Route 90 is the longest Israeli road, at about 480 kilometres (300 mi), and stretches from Metula and the northern border with Lebanon, along the western side of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), through the Jordan River Valley, along the western bank of the Dead Sea (making it the world's lowest road), through the Arabah valley, and until Eilat and the southern border with Egypt on the Red Sea.
Through the years we have driven stretches a few times, especially the northern section from the Dead Sea to the Kinneret, the section known as Derech Gandi (Gandhi's Road) after the assassinated Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze’evi. You can see a map of this section, with some of the sites visited, here.
This post begins with a drive from Jerusalem through the Judean desert, along route 1, to meet route 90 at Jericho, and will link to an amalgam of further posts going north and south from there along this longest and loveliest of roads, beginning in 2016. A route 90 road-trip!
Ma'ale Adumim - מעלה אדמים - مالي أدوميمع
Most people think of a modern and hotly contested area known as E1 with its settlement of that name to the east of Jerusalem when they think of Ma'ale Adumim, but Ma'ale Adumim is the historic name (Joshua 15:6-18) for the border area between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The name - literally meaning "read ascent" - refers to the ancient route leading from the Jordan Valley at Jericho to Jerusalem, dominated by "reddish hues" of its rock formations, though some have claimed that the name refers to the blood wasted by brigands who were notorious in the area for centuries. And this etymology of redness is referred to in the name of a Crusader fortress, perched on a hill above the road near the Inn of the Good Samaritan, which is known variously as Castel Rouge ("red castle"), Castel Maldouin ("bad blood", being reflected also in the Latin rendition - Castrum Dumi - as well as the Arabic - Qalaat al-Dam (قلعة الدم) or al-Qalat Yahmur) or Cistern Rouge ("red cistern", in Latin, Cistern Rubea).
The castle, the remains of which are pictured below, with two Arab kids atop them, sits alongside the remains of an Herodian palace and of Jordanian and Israeli military installations, indicating its strategic site. Built in the mid-12th Century by the Knights Templar to protect Christian pilgrims who frequently traveled the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and on to the baptismal sites on the Jordan river, its Templar builders may have used Roman masonry on site in the construction of the castle, below which formed a small civilian settlement. The castle possessed abundant water reserves, and its cistern is preserved. After the Battle of Hattin in 1187, the Templars gave up the castle. It was then occupied by the Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty, who did not make any modifications to it. In the course of the crusade of the barons, the castle came into the possession of the crusaders again around 1241. The nearby remains of a previously-unknown Herodian palace complex were discovered in 2003, including frescoes, a bath-house, mosaics etc. This building continued to exist in the first century CE, and it seems that it was used during the Great Revolt. Excavation findings included an abundance of pottery and glass, stone tools, jewelery, coins.
The following picture shows a cave dwelling, below the site of the Herodian palace, possibly used to guard the road, or as housing for palace staff.
The next picture is the view west from Ma'ale Adumim, with Jerusalem on the horizon.
The Inn of the Good Samaritan - Khan Al-Hatruri
The Inn of the Good Samaritan is a 16th-century Ottoman-era building believed to have sheltered caravans of traders, which is now a museum of archaeological finds, in particular mosaics. In the Byzantine period it was identified with the inn mentioned in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), and indeed the present structures sit on the site of a sixth century inn complex (which remained in use into the Early Islamic Period), itself on a site inhabited back to the first century BCE, identified with the biblical Ma'ale Adumim, which was located at the junction between the lands of the tribes of Benjamin and of Judah (Josh. 15:7; 18:17).
The parable of the Good Samaritan is the famous New Testament story of the Samaritan who helped out a fellow man who was robbed and left injured by the wayside. A Cohen and a Levite passing by did not offer their help, but a Samaritan, considered in Judaism to be of lesser status, proved that he was more humane than they, and helped the injured man, brought him to the inn, and even paid for his board and lodging there. In Christianity, this parable became a symbol of helping others at times of need without expecting anything in return. Although certainly Jesus' intention was to criticise the priesthood, it has been argued that "Samaritan" was a mistranslation into Greek of "Israelite," in Luke's original Gospel. Not only would this make more sense in Jesus' preaching to ordinary Jews, but it may be noted that when Jesus crossed Samaria the Samaritans refused to offer him hospitality, which might also suggest it was unlikely that he would choose one of them for his parable.
In 2009 the Inn - pictured below - was converted into a museum of Byzantine mosaics and other archaeological remains, preserved from sites in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, so as to protect and conserve them and put them on display to the general public; the museum displays the mosaics according to whether they are from Jewish, Samaritan or Christian sites.
Associated with biblical Ma'ale Adumim, there is in the courtyard of the Inn the exposed remains of a dwelling cave of the second Temple period.
On the north side of inn are the remains of a sixth century church discovered in 1934, part of the inn complex designed to serve the many pilgrims going between Jerusalem and the Jordan valley and Jericho.
Below you can see a slide show of mosaics and artefacts from the museum.
On route 1, at Almog, just south of Jericho and before the Dead Sea, is a long-established, long line of Arab terracotta, glass, craft and garden sales and the obligatory tourist camels to ride, where cheap souvenirs can be bought. Opposite is a petrol station where a little irrigation brings remarkable flowering trees and grass into this arid landscape.
We bought a few terracotta pots for the garden from a Moroccan who then sat us down with caffe shachor im hel (Arab coffee with cardamom) and dates from his tree, and loaded us up with more for the kids (who were in the car) and tangerines. He spends half the year in Morocco and half here. He said he used to live in Jerusalem but, since all the troubles, it is too hard and he lives now in Jericho. For us, of course, as Israelis, it is the opposite; we cannot visit Jericho.
