Bright and early Monday morning, we met our two taxi drivers to venture into the West Bank. Before we decided to do this, we chatted with various people to gauge the safety of such an excursion—the State Department recommends that Americans do NOT travel into the Palestinian territories, and of course our rental doesn’t allow it. Our local advice was that Jericho and Bethlehem were fine, but don’t go into Hebron.
We had two drivers—one with a van and one with a sedan. Both drivers are Palestinian, so we got a different perspective of everything about Jerusalem, the Israeli government, COVID, settlers, walls…it was so instructive and helpful.
For example, the Israeli government started building a wall between the occupied territories and Israel proper (after the start of the second Intifada in 2000, I believe), and our driver told us that Palestinians started to build houses and apartments behind the wall. The Israeli army would come in and demolish them, even though they were on the other side of the wall. Ariel Sharon was “silenced” after deciding to turn to peace and conciliation with the Palestinians (he had several massive heart attacks and strokes, actually). Jerusalem city planning is corrupt and takes three times as much money to build there. And camel’s milk (with a little bit of camel urine, just a bit!) can cure breast cancer.
Headed into the Judean desert, east of Jerusalem. I believe those are all animal tracks, tracing across the hillside. The hills are dry and dead, but in some places you could see the dead grass–meaning that when the rains come, there is a little vegetation that can grow. But still, it is hard to imagine how you could keep anything alive out here.
Riding with our taxi drivers was so relaxing for Bradley. He didn’t have to stress about parking or turns or where are we eating or anything. It was a bit alarming at times—very aggressive drivers in this country!—but mostly I just relaxed and enjoyed not being in charge!
(Seriously, the tour-operator-part of this trip is truly exhausting. I am not planning on switching my career anytime soon.)
Our first stop was Qumran National Park, on the shores of the Dead Sea. But first, we stopped on our descent to the lowest point on earth to ride a camel at sea level!
Yummy’s dream come true–when asked what she wanted from this trip, she said swimming with dolphins (too pricy), and riding a camel. For 10 NIS, the price is exactly right!Zee of Arabia (or Judea, really), ready to take on the world. Or maybe just go back to Jerusalem for the plates–or for Ishmael’s daughters. 🙂Hebs the explorer, ready to join his brother in adventures. If there were more than one camel, that is.This was a very patient camel. His name is Sushi.I love this smile!Just to be sure we know that this is sea level.Riding a camel was remarkably easy. Of course, it was a very patient camel, walking very slowly, in a circle on an asphalt road. So…not a lot of skill required. 🙂Hebs at sea level, on the way to the Dead Sea. (This, and the next few pictures, are the evolution of how we get out of the vans sometimes. Slowly.)Yummy, Hebs, Zee, sea level.Yummy, Hebs, Zee, Gee, and Em, sea level.And then everyone: Eva, LaDonna, Hebs, Gee, Keryn, Em, Yummy, Bradley, Zee. Sea level, on the way to the Dead Sea and Wadi Qumran. One of the awesome things about traveling with a guide–you can get pictures of your entire group!Our group and Sushi the camel.Wild (?) camels (probably not really wild), on the road to Qumran.Cave 4, Wadi Qumran. Such a desolate area, it’s hard to imagine having sheep or goats here. But apparently, a teenaged shepherd was looking for a lost animal, threw a rock into a cave, heard pottery break–and found the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is one of the caves.Hebs, carefully reading the scrolls.Gee, correcting Hebs on the translation.Yummy inspecting the scrolls.Em, the noted ancient Hebrew scholar.Zee’s gonna correct them all.And LaDonna is the only one who actually looks like she might be reading something. 🙂I mean, it makes sense that they would sew the pieces of parchment together, but it never occurred to me…Ruins at Qumran village. This area was populated by an Essene splinter sect, which called themselves the “Yahad” (which means community). (The Essenes were a sect of the main branches of Judaism–Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes.) The Yahad lived a very cloistered and isolated life, out here at the edges of cliffs and salt sea.Yummy and Mom, shadow picture! Qumran Archeological Park.More ruins. The Yahad were very concerned with ritual bathing, and it seemed that every other part of the village was another ritual bath. That would take a fair amount of water!The pottery shop! You can see the kiln and the steps going down into the shop.A stark and lonely view of the “Yahad” (“community”) cemetery. Most of these approximately 1100 graves are of men–which makes sense, because the community was a celibate sect.LaDonna really loved today. She would have been an archeologist if that had been a choice for her!Ritual bath, Qumran village.This was the area I was the most interested in seeing–the scriptorium. There is evidence that there were large tables here, lots of lamps, and ink wells. This is the location where the “monks” of the Yahad wrote and rewrote the scriptures onto scrolls of parchment and papyrus.
It actually was a really boring room. Heh, oh well!Although I was feeling tons and tons better Monday, I still tried to take it easy. Here I am under the shade covers laying on the bench.
It’s been amazing how empty every place has been. We have had the run of almost every site, with few if any other visitors. It’s been AMAZING for us, but my heart is hurting a little for all the vendors who depend on tourism.After wandering around Qumran for an hour, Bradley, Eva, and Gee took the smaller taxi down to the private beach (Kalia) on the Dead Sea. Floating in the Dead Sea has been Gee’s absolute favorite activity on this entire trip, so we wanted them to have another chance. They loved it! Gee, Dead Sea resort of Kalia, photo credit Eva.The private (rather posh) beach at Kalia. Meanwhile, back at the ranch wadi…Hiking up the trail to see some of the cliffs a little closer up. These silly kiddos are standing in the ancient aqueduct.Aqueduct that channeled the winter rains in the hills down to cisterns in the community.Wadi Qumran!!! (“Why’d he come on?” for my Elizabeth Peter pals out there.)Panoramic view. The sky was an impossible blue, the rocks are so yellow-white, and the sun intense.Yummy, starving, trying to eat the rocks. Not very nutritious. Top of the wadi, Qumran.Zee went on the path a little farther, while the two younger kids and I went on back. When I took this picture, I was pretty sure Zee was in it. I can’t find him now.Eating our favorite ice creams while waiting to get back into the taxi to go to our next site.
