Even the most experienced traveller who thinks he saw everything, gets a serious jaw falling experience on the first time he visits the site of Masada. For me too, as a Tour Guide in Israel who visited Masada a million times, each and every time for me is like the first one.
The mix of a 2,000 years ago desert fortress, the breath taking view of the Dead Sea and the story behind the site (a story about the paranoid king Herod who built the fortress as a safe haven on one hand, and the story about the jewish rebels who stood to the roman legions and prefered to kill themselves instead of falling in the hands of the roman on the other hand) make the site of Masada unique of his kind, gaining the UNESCO world heritage status.
Long story short: crazy King Herod the great builds a desert fortress with a fancy royal palace to escape in from the cold Jerusalem winter or from his enemies in case they try to take him down. The royal palace has the best view of the Dead Sea and all the luxury money can buy like private thermal baths and a water system that makes sure you have water all year long (in the desert!).
70 years after King Herod's death, Masada is in the center of a drama: Elazar Ben Yair, the head of a group of jewish rebels escaped from destroyed Jerusalem is up on the fortress, facing Peter O' Tool (pardon General Flavius Silva) the commander of the roman army who came to siege Masada and to finish the job of ending the rebellion.
It's winter and Silva is in a hurry to get it done before the summer (we are in the middle of the desert, you know...) so in only 3 months he build a siege rampart all the way up to the mountain (today it would take years only to get the building permits). But when he breaches the walls he finds out that all the rebels killed themselves so they don't fall alive in the hands of the romans for a life of slavery.
The Masada site is a true symbol of courage and sacrifice and the hebrew mantra "Masada will not fall for the second time" is inspirational for generations to come.
I invite you to contact me to book your Masada and Dead Sea Tour with me on your next visit to Israel!