There and Back Again: the Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is one weird place. For one thing, the water really is dead. It tastes terrible, reminiscent of Ajax detergent, and you would be well advised not to get it into your eyes or any scrapes or scratches. The shores are not sand, but salt and chemical crystals.

It’s quite true, that you can’t swim in it. The salt content is so high that you just lie there on the surface, unable to get enough of yourself under to swim. An I got no pictures of myself trying to, either — I didn’t dare to drop my phone into the water!

But isn’t it lovely? The water so blue and innocent. This image was taken from the Jordan side. Across on the other side is Jerusalem, which I shall probably never come to. When we were there the Gaza war was going strong, and the State Department advised Americans not to visit.