The history, beauty, and civilization of Israel make it one of the most fascinating countries of the world for cultural experience. The religious zeal and cultural fervour with which the deserts, oases, and forested hills of Israel have been contested have enriched the tapestry, attracting scholars and travellers for centuries.

Leaving the current hotbeds of the West Bank and Gaza, one can venture into the serenity and beauty of southern Israel to explore the Judean Negev – a desert whose origin is related to the Sahara and the African continent. Cleft by the African Rift Valley, Israel’s Negev, between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, provides quiet roads and welcoming places to stay for travel by bicycle and on foot.

The archaeological sites include Masada, built by Herod to protect himself from Jewish and Roman uprising. Herod built huge cisterns to store flood water, and amassed stockpiles of food to sustain his entourage through sieges. His foresight was tested 70 years after his death, when Jewish Zealots turned Masada into their final bastion. The Romans, in their desire to lower Jewish morale, sent several legions there to destroy the 960 men, women children who had fled Jerusalem after the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.

The Roman's determination is illustrated by the ramp they built from the Judean desert below to the ramparts above – a monumental task whose construction time helped erode the survival of the besieged occupants. Unable to live their lives in the tradition of their forefathers, the defenders of Masada chose to die at their own hand rather than become slaves in the hands of the Romans. Your visit is enhanced by stunning views of the African Rift Valley, the Dead Sea and the Mountains of Moab. You can then descend for a float in the Dead Sea, before passing through the machteshim (craters) and on to the mountains of the Negev and Sde Boker, via the mountain of Sodom, etymological source of one of our language’s more infamous acts.

Cycling through the Judea Mountains, you can descend to "Emek Ha'Ella" ("The Goddess' Valley") where young David defeated Goliath some 3,000 years ago. You can also cycle through the ancient ruined Biblical Cities of Socha, Azeka and Midras – and try to understand the significance of this area in past as the agricultural main area of ancient Judea. Today, the red wines and their cellars have replaced the grains of the past as the leading income for local countrymen.

In the Roman City of Eleutropolis, you can wander through breath-taking man-made caves of Tel Maresha, and the famous Bell-Shaped caves of Beith-Guvrin, where you can hear tales of Bar Kochba, and learn about Jewish, Greek, Roman and Christian history.

From the North Arava Valley, you climb into the mountains of the Negev after a relaxed ride from Hatzeva to Idan – both villages on the Jordanian border, both surviving well on agriculture, but struggling desperately to persuade their second and third generations to stay put. The ruins of Old Hatzeva town were formerly occupied by Romans, Edomite, Jews, Nabatean and perhaps Assyrians, who built citadels, irrigation projects, and shrines. You can then challenge the Akrabim Ascent: the Biblical and Roman roads crossed the mountain’s slope here, and cyclists who like a serious challenge can work their your way up to visit to the beautiful mosaics and wall painting of Byzantine Mamshit, located on the main road from Judea to Petra.

Naturalists can enjoy unique geology, flora, and fauna at Machtesh Ramon, Israel's newest and largest nature reserve and national park. The 1,500 ft. deep crater was NOT created the way craters are usually created, and provides a unique view of geomorphic evolution. If you visit at sunrise, you are often rewarded by meeting the wild ibex (kind of a local mountain goat) and griffons (a majestic vulture, condor size). Nearby, you can visit Kibbutz Sde-Boker and Avdat Nature reserve, to hear the story of people who have struggled to survive in this desert for the last 3000 years: Early Israelites wandered here before settling down in the so called "settled land". The Calcholitic era; the Nabatean, Byzantine, Bedouin, and early Zionist styles - all left their mark here.

From the crater at Ramon, you can ride a magnificent road that traverses the real desert, past dry or flooded wadis such as Wadi Paran, with excellent observation points along the way, at Mitzpe HaMeishar and Tsukei Paran. This long day through wide open Uvda wilderness suggests real desert, real desolation, and real cycling in excellent, almost pollution-free environment. You can cycle through the imaginary landscape of the Eilat Mountains Nature Reserve, where the colors of the granites and sand stones look as if an uncensored hallucinating artist painted them all. Ancient copper miners left their camps, shrines, melting work-shops and mysterious rock engravings here, giving one a palpable feeling of haunted history.

The descent from this fascinating plateau to the shores of the Red Sea give you glimpses of the Sinai Desert, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, stop to explore the Red Canyon enroute to the ideal finishing point where the Negev desert meets the coral-rich sea at the beachy Red Sea resort of Eilat. Fortuitously, this is the jumping off point for visits to nearby Jordan, or Egypt’s Sinai desert.