2004, The East

We climbed Masada at 4am, to see sunrise. We climbed the hard way, snaking across endless switchbacks over a stony trail, ignoring the convenient ramp the Romans had built.

King Herod had built a mighty nice place up there, and later some uppity Jews took it over. They managed to stay up there for a few years, until the Romans built a ramp and crashed the party.
Masada is located on a stony plateau 1000 feet high. The town is quite large, many buildings and walls. Nice place.
Swank, you know? Classy. Lots of tile. Built, as they say, to last.
Ugly Americans.
Steve relaxes in the oldest functioning synagogue.
Looks like a pretty good place for laser tag.