Day 6 A day on route 90

Route 90 is the longest Israel and Palestinian road, at about 480 kilometres (300 mi), and stretches from Metulla and the northern border with Lebanon, along the western side of the Sea of Galilee,through the Jordan Ricer Valley, along the western bank of the Dead Sea (making it the world’s lowest road), through the Araban valley, and until Eilat and the southern border with Egypt on the Red Sea.

I have never had any safety concerns until one particular statement on a post caught my eye: “在公路上，若不幸遭到恐攻，以色列政府也會賠償的” as we are driving in the darkness – 4am in the morning with poor visibility, my heart was rising until the first sight of Dead Sea in early dawn.

Dead Sea at dawn

The moment I saw the first ray of sun breaks through the cloud and has risen over the Jordanian mountains, I cried, felt and knew where the heaven is.

Masada shall not fall again

This ancient city was built by “Jonathan the High priest”, at least according to Josephus. It was ruled by King Herod, who was the King of Judea. It was an ancient Roman style fortress. It features not just the palace, main fortress and living quarters but camps by the base and an assault ramp. It is believed to be the most complete surviving ancient Roman siege system in the world.

What happened here – mass suicide: Masada was the last remaining Jewish rebel stronghold in Judea in the year 73 AD. When the Romans with their 8000 troops building camps all around the base of the mountain. One of the Jewish leaders, Eleazar Ben Yair gave speeches to the 960 people living on Masada and told them that suicide was the way forward. When the Romans came to the top these were two women and five children, who had been hiding in the cisterns. Everyone else was dead. A sad and chilling story, hard to imagine over this ruined ancient fortification, but the legacy remains in the Israeli army with the declaration “Masada shall not fall again”.