to breach the wall. The fortress is huge, could held for months hundreds of people without having contact with the outside world.
Herod had this obsession to have some areas of his constructions only for himself (I mean no one, even the members of his family were not allowed to be here). So this are the remains of his palace, built on a cliff of the rock, which had a personal pool, resting place, bedrooms... and an incredible view of the Desert and Dead Sea.
This is one of the roman camps that I told about:
Dead Sea in the evening.
On the way back home, visiting Arad City, where is a great pub, with excellent beer.
