Bethlehem and the West Bank

After our long border crossing, our driver for the next week, Habib, drove us through the West Bank and to Bethlehem.  Habib pointed out the Israeli settlements--they are huge and go for miles.  I said, "is this the settlements on Palestinian land?"  He said, "It's Israel, there is no Palestine". 

The West Bank is very hilly and populated.  Bethlehem sits at the top of one of the hills and looks over to the flat top of  King Herod's mountain.  Ruins of his palace have been explored for year, but in 2009 an Israeli archaeologist ended a 35 year for the remains of King Herod when his bones were found.  None of this is currently open to the public.  We parked in Manger Square--I'll have to pay closer attention next year to the Christmas events in Bethlehem. 

 

All of this information comes from our Christian guide at the Church of the Nativity.  (She also said about our driver--"he's an Arab")  She immigrated to Israel from Romania in 1994.  Eight years ago, Bethlehem was 85% Christian and now it's now less than 25%.  The Church of the Nativity has quite an elaborate system of who takes care of the church.  It is jointly managed by the Greek Orthodox church owns the altar and the right chapel, the Armenian church owns the left chapel and the Catholic church has the Church of St. Helena, Constantine's mother that is new--1881 and built over a much older church.  This is the church where midnight mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve.

 

This is a picture Chris sent me from the Internet of the inside of the inside of the church of the Nativity--it's way better picture than anything that we took. 

 

The "undisputed" birthplace of Jesus in down steep steeps into a cave under the altar of the church.

 Once down there, people wait in long lines to kneel and kiss the spot where Jesus was born, which is marked by a star.

 

Peaceful and beautiful are the cloisters surrounding the Catholic church.  They were built in Byzantine times and enlarged during the Crusades.

The church and surrounding area was full of Russian tourists on large tour buses.  It is a 19 hour excursion from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt to visit the holy land.  There are 48 people were bus and went the buses dump out--whoa!  It's busy. 

 

Finally to our hotel in an orthodox area of Jerusalem.  To get there, we went through the main checkpoint in North Bethlehem where cars were being  pulled apart and everything was checked.  The Israeli police opened the door and saw middle aged Americans and let us go though with minimal questioning. It' s also the area where the wall that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories is being built. 

  Our new neighborhood is quiet and beautiful.  It's also the Sabbath so nothing is open and no one is around.  It's a day of rest and tomorrow starts out tour.