Masada and Bethlehem

Masada was originally built by Herod. He was paranoid that people were out to get him so he built a fortress at the top of a butte in the middle of nowhere. After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, a group of zealots took refuge there. Determined not to let them get away, the Roman army laid siege to the group. In the end, they all committed suicide rather than be taken by the Romans.
We were supposed to visit Masada on the day we came into Israel but had to postpone because a big rain storm made the road impassable. Luckily the tour directors were able to squeeze it in on another day because it was a not-to-be-missed site.
This is a shot from the tram on the way to the top of the butte.

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 As you can see, we're way up there and the surrounding area is very desolate.

 

This is a water cistern. The boulders at the bottom were launched into the fortress by the Romans

Here's the ramp they built to bring up their siege engines.

 There's a pretty extensive bunch of ruins at the top. They've been restored somewhat. Can you see the black line running along the walls. Everything under the line is original.

 

This is the Roman bathhouse built by Herod. See how the floorboards sit on top of little columns. That was so they could build fires underneath the floor to heat it.  

 

 

Masada is a really fascinating place. We could have stayed here a lot longer than we did. 

 

Bethlehem, on the other hand, was a little disappointing. Not the quaint little town that you imagine. It's also in Israeli occupied Palestinian territory so we had to pass through a check point to get there. We also had to drop off our Israeli guide and pick up a Palestinian one.

 

The Catholic church likes to build churches on top of historic sites, which is what they did with the traditional birth site of Christ. In a cave under the Church of the Nativity you find this, a silver star, which supposedly marks the spot where the babe was born.

 

We went to this church, too.

I can't remember what it's called, but afterwards we gathered outside in the cloisters and sang Christmas carols. Now that was cool.