Israel Day 1: The Dead Sea

 We went to Israel! Honestly, this wasn't even in our plans at all until friends of ours moved there about 2 years ago.  They said we should come visit, and Rob and I were like, "Could we do that?  Could we go to Israel?" And then we did! Craziness.

 

We flew Ryanair to this teeny, tiny airport called Ovda or Uvda. Ryanair for four hours is no picnic, but they always lure us in with those super cheap airfares.  We had booked the tickets some time ago, but then our friends told us that they would be moving in February so we decided against going.  Then a few weeks ago they said they had scheduled things and that we should still come and stay with them, so we decided to go after all.  Because of this, we had done very little planning for this trip, but off we went!

 

When we arrived at the airport we were welcomed by the Israeli tourist board with maps, stickers, and some Dead Sea hand creme. And then we were welcomed by Doug and Isaac who had driven the 2+ hours to the airport to pick us up!  It was so nice to see some friendly faces.

 

We headed out and drove through a very desert landscape.  We saw these Israeli tanks by the side of the road doing drills.

 

The road began to wind downward farther and farther.  At this point we stopped to take a photo 219 meters below sea level.

 

We finally reached the Dead Sea, which is 430.5 meters below sea level at the shoreline. At 34.2% salt, it is roughly ten times as salty as the ocean. The water almost felt like liquid jello... very, very salty jello. We warned the kids not to touch their faces, so almost immediately Amelie touched her face and got salt in her eyes.  I rinsed her with a bottle of fresh water, and she immediately did it again.  Therefore, she was not a fan, and this is the only photo of her in the water.

 

Salt or sand?  Definitely salt.

 

 

We arrived after 4 pm and the few people there were getting ready to leave so it was really cool to have the beach area all to ourselves and enjoy the dusk.  It was about 73 degrees out and the water was cool but not terribly cold.

 

It didn't take long for the boys to get in and go for a float. 

  

I was a little slower.

 

And Charlotte really had to get used to the water before she could commit to floating in it.

 

But she did!

 

Toby tried to build a snowman out of salt. 

And Jacob loved it so much, he swam all over the place and didn't want to leave when all the rest of us were ready to go!  It was a neat experience and not something we ever thought we would do. 

After the Dead Sea we rinsed off as best we could at the outdoor shower area and headed to our friends' house for dinner and time to visit.  There were still lots of things to see and do, and we only had a couple of days in Israel.