Sunday, 19th September, 2016

Claire had to go to work today (yes, on Sunday,  please see the earlier post), so Val and I set off on our own like intrepid explorers to have a day in Bethlehem .  The taxi to where we had to catch the bus was OK  but then we could not find the bus stop.  Eventually we saw it and also the bus heading for it. A lot of waving on our part and it did stop,  which was lucky as they are not that frequent. This was the Arab Bus as it is known, as Israelis are not allowed to go to the West Bank, ie Palestine. Nice bus, lots of air-conditioning and comfortable,  though it does take a very circuitous route to get there.

On arrival we decided to walk into town along Children’s Road, though first we had to fend off the fairly aggressive attentions of the taxi drivers and ‘guides’ who wanted to help us out and took some persuading that no means no. Once on our way we had time to see how Palestinians live albeit in a reasonably prosperous town like Bethlehem. Everyone seemed to be out and about doing their shopping, lots of cars honking and a generally busy feel to the place. It is certainly not as economically advanced as what we saw in Israel and it is very scruffy in comparison,  but there seemed plenty of commerce. Sadly litter seemed to get dumped pretty much anywhere.

We found our way to Manger Square and tried to enter the tourist information office only to find it shut. No problem,  on we went up Manger Street to the Visit Palestine Centre which Claire had advised  us was a good spot to eat. Unfortunately it too was closed! We found somewhere else though and I did manage to photograph a few shop signs  which may amuse you.

I would love to have met one of the Casanova Franciscans and I like the way the tattoo studio tells it as it is!

The main attraction in Bethlehem is, of course, the Church of the Nativity. It is quite a small building considering some of the churches you see at the holy sites, but was originally ordered to be built by the Emperor Constantine in the 4th Century AD (or CE as they call it in this part of the world). It was rebuilt by the Eastern Roman Emperor,  Justinian and has not changed much apart from some repairs. Sadly that is exactly what was happening on our visit and most of the inside, including the Crusader decorated columns were covered in scaffolding and protective sheets. We did manage to get to the grotto, supposedly the spot on which Christ was born, the focal point of the church and, indeed, Bethlehem . There was a very long queue for this holy of holies but Val in her practical way simply went to the exit, waved her walking stick a bit and asked the priest sitting there if we could go in that way to which he waved us through.

A few pics to give you a feel, though it will not convey the heat, the mass of people, the singing, praying and general religious fervour. The silver star on the floor marks the ‘exact’ spot. I never quite worked out what the bit with the candles was, though some visitors were muttering ‘manger’…..

The nave was completely covered up, but there are some superb mosaics from the time of Justinian,  in perfect condition and an interesting doorway, known as the Door of Humility, actually built by the Crusaders to stop the practice of driving carts into the church. There are also some lovely cloisters in the church that is joined to the main one. Why are cloisters always so lovely?

We did try to go to the Milk Grotto where Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus allegedly hid during the Slaughter of the Innocents. Mary is supposed to have been suckling Jesus and some milk dropped on the floor turning it white and both Christians and Muslims believe that scraping a bit off the floor can help fertility. Unfortunately the Grotto was shut for lunch! So a photo of the outside was all I could manage. Here are a few others of the town – we hoped the rabbits were being sold as pets!

We were just about pilgrimmed out now, so we got a taxi with the intention of being driven to the checkpoint in the Wall to get back in to Israel as Claire had told us it was worth seeing.  We negotiated a price, but the taxi driver then said he would not go there and would only drop us where we could get the bus. We were not happy, but could not do much about it, so caught the bus back. They must take a different route as we did not see the Wall though some well-armed border guards did come on the bus to check passports.

All in all an interesting day and well worth the trip largely to get a glimpse of how the Palestinians live.