Desert times are coming

If stones could talk, they would have a lot to tell us.

Mass suicide

This is the Masada fortress.
The story behind it is pretty crazy...

The fortress was built for King Herod the Great. It consisted of several palaces and everything a king's heart desires.
When the Jews rebelled against the Romans, they were able to take control of this fortress. However, they were later defeated and so the remaining Jews fled to this mountain.
The Romans besieged Masada for three years until they got impatient and built a ramp to launch an attack.
When the capture by the Romans became inevitable, the 920 inhabitants of the fortress realized that they would be enslaved. Because they were familiar with this loss of freedom and definitely did not want to endure it again, they decided to select ten men who were tasked with killing their own people. Including women and children. In the end, the ten drew lots and the last one killed himself.
When the Romans arrived, they captured two women and five children who were hiding, which is why the story of the people could be told in such detail.

Water under the bridge? - not quite

Less than 20 minutes away, we find the En-Gedi Mountains.

From there, David went up and settled in the inaccessible mountains of En-Gedi. When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, it was reported to him, "Take care, David is in the wilderness of En-Gedi." Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went out to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats. On his way, he came to some sheepfolds. There was a cave there. Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were in the back of the cave. (...) So David swiftly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Afterward, David felt guilty because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. (...) David rebuked his men sharply and did not let them harm Saul. - 1 Samuel 24:1-8 ESV

After a short hike (it was supposed to be 1 1/2 hours, but it ended up being 20 minutes xD) through the mountains and caves of David and a refreshing swim at the so-called David Waterfall, we briefly visited the Dead Sea and a small market for our dinner.

It was a very relaxed, yet impressive day. Tomorrow we will spend a night with Bedouins (without electricity... without internet... it's going to be tough), and then we will enjoy the last three days in Jerusalem.