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Buying tickets and getting ready to visit Masada
A small history lesson precedes the excursion
The tour guide explains what is next
Masada is an ancient fortification in the south of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. The Siege of Masada by the Roman army towards the end of the Jewish-Roman war ended in the mass suicide of the 960 Sicari rebels and their families hiding there.
Reaching the Roman excavation site requires a small hike uphill
The view from above is nonetheless spectacular
The Dead Sea (in Hebrew called Yam Hamelach – the Salt Sea) is a salt lake on the Jordanian border, 429 meters below sea level.
There is nothing quite as democratic as having everyone covered head to toe in mud
Still, the mud is reputed to have therapeutic properties on the skin. True or not, it is still fun.
While the men go play in the mud, the ladies enjoy the mild sunbathing. In Feburary and March
the average high is only about 20-25 C., but in July and August he average high is around 40 C.!
Enjoying the extreme buoyancy of the salty sea, some just rest afloat, while others...
... such as Dany Raznikov and Vladimir Potkin enjoy a game of floating chess.
Back in Jerusalem a Chess and Beer blitz tournament was organized in the local pub Hataklit (Hebrew for "The Record"). It was a mandatory to consume at least five beers during the nine rounds of the tournament. The winner was the Russian IM Sergey Chekhov with 7.5/9, ahead of Peter Michalik (Slovakia) and Luka Draškovich (Montenegro) 6.5/9 each; Aviv Bar (Israel) with 6.0/9, and Alexei Slavin (Russia), Peter Gokhvat (Israel) and Ralph Schnabel (Germany) with 5.5/9, etc.
Aviv Bar vs. Peter Gokhvat at the Chess and Beer Blitz event
Photos by Yoav Nis
