Oct 6 – David Ben-Gurion's Home and Avdat

Today we are headed south across the Negev Desert on our way to the Red Sea.  Even though we are going through a desert there still seems to be a lot to see.

We went through a military area where they do tank training.  We saw a number of warning signs about the area but there didn't seem to be any activity...thank goodness.  If there is activity then they close the road and we would have had to take the very long way.

We saw a number of “Beware of Camels near the Road” signs we never did see any camels...

Other than this camel art piece.

We also saw this interesting art piece of a kid bicycling through the desert. 

One of the more interesting sights is what is called the "Eye of Sauron"...a tall, super bright solar tower that could be seen from miles away. 

Our first stop is in Kibbutz Sde Boker and the modest home where Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion lived in his later years. 

From there it was a short drive to the gravesite of Ben-Gurion and his wife, Paula.  There was a lovely trail that led to the site.  Along the way we saw a number of Nubian Ibex. 

Manny, our guide, pointed out that the wandering’s of the trail, 

and the large stones placed along it, follow the Tzin River and the stones represent the mountains along it. 

The Grave site with stones on the grave stones.  The stones are placed there by visitors and they mean "I am thinking of you".

The site has grand view of the Tzin River canyon. 

From there we drove further into the Negev Desert to a rest stop…with a McDonalds.  But we ate at the adjacent Aroma.  Nice sandwiches. 

Then we drove up the hill to the Avdat site.  This national park contains the remains of an ancient Nabataean city.  The city is on the Incense Route that starts in Jordan in Petra and crosses the Negev Desert to Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea.  The Nabatean’s knew the secret water sources in the desert and served as guides for the caravans wanting to cross the desert. 

Eventually the city was conquered by the Romans (they wanted the taxes they could collect on the trade).  So, the ruins included the Nabataean city with Roman ruins on top...

and a Crusader’s fort right next door.

There were several two dimensional art pieces showing life in the area at the time of the Nabatean's.  They added a very nice touch to all the rocks.

Some of the features included the Temple of Oboda

and the Church of Theodorus (not an active church but there were benches set up near an altar for use for services by Christian pilgrims coming to the site).

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More Avdat
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On our way to our final destination of the day we saw a great, black plume of smoke in the distance.  We found out later that it was a fire at the local land fill.

Upon arrival at Mitzpe Ramon we went to the visitor’s center where we saw a video about Ilan Ramon, the Jewish astronaut who died in the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster in 2003.  The end of the video was very dramatic as the curtains behind the screen opened up to a glass wall that revealed the incredible Makhtesh Ramon Crater…a huge canyon with amazing walls and mountains. (Not named after the astronaut.)

There isn’t much around our hotel so we had dinner at the hotel tonight.  It was strictly buffet…and very expensive.  $125 for the two of us.  We have found that the hotel restaurants in Israel, if they have one, is usually an expensive buffet.  We don’t generally eat enough to make it worth the cost but, oh well.