Welcome to Masada! Herod’s weekend getaway, and the location of the Maccabee’s last stand against the Roman army. It’s a combination pleasure palace and completely impenetrable hilltop fortress. The Romans had a hard time getting in, and ultimately thought it would be easier to build a huge stone ramp up to the gates to end the siege.
And here’s the remnants of the ramp, and the huge Roman encampments they left during the 2+ year siege.
Masada was King Herod’s palace. Here are some views from his little patio at the end of the plateau. (These are panoramas; they will only show up correctly if you view this post in a web browser, not your email.)
One of the best preserved parts of the palace was the spa. King Herod knew how to relax! He kept cisterns full of millions of liters of water, partly to run this amazing sanctuary. Here you can see the steps down into the frigidarium (cold dip), the tepidarium with lovely murals, and the calderium (sauna!) with the heated floor and nice acoustics.
Sonia and Talia found the experience educational.
Sonia and Talia have the “Bill&Ted” pose down pat so now we’re working on a new one called “RunDMC,” as well as smooth transitions between the two.
At the end of a long day we took a relaxing stroll the beach and watched Talia feed hot dogs to wild kitties. Just when she got their attention, she ran out of hot dogs.
Here’s your fix if you haven’t gotten enough wild kitties. Some real treats this week include the wild kitty that sleeps in a salad bowl in a bar in Ashdod, and two kitties that ended up on top of Masada!
You know how much Nana likes a good Cat Video! Also the Run DMC and Bill & Ted poses.
Almost forgot the Masada facts and pix! Great experience for all.