The Dead Sea is 400 meters below sea level and made for a great view as we descent the mountain road. At first there were a constant white haze hanging over the place, but at some point it cleared and we were rewarded with a view of Jordan on the other side of the Dead Sea.
Our camp for the next few days was at Ein Gedi. It is a wonderful small camping and swim spot halfway up the Dead Sea. There are ablution facilities that are not too shabby, trees and a small shop managed by a South African dude with long hair.
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Motorcyclist memorial statues. They build some elaborate memorials for the fallen nest to the road. We got told Israel has a very high motorcycle accident rate. That’s why we had to take out such expensive insurance.
Some weathered ‘Jesus’ look-a-like souls were wondering around the place living in tents that’s most probably been there since the 1960’s. We were convinced they tried to live the life of Jesus. Living of the land and the goodness and handouts (which obviously did not include razors) from strangers.
This was not a typical sea beach and people were draped around and over the rocks like seals bathing in the sun. There were a mix of locals and tourist drifting around in the Dead Sea. Swimming, or for a better word drifting around in the Dead Sea is a wonderfully weird experience.
The salt water burns the hell out of your eyes and taste is of over saturated salt water. It leaves a soft oily feeling on the skin well until it dries! Clean water is a must for dousing the eyes and mouth every now and then. It is impossible to sink or even try and go under water no matter what you weigh. It is the same as a wine cork in water just bobbing around.
The funniest scenes are when people turn on their stomachs and their asses pop up into the air. Nothing sexy looking about it and not much one can do about it.
Jerusalem waiting. We still had a week to spend before we had to board the ship to Italy.
Interesting – thanks for sharing !!
We need photos of the customs girls, otherwise it’s not true 🙂
Thanks again for sharing!
I tried my best but was scared for the change they would do full cavity search when they see me take pictures of them. 😀
Had we known you were heading to Israel we could have arranged accommodation with friends for free all along your route…
That’s a pity Mark, it would have been nice to stay there a bit longer. Lodging in Isreal is really expensive, the wild camping at least made it bit better.