Bethlehem, Palestine

We had an exciting adventure visiting Bethlehem.  Since Israeli citizens are not allowed in Bethlehem (it is considered apart of the West Bank in Palestine) we had to be driven across the border where we met up with our Palestinian guide.

Enter at your own risk!

When we crossed into Palestine we met up with Naser Alawy a Palestinian Christian who was our Bethlehem tour guide.  We started on the roads descending to the east of Bethlehem through the Christian village of Beit Sahour where we went to the Shepherds' Fields: these are the fields where they believe the shepherds were watching their flocked when an angel appeared and announced the birth of Christ.

Up until the 1800's most of the farmers and shepherds in the area lived in caves, if you look closely you can see low natural caves.

We went into a church that had beautiful paintings depicting the scenes from the First Nativity.

We went down into a cave, similar to that which Jesus was born in so that we could get an idea of what a manger looked like...It's a far stretch from the barns I've seen in nativity sets.

Now it was time to see the real manger, so we headed to Bethlehem. Interesting fact, our guide told us is that it has always been tradition for the Mayor of Bethlehem to be Catholic. Even though today Muslim's out number the Palestinian Christians they still elect a Catholic for the position.  In the center of town is a large square; one side is the mosque of Omar and the other is the Church of the Nativity.  The Church of the Nativity was built on top of the cave and manger in 328 and then rebuilt in 529 AD, after being destroyed the previous year.  The church is a joint church between the Orthodox, Catholics and the Armenians.

...and in I go, through a tiny door called the Door of Humility.  Why so small?  Because in the Ottoman times it was used to prevent carts from being driven in by looters, and to force even important visitors to dismount from his horse to enter the holy place.

Inside they recently found found a 4th century mosaic floor in the nave.  A part of it was on display, but it covered the entire church!

When the area was conquered by the Persians in the 7th century they destroyed all the Christian churches but they spared the Church of the Nativity because of the large mosaics of the Three Wise Men who were depicted wearing Persian attire.

                                                  Check out the lavishly decorated Eastern Orthodox alters 

We went down into the Grotto of the Nativity, which is the manger where Jesus was born.  The silver star in the floor marks the very spot where Christ is believed to have been born.  The star's Latin inscription reads. "Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was born".  Jordan got to touch the rock.

On the other side of the manger is the inn where Mary came to and was told there was was no room for her to stay.  It was much bigger than I expected it to be, with hallways and multiple rooms.  It is also here where Jerome translated the whole bible from Hebrew into Latin for the Catholic Church.

We came around to the Catholic side and entered into a beautiful church

 ...just in time for a photo-op together

We were then taken to the Milk Grotto

Tradition has it that the church was built over the grotto where the Holy Family took refuge during the 'Slaughter of the Innocents' before their flight to Egypt. 

The tradition says that here Mary was nursing baby Jesus, and a drop of milk fell onto a chalky rock changing its color to a pure white. 

On our walk around the town, we stopped in at an olive wood factory to look at the olive wood nativity sets.  Some of the figurines can take an entire day to make!  If you want to order a Nativity for yourself, you can do so on the hyperlink above.

We had a really great time in Bethlehem, learning lots and enjoying our travels!