From the ground, Masada is a mountain. From the air, it is an entire story unfolding at once: an isolated cliff rising some 400 meters above its surroundings, crowned by the fortress Herod built more than two thousand years ago. At its northern tip stands the Northern Palace, three terraces suspended on the cliff face, a remarkable feat of engineering even by today's standards. Around the summit you can still make out the storerooms, cisterns and dwellings that made life possible on an arid mountain in the heart of the desert.

But what cannot be seen from the ground, and this is exactly what makes the flight a different experience, is what surrounds the mountain. The siege ramp built by the Romans in the first century CE survives almost intact, and around the cliff lie the remains of the Roman army camps, whose outlines are clearly visible only from above. This is one of the best-preserved Roman siege sites in the world, and from the helicopter you see the whole picture: the mountain, the ramp, the camps, and the Snake Path winding at the foot of the cliff like a thin thread.

On the way to Masada you pass over the Judean Desert, deep canyons carved into the rock over thousands of years. Clinging to the wall of the Kidron gorge is the Mar Saba monastery, founded in the fifth century and active ever since. It is one of the most dramatic sights on the route: a building that seems to grow out of the cliff itself.

And from there, on to the lowest point on land on Earth. The Dead Sea lies more than 430 meters below sea level, and from the air it looks like another world: the deep blue of the northern basin, the evaporation ponds in the south in surprising shades of turquoise, and the white salt textures along the shore. One green strip interrupts the yellow: the Ein Gedi oasis, where fresh water bursts from the mountains into the desert.

Ninety minutes of flight. Two thousand years of history, and a landscape like nowhere else on Earth.

Our most dramatic route: Masada and the Dead Sea, about 90 minutes.המסלול הדרמטי ביותר שלנו: מצדה וים המלח, כ-90 דקות.