2010 Pilgrimage: Day 7 Blog Entry

Sent by Father Joe:

After spending the night at Jerusalem we headed out to the Dead Sea, drove along its shore to the fortress of Masada. This fortified palace was built by Herod the Great about 20 years before Christ. We reached the top by riding a cable car.

On the summit was the ruins of the palace, a bath house as well as a fifth century Byzantine chapel. From there we traveled to Qumran the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We saw the ruins of the Essene community who wrote the scrolls of the oldest written record of the Old Testament.

After lunch we traveled to Kalia Beach on the Dead Sea where some of the pilgrims "swam". Actually they floated due to the high salt content. It was a treat to see them lean back and float with no effort.

We traveled to Bethany to have Mass at the chapel of Lazarus and when we went back to the bus, some of the pilgrims took the opportunity to ride a camel.