Dead Sea and history

We had to get up early today so we could catch up our trip today to the great city of Jericho. We took the road to Jericho where we had a nice view of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem from really far away. Then the first location we visited were the ruins of Massada. The most spectacular thing was looking at the Judaean Desert and the fantastic Dead Sea with the stony landscape around the location. Also the historical meaning of Massada was interesting for us and we got to understand that it’s a strong victory symbol for the Israelis. But  actually for us Germans it was the most important thing at this moment to run from shadow to shadow because of the high temperatures which we are not used to. Afterwards we took the bus down to Kalia Beach where we had lunch at the beach restaurant although the food was not as good as it is served in the Talitha Kumi guest house. The next thing we did was grabbing our swimsuit and head to the Dead Sea where some of the German group were the first to experience a sea as salty as the Dead Sea, where most of them were amazed that the sea will make u float all the time. Plus it was a bit painful for people who had injuries in their body which burned a little bit but at the end it got healed.

After that we went to the city of Jericho which is one of the deepest and oldest inhabited cities of the world. There Laura the „brave girl“;P decided to ride a camel. Some of the Germans bought Palestinian Kufye to feel inhabitant in Palestine :D. Then the group headed to the „Zachaeus-tree“ which is a very old tree and it is a holy place for the Christians. In the end we were exausted so we took the bus back to Talitha Kumi. When we arrived, the dinner was already started so we went directly to the dining room to eat.

At least we had the surprise that the rest of the youth group from Jerusalem visted us with Pastor Ibrahim and we played really funny games and we spent the night playing. Afterwards we ended the night with a short prayer from Michaela and Pastor Ibrahim. So, after this exhausting but great day, we will have a necessary and good sleep.

Yousef & Laura