It's almost midnight ... I've been up since approximately 6am ... we had a very full day in Jerusalem ... I need to get a shower and pack up everything so that we can leave around 7am or so tomorrow morning for Tel Aviv ... and I'm determined to get these posted tonight since they're almost a week old and I have so many more posts to do ...
... we're having a great time!!
For anyone who is not familiar with Ein Gedi ... it is one of the places that David hid from Saul (1 Samuel 24). It is a beautiful oasis in the midst of the Judean wilderness, and has many waterfalls and spring-fed pools. It is a must-see, if you are coming to Israel :)
Ein Gedi is up the canyon in the picture.
Tommy, walking in the Ein Gedi state park.
One of the waterfalls - there are many!
Lots of rock.
This is called David's Fall.
The water was refreshing after the hike from the Dead Sea!
I think this is technically not allowed, but Tommy decided to try it anyway :)
Under one of the smaller falls.
We saw this tour group, and were very intrigued. The men looked like orthodox Jews, but the women looked Muslim in their head scarves.
We asked the tour guide, and he said that they are Yemenite Jews ... new immigrants to Israel ... they've been here for about a year.
I had thought that all the Yemenite Jews left the country in the late 40's ... we had read a historical fiction story about their exodus ... it's a good book ... if you want to check it out, the name is Flight To The Promised Land. Anyway, I did a little online research, and it looks like some more Yemenites came to Israel in 2009.
This cute little girl really liked the water.
Five years ago, we took a picture of Tommy in the exact same location and position. I was going to post it to compare, but it's not on my computer.
This pool seemed to be more shallow than five years ago. See the picture below this one to compare.
The view of the Dead Sea from Ein Gedi.
We took a hike up the mountain and behind the David's Fall. It was quite a climb, but the view was incredible.
The green area is Kibbutz Ein Gedi.
An interesting rock arch ... we came back and took more pictures later.
This is called the Dodim Cave.
More waterfalls.
There were lots of pigeons.
The cave.
Tommy decided that this was David's bed :)
On top of the world! (Well, not quite ... this was probably just about sea level!)
More pictures in the arch.
Ok ... I'm off to pack. Enjoy the pictures. I may not be able to post anymore before we get back to the States, as I know we'll have a very busy next couple of days. We'll see how it goes :)
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