Israel Part 1: The Negev

Suzy and I standing guard over the luggage before crossing the border to Israel.

For being such a small country (smaller than New Jersey), we were impressed with the widely diverse landscapes in Israel. We spent our first two nights in the Negev desert. Negev is Hebrew for "south" and indeed makes up the bottom half of the country. This is where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob tended their flocks and where the Israelites waited out their 40 years before entering the promised land. And, folks, this is rugged country. I hadn't realized that when the Bible talks about an area being wilderness, this is what it's referring to.....nary a tree in sight.


We stayed at a hostel called ibike right on the rim of a huge crater called Makhtesh Ramon. The crater wasn't caused by volcanic activity or a meteor but by water erosion. Here's us on the rim at the visitor's center:


We hiked around a few wadis, canyons or riverbeds which provided seasonal water and vegetation, along the ancient Spice Way, a caravan route Nabatean traders used in the 4th bc from Petra to Gaza where their goods were then shipped to Europe. This one was in the crater:


The next day we visited Ein Avdat which is a narrow river canyon in what they think may have been the vast Wilderness of Zin, the area where Moses and the Israelites wandered for forty years (pictured below).


The canyon was beautiful and we even saw some ibex!
















We also stopped at the settlement of Avdat which served as a rest stop for the spice caravans, a fortress once the Romans took over, and then as a monastery during the Byzantine era. This is Avdat perched on the hill:


















Here's a few pics of the monastery and church. The tomb with the Greek inscription is from the 6th c.



















And finally a few photos from the hostel we stayed at. Aviva and Menachem were fun to talk with and I loved Aviva's vegetarian dinner! The following shows Suzy and I chatting over cappucinos, David and Suzy taking a cat nap (I only captured half of Aviva's head in the foreground), and Art and I planning for the next leg of our trip. Stay tuned! :)