Dead Sea, Ahava, and Qumran

I loved visiting the Dead Sea.  The place we went had a decent beach, and was fortunately equipped with showers to rinse off all the salt and mud afterwards.   The Dead Sea is 417 m below sea level, and is the lowest place on earth.

We had a blast playing in the water, being very careful not to get any water in our eyes.  (Too salty!)  Then we treated ourselves to a mud bath, envisioning we were in a fancy spa instead of just slopping on mud on the side of a lake.

Toe-touch (almost)

There's an Israeli company, Ahava, that makes [expensive] health/beauty products using minerals from the Dead Sea.  We stopped by their factory and store nearby the Dead Sea for a quick look around.  I think our tour guide got some kind of commission, because he was pushing their products hard.

Another stop we made was to Qumran, which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd.  I'm not sure if there's a more official place to visit, but we literally just stopped along the road to snap a few pictures.  

The drive from Jerusalem to Qumran, Dead Sea, and Masada is less than two hours, but its all through the Judean desert.  After driving only 10 minutes outside of bustling Jerusalem you find yourself in the middle of nothing!  Below are some pictures we took along the drive.  There are occasional plantations with fig and date trees (which you can see in the second photo down.)  

And for some reason it just seemed appropriate to see shepherds out in the Judean hills keeping watch over their flocks.  It was one of the few moments where I did feel a little bit transported through time.