Bethlehem is not a place I'd planned on visiting while in Israel. Why not, you ask? After all, it was the birthplace of Christ, and it is only a few short miles from Jerusalem.
Well, there's this wall. Build to separate Israeli and Palestinian territories. It starts just outside of Jerusalem and goes for miles. It's tall. Really tall. And sure, you can cross into Palestinian territory and go into Jerusalem, but in times of war, and there was a war going on in November during my trip! (If you recall, Israel was firing rockets daily into Gaza, and Hamas fired back into Israeli territory, including firing a rocket at Jerusalem!) In times like those, you literally take your life into your own hands crossing that border. It's dangerous, crossing into the West Bank or Gaza.
So off we went, from Old Jerusalem, after receiving strict instructions from the lovely Israeli woman at the front desk:
"You walk to Damascus gate. Turn left. There is the bus depot. Take bus 21 to Bethlehem. It will cost 7,30 Shekels. Turn right after you get off the bus and walk 20 minutes to the manger church. Try not to act like Americans."
Right.
And so it came to pass that two of us were dubbed Swedish, the other French or Irish, for the purpose of our trip to Bethlehem. (The middle east seems to bring out my Swedish doppelganger quite often, no, ya?)
We managed to make it through all of the steps but the last, being immediately accosted by a very, ridiculously aggressive taxi driver even before exiting the bus. Into the bus popped the shrewd face, "YouwanttoseeManger? MilkChurch (MILK CHURCH?)?Holy sites? I takeyoo, 120 shekels each! Herod's palace extra!"
No thank you, came our firm reply, and we walked away down the street, to the left.
And the crazy cabbie followed us, dropping his price to 100, 90, 80, all the way to 40 shekels. But we just didn't like the pushy, mean man.
"La! La! Shookrun. NO, thank you. We will walk." I replied, walking away in the wrong direction. A few steps later it dawned on me that we were, indeed walking the wrong direction and that I had no clue where to go.
A much kinder voice rescued us. "Hello, you are going the wrong way."
Yes, it WAS that obvious.
I stopped to listen to the man's instructions and offer to take us to the Church of the Nativity for only 20 shekels, total. Much better. I looked to confirm with the girls, who consented, and away we went, driving up a MASSIVE hill, through a windy-roaded city that would have taken MUCH longer than 20 minutes to walk through. The man was very congenial, but very real with us. "My name is Al'a. No, I am not god." He joked, his name undoubtedly the butt of many quips throughout his life. "I will take you to the church. But there are also other holy sites to visit..." Including one site that we'd known nothing about, but when he showed us the photos of the site all three of us were smitten: Herod's palace fortress. So we arranged to have him take us around, far and near, to four or five sites including the palace fortress, for 50 shekels, about 13$, which isn't very much for a private guided tour for the day. It wasn't about the money, it was about finding a driver we trusted to be a decent escort for a day in Israel's West Bank.
And you can't get much better thanAllah Al'a, right?
Wah-wah.
Truthfully, it was the best decision we could have made because things were about to go become explosive, literally...
(For Part 2, CLICK HERE)
(For Part 2, CLICK HERE)
Well, there's this wall. Build to separate Israeli and Palestinian territories. It starts just outside of Jerusalem and goes for miles. It's tall. Really tall. And sure, you can cross into Palestinian territory and go into Jerusalem, but in times of war, and there was a war going on in November during my trip! (If you recall, Israel was firing rockets daily into Gaza, and Hamas fired back into Israeli territory, including firing a rocket at Jerusalem!) In times like those, you literally take your life into your own hands crossing that border. It's dangerous, crossing into the West Bank or Gaza.
So off we went, from Old Jerusalem, after receiving strict instructions from the lovely Israeli woman at the front desk:
"You walk to Damascus gate. Turn left. There is the bus depot. Take bus 21 to Bethlehem. It will cost 7,30 Shekels. Turn right after you get off the bus and walk 20 minutes to the manger church. Try not to act like Americans."
Right.
And so it came to pass that two of us were dubbed Swedish, the other French or Irish, for the purpose of our trip to Bethlehem. (The middle east seems to bring out my Swedish doppelganger quite often, no, ya?)
We managed to make it through all of the steps but the last, being immediately accosted by a very, ridiculously aggressive taxi driver even before exiting the bus. Into the bus popped the shrewd face, "YouwanttoseeManger? MilkChurch (MILK CHURCH?)?Holy sites? I takeyoo, 120 shekels each! Herod's palace extra!"
No thank you, came our firm reply, and we walked away down the street, to the left.
And the crazy cabbie followed us, dropping his price to 100, 90, 80, all the way to 40 shekels. But we just didn't like the pushy, mean man.
"La! La! Shookrun. NO, thank you. We will walk." I replied, walking away in the wrong direction. A few steps later it dawned on me that we were, indeed walking the wrong direction and that I had no clue where to go.
A much kinder voice rescued us. "Hello, you are going the wrong way."
Yes, it WAS that obvious.
I stopped to listen to the man's instructions and offer to take us to the Church of the Nativity for only 20 shekels, total. Much better. I looked to confirm with the girls, who consented, and away we went, driving up a MASSIVE hill, through a windy-roaded city that would have taken MUCH longer than 20 minutes to walk through. The man was very congenial, but very real with us. "My name is Al'a. No, I am not god." He joked, his name undoubtedly the butt of many quips throughout his life. "I will take you to the church. But there are also other holy sites to visit..." Including one site that we'd known nothing about, but when he showed us the photos of the site all three of us were smitten: Herod's palace fortress. So we arranged to have him take us around, far and near, to four or five sites including the palace fortress, for 50 shekels, about 13$, which isn't very much for a private guided tour for the day. It wasn't about the money, it was about finding a driver we trusted to be a decent escort for a day in Israel's West Bank.
And you can't get much better than
Wah-wah.
Truthfully, it was the best decision we could have made because things were about to go become explosive, literally...
(For Part 2, CLICK HERE)
Manger scene @ Shepherd's Field
Shepherd's Field Church
Church of the Nativity
Byzantine mosaic detail
Check out the staining on the columns from centuries of incense burning!
The back way into the Nativity Room. Al'a gave us a great tip: Go into the church, then go to the left. Don't follow the crowds to the right, they take all day. Go to the left and you'll be let into the Nativity room almost immediately. (Warning, this place can be CRAZY crowded, and the tour guides are insanely pushy.)
Inside the Nativity Room.
In the main chapel in the Church of the Nativity. Under the big altar is another room, (I keep calling it the Nativity Room) wherein lies the spot Christ was supposedly born, marked with a large silver star inlaid into the ground:
(For Part 2, CLICK HERE)
