Traveling up to Masada

King Herod the Great built a lavish palace on Masada’s summit between 37-31 BC with towers and a fortified high wall. He cultivated the desert fortress into an oasis, with Roman bathhouses, cisterns, and storehouses. It was a natural fortress built on top of a barren mountainous desert plateau 1500 feet high. The vertical face of the rock plateau drops 820 feet on the east and 600 feet on the west. We traveled by cable car up to the mountain top fortress of Masada (some hiked up the snake path, instead of using the cable car.)Read more