This holiday may seem very different for us who have a holiday understanding of sea, sand, and sun. However, if you want to enjoy the silence, Mitzpe Ramon is a great address.
Desert holiday, which is an ideal place to relax and to get away from the chaos of modern life, is a great option where one can get rid of everything around and hear himself.
Let’s start with the first station of our journey, Mitzpe Ramon Visitor Center. This place was built in memory of ‘Ilan Ramon’, the first astronaut sent into space by the State of Israel. At the entrance, we see pictures of the ‘Columbia’ crew and Ilan Ramon, and articles about his life. In addition, a complete space environment has been created with space suits and space shuttle models.
Ilan Ramon: The first astronaut sent by the State of Israel into space, Ilan Ramon was a fighter pilot of the Israeli Air Force.
19 years ago, on January 16, 2003, he went into space with 6 American astronauts. They stayed in space for 15 days in the space shuttle called ‘Columbia’ and conducted various experiments. On February 1, 2003, at exactly 16:00, 16 minutes before their return to Earth, the space shuttle exploded and shattered. The ashes of the entire crew fell in around Texas. During the research on the accident, all possibilities were examined, including the suspicion of terrorism. The cause of the accident was determined as a piece of the fuel tank that broke the wing of the shuttle.
The wife of Ilan Ramon, Rona Ramon, is the child of a family that survived the Holocaust. She is of Turkish origin and an immigrant from Izmir. They have four children named Asaf, Tal, David, and Noa. I think it is a twist of fate that his eldest son, military pilot Asaf died during a training flight in 2009.
Maybe because of these tragedies that happened one after the other, Rona Ramon died after the relentless illness she was caught.
Ilan Ramon changed his surname to Ramon by order of Ben Gurion ( he wanted all officers’ surnames to be of Jewish origin) while he was studying in the air force. He chose this surname because of his love for the place where he was born and spent his life.
We continue our journey with the wildlife park.
llamas are extraordinary and interesting animals. The Alpaca Farm is the only farm -outside of South America- where you can see a herd of alpacas. It was very valuable and enjoyable to experience feeding animals with the children. It is also an important piece of their childhood memories.
And we come to Desert Sculpture Park; We are in the desert sculpture park on the threshold of Ramon Crater. Artists from different countries and nationalities came together to create art in the open air in order to end the sense of alienation and distance created after the Cold War period. 10 artists from different countries of the world have created this park by performing their arts with their own styles.
Nana is a high-altitude winery located at the top of Mitzpe Ramon, an altitude of about 800 meters above sea level. This location in the desert of Negev is an unusual but inspiring place to grow grapes. Here you can taste, buy great wines and enjoy the atmosphere.
From the Hellenistic period to the last period of the Roman Empire, Avdat was a small settlement of the Nabataeans. They were ancient Arab people and traded on the incense road from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Gaza. Medicinal plants, spices, and precious metals such as gold were transported by camels in this route. Nabataeans established a city (Avdat), and walls and castles were built in the city to ensure the security of this trade route. In the first period of the 7th century, a great earthquake occurred in this region, and most of the buildings were destroyed. Today, you can observe how the safety of the road was ensured by the walls and towers on both the north and south sides. Every detail was calculated and not a single dead zone was left unseen. Ben Gurion visited this place and attached great importance.
Our last stop, Avdat Nabatean Acropolis, located in Avdat National Park; The Nabati king ‘Obodas’ was revered as a god according to tradition and was buried in this region. In the 1960s, the ‘Oboda Temple’ was discovered during the excavations.
This temple is the most important center to understand the cultural value of this city taking the historical responsibility of protecting the Incense Road.
Avdat National Park was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2005.
Movie recommendation: Jesus Christ Superstar
This movie was shot in Avdat National Park.
I hope you enjoyed it. with love
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