As I mentioned previously, my wife took me to the Dead Sea for a long weekend as
a birthday present. We left home at about 1 pm on Thursday afternoon; despite
this pre-rush hour time, the traffic was quite heavy all the way to Jerusalem
and up to the French Hill. Those leaving Jerusalem would have had an even worse
experience as there was a nasty car crash by Sha'ar HaGai and the traffic was
backed up for miles.
Once past Jerusalem, we entered the area called Binyamin that introduces the
Judean desert. This is an area of solemn beauty with its stark and bare hills.
As we made our way through this area, we were always descending until at one
stage we passed a sign showing sea level. We continued to descend.
After this section, we met road 90 at the northern tip of the Dead Sea: here are plantations of palm trees and also tourist shops selling mainly clay
pots. Once we left the palm trees behind, the scenery became boring, with the
sea on one side and hills on the other. This is also a relatively dangerous
road to drive, precisely because of the boring scenery that seems to go on and
on and on. I assume that it's like the desert in the south western United
States.
Eventually I saw in the distance what could only be the hotels (unless it was
a mirage). A few kilometers more and we entered the hotel compound. I admit
that I didn't pay much attention to my surroundings the previous time that I was
here: the hotel that the company stayed at was at the northern end of the
hotel strip and our destination was at the southern end. Obviously our hotel had not been built in the last six years, but next to the 'company hotel' was a
shopping mall that had not been there previously.
By the time that we arrived, got sorted and had a rest, it was too late to
enter the spa (it closes at 6:30 pm) so we checked it out, made an appointment
for a massage (my wife) then went to have dinner. There was a wide variety of
foods for dinner, both cold and hot. I had some plaice fillets that were
cooked to a reasonable standard, along with some vegetables: a so so meal. Despite
this, I saw people loading their plates with food that they didn't eat.
Later that evening I went out for a power walk to a small complex that houses
a MacDonald's and Aroma restaurants, along with a few shops selling
miscellaneous items. I bought some milk at twice its normal price then headed
back. The air was still hot in the evening.
On Friday morning, I woke early enough to take a walk on the seaside
promenade. The sun had yet to rise but it was fairly warm (I saw outside
thermometers showing 30°C but that seems unreasonable). Despite the hour,
there were maybe 20 people already in or around the sea; most of these people
seemed to come from our
hotel. I had a brisk walk to the northern tip of the hotel area then back again; I
needed a cool shower after returning home.
Breakfast was again good but slightly off. After having a full breakfast - but
not exaggerated - it was up to the room to change into my swimming costume.
The hotel gives free bath robes (here's an
example) that lead to a discussion between my wife and I about piqué (note the
accent: this is not infant pique).
Once equipped, I made my way down to the spa area that is styled in the format
of a Moroccan hamam (bath-house); someone spent a lot of time and money on
designing this as it is beautiful.
I had been told the previous evening that one spends a maximum of 15 minutes
in the hot water then 20 minutes resting. So I got into the hot salt water
bath for my 15 minutes and almost immediately assumed the 'crucifixion'
position: floating on my back with my arms stretched out. I was floating
freely and about to bump into someone, so I executed a manoeuvre which I would
use in a normal swimming pool: bringing my legs up and turning over. But this
is not a normal swimming pool, and a result I got some water in my eyes
and mouth. Immediately I turned to get out of the pool, where I was helped by
someone in the pool and the life guard (outside the pool) who immediately
turned on a tap and hosed my face with ordinary water. He told me to take a
shower which I did, washing my face and mouth. I then went back into the
water, but this time I either hooked my feet on the rail around the pool or
hooked my arms so that I did not float away. Even so, getting out of the pool
was slightly difficult.
Then I rested for 20 minutes, listening to music with my headphones, reading
the Kindle and drinking cold water. Following this, I went into the hot salt
water jacuzzi for another 15 minutes; here there was no chance of floating
away and it was very pleasant, although in a different way. When I got out, I
saw that there was an exercise class taking place in the main pool, so I
decided to check out the outside swimming pool. It was pleasantly hot outside;
the water was warm but the pool itself was fairly short (maybe 20 m long). I
swam a few lengths, but as I had neglected to bring my goggles, I had to swim
most of this distance with my eyes closed.
Then I went back for another 15 minutes in the hot salt water pool. By the
time I came out, it was approaching the time that my wife was to finish her
massage. She took her time (the masseuse was late for the appointment) so I
utilised the time to go to the dining room (still serving breakfast at 11:30
am) and made myself a cheese roll. My wife appeared by the time I had finished
eating it, but she was too late to do the same herself.
After another rest, we had to make a choice about lunch, taking into account
the extreme heat outside and the possibility that we would lose our parking
place should we drive anywhere. So we went to the hamburger restaurant that
was opposite the hotel where I had some not too tasty souvlaki. Like the very
expensive milk from the evening before, this restaurant was also far more
expensive than a comparable one anywhere else in Israel - the food was
certainly not worthy of the cost.
Another rest period followed, terminated by my wife attending a 'lecture'
organised by the hotel about make-up; this was basically a sales pitch by the
woman presenting it. By the time this finished, it was too late again to go
down to the spa so we muddled along for a while then went to have dinner. I
chose a very typical meal of chicken thighs, cauliflower and broccoli, like I
would cook myself, but the chicken was far from tender and did not come away
clean from the bone. As a treat, there were some flavours of sorbet for the
taking, so this washed away the poor memory of the chicken.
The hotel puts on evening entertainment, but this only starts at 9 pm so we
had to spend an hour waiting in the hotel lobby. On the left is me waiting;
there is glass between me and the shrubbery outside which is just as well as
inside it was air conditioned and cool whereas outside it was hot and windy.
Every time someone went out to smoke, they would open a glass door about five
metres in front on me during which the hot air would blow in.
The entertainment - like the food - was average, so by 10 pm I had had enough
and we went upstairs to bed. I slept very well (due to the spa) and so only
awoke at 7:15 am, when I realised that it would be too hot to go outside for a
walk. I went down to the spa where there is an exercise room but this too was
closed (as was the spa) so a few walks up and down a long corridor had to
suffice.
As today is Shabbat, there were no on-the-spot cooked omelettes, no boiling water, and basically not such a good breakfast. Thankfully the spa was open, so I was able to introduce my wife to the pleasures of the hot salt water pool, in which one has to struggle not to float, and the jacuzzi. I thought that she would appreciate the hot jets massaging her body but apparently not.
The reason why we come: back to the womb
This day in history:
| Blog # | Date |
Title | Tags |
| 45 | 05/08/2006 | Eilat activities | Israel, Holiday |
| 747 | 05/08/2014 | Information quality | DBA |
