Yesterday I was faced with my first day off since arriving so decided to head out and see some of the sights on offer.  Using my trusty Satnav, I punched in “Dead Sea” and headed off down Route 1.  Having been told before that it was only an hours drive, I was surprised to see that it was 180km but assumed the time suggested had just been a casual suggestion.  Off I trundled before realising that I was heading wayyy down South, turning and coming all the way back up North again.  It turns out the Israeli Satnavs have an option to avoid that nasty Palestine country.  Just when I thought that damned GPS couldn’t annoy me any more, it finds a new way.

Anyhow, trundling towards my destination, I passed a sign for Masada and remembering senior photographer Marco Longari‘s advice of places to see, I opted to go and check it out.  Having passed warning signs informing me I was entering a dead end, the twisting road led me 20km across the desert, without passing a single car on the way.  Let me say, after driving like this for 15km, you start to instinctively have flashes of “The Hills Have Eyes” or at least start looking out for the odd “Tusken Raider“.

Anyhow, after driving on a stretch of road that car advert makers dream of, I arrived at the end of the road and the fortress ruins of Masada.  Perched on the top of 400m cliffs sit the ruins of palaces, homes and storerooms that were the scene of a siege by the the Roman army.  Surrounding the mountain-top fortress, the Romans eventually got through the defences in 73AD to allegedly find all 936 people inside dead, having chosen to kill themselves rather than surrender.  Bummer.  The Roman garrison site where they planned their entry during the three month siege is still visible (below, left) from the top of the mountain.  It must be quite a feeling to have a whole bunch of soldiers camped within shouting distance for three months, watching them prod and probe the walls of the fortress every day as they try to get in.  Sheesh..

As you can see from the image below, the original structures were pretty damned dapper and would certainly have featured heavily in “MTV Cribs – Sicarii Special Edition”.

Anyhow, back on the road home again, the newly defeated satnav gave me a much more sensible 90km route home, even throwing in a camel-train as way of apology.

I have found the answer, people. If you want to do something, whinge about it in your blog and then it’ll happen. On Tuesday morning, I finally got to take to the skies in an air-filled vessel! Huzzah!  After the obligatory Hindenberg jokes with the other journalists that were flying, we went for our emergency procedure lecture (no lighters allowed apparently..) then it was time to fly.

I’ve clearly earned some Kharma points recently as the day was perfectly clear and warm so visibility was excellent.  Taking off from a small airfield near Upminster, the flight took us over the centre of London and gave me chance to fill my boots with stock aerial photography too.. 

With only enough room for twelve passengers at a time, everyone gets a window seat with great visibility and once the Zeppelin is off the ground, you’re free to move about and look for landmarks.  The back has a huge glass panel that you can sit over.  Anyone with vertigo probably won’t enjoy that part though as even I had a bit of a twinge when I looked directly down.

Priced at £360 for an hour, the flights are running until August 21, 2008.  30 minute sessions are also available for £185.