Friday and Shabbat-to Mitzpe Ramon

This morning we got up early and packed up to leave the Dead Sea and head off to Mitzpe Ramon. Along the way we stopped at Shivta, a Nabbatean ruin.  The Nabbateans were a sect of people who began as nomads and traveled the spice route, then setting up rest stops along the way for other caravans.  This was one such rest stop, which has been preserved very well, giving us an idea of their skills in preserving water and creating buildings that kept them cool during hot summers and warm during the cold seasons.

After this we visited Kibbutz Revivim, which was the first and farthest point in the Negev (desert) during the British Mandate.  We visited the historic Kibbutz, which contains much original equipment, including two planes, and shows the set set up for the secret operations that occurred from this site during the establishment of the State of Israel.  The British were told that this location was a meteorological location where the rain fall would be measured, which enabled the people who were to develop this location,  an acceptable reason to come to begin the establishment of a community in this area that was off limits for development.

After our tour, we were offered a light lunch consisting of vegetables, cheeses and humus made on the modern kibbutz next door.

From here we continued to Mitzpe Ramon, stopping first at the crater to see what it looked like before heading to the Ramon Inn.  (This is my third time to this area and I am so grateful to be back again.)  I stayed at this inn in 2004, during my tour with Alan, and had been traveling with my dear friend Billie who died earlier this year.  Billie was very much in my heard and mind today.  We have a very nice room here and this being a Moroccan run hotel, the food is exceptional.

We checked in and then settled into our room for a bit.  Before dinner, we met as a group to light Shabbat candles and retire to a private room for a Shabbat Service and Torah study.  It is so good to have this opportunity to study together in such a setting.

We then went into the dining room for dinner.  The food plentiful and very exciting and delicious.  After dinner, we came  back to our room.  We went to sleep early as we were planning to get up at 4:30 a.m. for the sunrise at the crater.