Swimming and Sweltering at the lowest point on Earth

Another early start as we headed south east on the bus towards the desert and the Dead Sea.
Our first stop was En Gedi,
a nature reserve with sheer cliff faces and beautiful waterfalls flowing from natural springs. At the turn of the 10th Century BCE, this was a place of refuge for people including David and Saul.
It was such a hot morning and the waterholes looked so tempting that a small group of us took the opportunity to have a refreshing morning dip!
After the reserve, we visited the ruins of an ancient synagogue built in the third century CE which included a complete mosaic on the floor of the prayer hall.
From here we headed to the Dead Sea itself, the lowest body of water in the world, at 400 metres below sea level. Here we went in for a "float" in the very salty water. It was an amazing sensation to virtually just sit in the water- no need to tread water here!
After lunch we travelled to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. A religious group of men, the Essenes, lived here towards the end of the second century BCE and today there are remnants of buildings from their ancient community, including a tower, ritual baths, a pottery kiln etc. Nestled in the neighboring cliffs are some caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 by some Bedouin (desert people).
It was very hot walking around this site as the temperature rose to around 45oC.
After a very interesting and tiring day, it was lovely to get back to Ecce Homo for a shower and rest!
After dinner we went for a lovely wander through the Jewish quarter which was very quiet and relaxing before sharing a drink at a cafe.