7. Mampsis
Ancient Mampsis (Hebrew «Mamshit,» Arabic «Kurnub»), with its remarkable ruins, is the most northerly Nabataean town in the Negev and like Avdat and Shivta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Excavations between 1965 and 1973 brought to light a Nabataean settlement that had undergone little change in Byzantine times, so that its original character is better preserved than at Avdat, Nitzana, or Shivta.
It was founded during the period when the Nabataeans, from their capital at Petra, set out to colonise the Negev. It prospered in the 1st century AD as a trading town with a caravanserai, stables, residential areas, and administrative buildings.
After the fall of Nabataeans in AD 106, the Romans built barracks here. In Byzantine times (when Mampsis featured on the mosaic map at Madaba), the old Nabataean system of irrigation was brought into use again, as it was at Avdat, and two churches were built.
8. Sde Boker
The kibbutz of Sde Boker has close associations with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, who retired here.
Ben-Gurion’s House, with its interior largely unchanged since he died, is the main attraction here and holds a small but interesting collection of old black-and-white photographs and original letters and documents written by Ben-Gurion.
In a carefully tended cliff top park nearby, you can also visit Ben-Gurion and his wife’s tomb. There are incredible views over the surrounding area from here.
Location: 50 kilometers south of Be’er Sheva
