Just back from a fabulous trip to Israel and Jordan and have started processing the thousands of images. One of my favorite excursions was our jeep trip through the exotic desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan. It was so windy and dusty that I put the rain sleeve on the camera to keep out some of the dirt !

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Tags:   Asia Jordan Location Middle East Road Scholar UNESCO Wadi Rum desert camel caravan bedouin driver rider red sand sandy 2018-10-29-2018-10-29-9L8A3162 365: the 2018 edition 365:2018 Day 302/365 29-Oct-18

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Masada (Hebrew: מצדה metsada, "fortress")[1] is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea 20 km (12 mi) east of Arad.

Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE. According to Josephus, the siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire at the end of the First Jewish–Roman War ended in the mass suicide of 960 people, the Sicarii rebels and their families hiding there.

Tags:   Asia Israel Jerusalem Location Road Scholar holy land 2018-10-23-2018-10-23-9L8A0663-HDR masada fortress dead sea ruins Judaean Desert Herod UNESCO

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Shop keepers were just opening up, and it was peaceful and quiet in the Old City.

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This trio of Trystam's Starlings sang to us from a railing at the Masada Fortress, ancient mountain top ruins in Israel near the Dead Sea.

#35 in Explore !

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It's hard to imagine a more hostile and arid wasteland, yet on the top of this mountain, Herod the Great built palaces for himself and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE.

The square rock outcropping on the lower right is the remnants of one of the Roman forts, from which Masada was repeatedly attacked and eventually overtaken in a siege that lasted for years and ended in the suicide of the remaining inhabitants around 73 or 74 CE.

Tags:   Asia Israel Jerusalem Location Road Scholar fortress holy land masada mountain ruins 2018-10-23-2018-10-23-9L8A0583 desert arid national park dead sea waste land plateau mesa Judaean

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