Masada holds a special place in the hearts of the Jewish people. It was there, in the first century A.D. the Jews made their last stand on Masada, in the end deciding to commit suicide rather then be captured. Because of this, Israeli army cadets take an oath of allegiance when the join the army, on Masada, with the word "Masada shall not fall again!". I was lucky enough to see one of these ceremonies during my trip, quite a site, many uniformed soldiers with guns, in the midst of 2000 year old ruins, the Israeli flag flapping in the breeze.

Dawn at Masada is very special, the light coming up over the hills, makes the stones glow with a radiance of their own.

the ruins themselves are fairly standard of the middle east, what makes them impressive is that they are on a massive mesa in the middle of the desert. its hard to see how they could move all the material needed to build the fortress/palace complex. The Highlight of my trip to Masada, was looking over the edge, a viewing all the way down. The second highlight was the bathhouse, very nice mosaics.

interesting fact: if you yell from the top of Masada, you can be heard at the bottom. but if you yell from the bottom, you can't be heard at the top. So during the siege, the Jews would rain down insults on the romans, who where unable to reply.