Following our visit to Gush Etzion we traveled up to the Herodion National Park—one of seven building-sites built by King Herod (37-4 BCE). The Herodion served as a fortress, summer palace, monument, burial ground and district capital. From a distance, the Herodion looks like a flattened hill with symmetrical sides. The hill is not natural, however, but rather the result of building on top of the original Herodion structure over the centuries. We climbed to the top of the hill to find that it had been hollowed out from archaeological digging. We then climbed down into the mountain to view the original cisterns.
This was a good stop because it got us out of the bus and away from the group a bit to do some exploring on our own. Plus, the view of the surrounding countryside was spectacular, albeit somewhat hazy.
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