Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Camels, Massada, Dead Sea, Zefat...Oh My!!

Good evening!!  Well, the past 48 hours or so have been beyond busy and now that we have a decent Wifi signal, I wanted to update the blog with a plethora of pictures.

On Sunday we woke up and the groups split into buses where one group had an ecological tour of Kibbutz Ketura and the other group went to the Chai Bar Animal Reserve to check out local wildlife. From there we drop north a bit where we went to a Bedouin Tent called Kfar Hanokdim. It isn't an authentic bedouin tent, but more for tourists and groups.  Everyone had the chance to ride camels and then the group experience Bedouin hospitality, had a wonderful feast followed by a short night hike under the starry sky.

We woke up extra early at 3:30am to leave the tent in order to drive to Massada and hike up to see the sunrise.  We took the Roman Ramp up to the top and our entire group made it up there in under 15 minutes which was amazing.  We witnessed a gorgeous sunrise followed by a tour of the ancient fortress.

From there we went down the snake path and then some much needed nourishment.  We then went to Ein Gedi where we took a short hike to the natural spring to become refrshed & rejuvenated.  We then headed to Ein Bokek at the Dead Sea where most people put on mud, floated on the sea and just relaxed in the mineral laden water.

We drove up north and crashed early for some much needed sleep.  We woke up to head to the mystical city of Zefat where we learned about Kabbalah, saw some local artists and then ever popular shopping.  We went over to a place called Kfar Kedem where everyone learned a bit about biblical times, make their own pita bread, rode donkeys and feasted on a delicious dinner.

Tomorrow we have another exciting day planned so keep an eye out for more updates...

Camel Riding at the Bedouin Tent



























































Feast at the Bedouin Tent













Massada































Ein Gedi










Dead Sea






















Zefat
















Kfar Kedem