So now we are going to show you
Ein Gedi pictures to entice you to come visit us here. Ein Gedi is maintained as an Israeli National Park and its a busy one. A cool spring on a hot desert day. Beth doesn't know of anything better. Apparently it was a popular place in
biblical times as well. Song of Songs (
Songs 1:14) mentions this place and its vineyards, and it was where David hid from Saul (see
1 Sam. 24).
It takes us a little over an hour to drive to Ein Gedi. We go straight east from the University and then after dropping around 3,000 feet from Jerusalem (2500 feet above sea level) we turn at the top of the
Dead Sea (1385 below sea level) and head south along the Sea. There are many date trees and Ahava signs.
Dust swirling in the direction of Jericho (just north of the northern tip of the Dead Sea).
We paid our entrance fee to the park and we headed up to the trail to the springs. This first trip we were with a large group from the University.
We could see a few caves along the way. One of them Saul hid in to "cover his feet."
The first water fall on the trail.
Lots of people in the park that day.
Ibexes came down to the water as the day started to cool off. We think the park closes early in the evening for this very reason. Let the little guys have their springs in peace.
The second water fall is Beth's favorite.
More of the wildlife.
Check out the eyes!
After we left Ein Gedi, we went to the Dead Sea. This picture is us leaving the Ein Gedi park.
This is the beach closest to Ein Gedi. We think its cheaper than all the other beaches, but you do have to pay two sheklim to use the bathroom ($.50).
Jordan's hills on the other side of the Sea.
Wonderful salty stuff and bright sun. The Sea is receding a meter per year so the beaches change all the time and the Sea just gets saltier.
Can you see Beth with mud on her arms? Slimy.
Time to go back to the bus. Early sunset at the Dead Sea.
Looking east again.
Mediocre photos of the dates growing.
Our second time to Ein Gedi was on a Friday. The Israeli weekend is Friday/Saturday, so it was a hoping place to be. These are Eva's pictures because our batteries died.
From the top of the second water fall.
Our friends Andrew and Eva. Eva's back home now!
Taking the trail to the third water fall, David's Fall.
We split up after the David spring. The three boys took the trail up to the ruins of a temple while the three girls went back to the second spring to wait and enjoy the water.
This is looking toward Jordan from the plateau above Ein Gedi.
Ein Gedi way below....
The trail wasn't the widest Shawn had seen.
After climbing way up in the middle of the day, the boys jumped in the first pool they found. This one was like a perfect bathtub. It was a little slick, and a little hard to climb out of it.
Here is Andrew in the Dodim's Cave directly on top of David's Fall. Shawn looked hard for some
three thousand year old poop, but he didn't find any.
Here is the ladder for climbing out of Dodim's Cave.
Temple from the
Chalcolithic period (4th millennium BC). Someday Shawn is going to write a Wikipaedia article about this temple. He kept telling everybody what a great picture it was of ancient Near Eastern temple ideology because it was built on top of two different springs. Water was connected to the sustaining of life, and temples were an important part in making sure that the water never ran dry. This is the image Ezekiel is drawing on when he talks about the temple in his prophesy (
Ezek 47)
Ein Gedi Kibbutz down below.
The best swimming hole Beth has ever been in.
So when are you going to schedule that flight?
