THE DEAD SEA

The following day after checking out from the Renaissance Hotel we went to the place of Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha at Bethany.. We entered the 31-step narrow path going to the tomb of Lazarus. Heard mass at the Church.

We proceeded to Jericho passing the ancient road where the story of the Good Samaritan occurred but we had to turn back as the road was closed by the army. We passed the new and more modern highway. During this travel we were exposed to miles and miles of desert stones on both sides of the highway. This is the wilderness.

We stopped to see the Monastery of the Orthodox Greek in the middle of the desert . We arrived Jericho, which was then occupied by the Palestine . We were shown an ancient sycamore tree in a corner of one intersection. Then we proceeded to the Mount of Temptation where Jesus was tempted by the devil three times. At the top of the mountain was a monastery of Orthodox priests also known as Quarantana or Carandal (40 days) in memory of Jesus’ forty days of fasting in that place during His time.

We had lunch at the Temptation Restaurant then we proceeded to the Dead Sea where somewhere around existed before there cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The dead sea was 400 meters below sea level, the lowest point on earth. It was part of the Afro-Syrian Rift Valley. Our ancient fathers first discovered the wondrous capabilities of the sea and the region. The sea is 16 –km wide, 340 meters deep. There is no life in the Dead Sea due to high density of salt and minerals. These same minerals have brought life out side the water and served the natural raw materials for industry, agriculture, science and medicine.

We were billeted at Nirvana Hotel. From the balcony of our hotel room I could see the amazing panorama of the whole surrounding.