Beit-She'an, Jordan River, Dead Sea (Israel)

Small portion of Beit-She'an

 Beit-She'an is an amazing archaeological site. The majority tour the old Roman city that was constructed in the 60s BCE. We walked over mosaic floors beside ornate columns. We saw the old Roman style toilets as well as oohed and aahed at the Roman theater. The site is an ongoing archaeological dig. At least the archaeologists get to sit under a tarp (albeit black) in the scorching sun and heat. Even though Beit-She'an is truly an amazing site that will never be fully excavated (much of the current town sits atop ruins), the most interesting ruins for me were atop the hill or "Tel" above Beit-She'an. On the Tel are ruins from 5000 BCE! Ruins from Kings David & Solomon, Egyptians, and Romans. It's quite the amalgamation of civilizations.

Supposed location where John baptized Jesus

Our next stop was a ride to the supposed place in the Jordan River where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. We started out naively optimistically enough. But soon we were told, we couldn't take photos, even from the shuttle, as this was a military zone. We passed a check-point, a church and another checkpoint. Finally, we had arrived. There were some bleachers and an awning set-up on our side of the Jordan. We watched as the more pious walked into the green river to be baptized. Some of our co-tourists couldn't resist getting a photo with the two young guards and their Uzis. From across the narrow Jordan, we could see the faithful visiting while heavily armed guards lounged under shaded awnings. There's no crossing between Israel and Jordan at this location.

Dead Sea

In the late afternoon, we arrived at the healing waters of the Dead Sea. Unlike the Salt Lake in Utah, it has no overwhelming salt smell. In its placid waters stretched salt dunes. Even walking down the beach, the sand gave way to all salt! After all the warnings we had received about the Dead Sea, it was actually quite innocuous. It felt a bit slimy. But, the buoyancy prevented me from dunking my head if I had wanted to. After a few minutes in the oily liquid, we hoped we had absorbed all it's healing properties.