A Very Long Day (Wednesday, June 23rd)

My Blog today will be short. It is the second day of our trip down thru the Negev and Southern Wilderness of Judah. We stopped at a place called Avdat this morning to see the ruins of a Roman city there that was occupied in order to exert control over the southern trade routs there. (Before the Romans it was settled by a group called the Nabateans and before that it was controlled by Solomon and before that someone else… you get the idea.) Much of the structures that were built by the Romans are still at least partially there. (Much more than most of the sites we have been to. You could actually walk up to the second story of the guardhouse. And we did!) It was amazing to walk thru a part of history where there is still enough of it left that I (who does not, I have found, have the eye of an archeologist) could imagine what it must have looked like and felt like in the days when people lived there. The houses and storerooms and bath houses made of lime stone which paved the street as well. It must have been beautiful. Unfortunately it was occupied by Romans who I am coming to dislike more and more as we go along.

Also unfortunate was that my camera battery died as we were leaving there so it is the only site from today that I have pictures of. But honestly I am tired from all of the traveling and hiking and at this point (or at least for today) one unearthed ruin of a city is looking very much like another. We stopped at a few more ancient cities along the way and ended our day in Arad. We stopped at Tel Arad first (any place with Tel in front of it is the remains of an ancient city, I have learned) and the wind there was so strong that it literally nearly knocked me over a few times! In Arad we stayed in a very nice hostel. Actually, both hostels we have stayed in have been very nice. I don't think hostels are typically this nice (having never stayed in one before this I can't say for sure) but JUC (Jerusalem University College, who I am here with) has taken very good care of us!

Tomorrow we visit Masada and En Gedi. I am particularly excited about En Gedi because I hear we get to swim there!