Packing our lunch and then breakfast meant that people were up and about and heading to the Lion's Gate meant that we were on our way well and truly by 7am.
First port of call was Ein Gedi where our guide, Allan Rabinowitz, gave us some interesting facts about the geography of the Kedron Valley and the mountain ridges leading down to the Dead Sea. His whole presentation was absolutely brilliant and his knowledge encyclopedic.
We walked up to David's Waterfall and along the way we met up with some Ibex, small native goats, and because there are so many visitors to the park there simply stayed close by and we were able to get quite a number of photos.
When we got to the waterfall we managed to get a bit of a fright as there was a snake sitting right where we stopped and didn't seem too concerned and didn't move off.
Back into the bus we headed around to an ancient synagogue which had been built in the Byzantine period and which had been excavated and presented as an example of what the style of the tradition of the time.
From there it was a short trip to the beach for a dip in the Dead Sea and lunch. There was a bit of confusion with how the change rooms were concerned but other than that it was a perfect day and most people felt that getting wet and salty was ok.
From there we headed to Qumran and again Allan was brilliant and were able to have an interesting time walking through the whole area.
Heading back to Ecce Homo we passed some Bedouin camps which, because of the disputed territories are really basically, and very sadly, hovels.
Now back at Ecce Homo and looking forward to an early night.
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