After meeting your professional guide at the pier in Ashdod, you will set off on the approximate 2 hour 30 minute drive through the Negev desert and descend 3,600 feet toward the Dead Sea – the lowest point on earth !

First, you will stop at Masada, the most spectacular ancient archaeological site in Israel. You will ascend by cable car to this mountaintop fortress, built by Herod the Great. Explore the magnificent ancient ruins, which include Herod’s three-tiered palace, the synagogue, the baths, the defending walls and the water cisterns that are an engineering feat still today.

After a morning of extraordinary vistas, travel to the Dead Sea where you will have approximately two hours for lunch on your own and to experience the exquisite sensation of floating effortlessly upon the buoyant waters of the Dead Sea. With more salt and minerals than any other body of water in the world, the Dead Sea is claimed to be a natural health and beauty spa. During your free time you may wish to indulge in one of the local "treatments" being sold using the minerals from the sea.

Re-boarding your transportation you will travel along the shores of the Dead Sea to arrive at the point from which the Qumran Caves are clearly visible. It was here in 1947 that a Bedouin shepherd boy discovered the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known biblical manuscripts in the world.

Departing Qumran, ascend the Judean Hills, to the north where you will see Jericho before traveling back to the ship. The impact of these remarkable sites will remain with you for a long time.