From Jerusalem to Jericho (via Bethlehem)

So the next day we got up fairly early (surprise, surprise) and we got the local bus to the edge of Jerusalem. From there we walked through the security checkpoint - this was a big, unfriendly, cold-looking building which looked a bit like a disused airport terminal or something - we had to show our passports and then once we walked through to the other side, and down the very long ramp, we were in a completely different world. At least it felt like that, and certainly looked like that, no affluence here, hey - welcome to Palestine. The taxis and cars have different coloured licence plates to those in Jerusalem, although they do use the same currency though.

We were accosted pretty quick by taxi drivers promising us a tour of the 'milky' grotto, the manger, the shepherd's fields - all for an exorbitant price, of course. One guy came over and told us he'd take us to the manger church for 10 NIS each, we went with him. Of course, during the journey there, we then negotiated 'the tour', 50 NIS an hour, so we then tried our best to make sure we only needed 2 hours. And of course, as we have discovered so many times throughout our travels on the BEAMET, we needed longer.

Anyway, our driver took us to the King David Wells, where David had a drink after battling with the Philistines (2 Sam 23:14-17). I think one of the things that really struck me about this part of the drive was that we finally could see the full extent of the Wall. The Israelis are building a full-on, Berlin-style Wall to separate Israel from Palestine. Its really quite depressing to see. I mean, I guess I can't even for a minute begin to understand all the issues about the Israelis and the Palestinians - I only know bits and pieces from what I read in the papers and understand from talking to people, but the idea that you need a seriously ugly, huge wall to separate you - well that doesn't seem quite right. But whilst there are people prepared to be suicide bombers for the cause, there's no way that wall would come down. What I didn't realise, was, according to our Palestinian taxi driver, that as they build the wall, they keep taking back some of the Palestinian ground. Also, in Palestine the cost of things is way higher - because it has to be imported through Israel, so the Israelis bung a dirty great big tax on it. The classic example of this, though, is the water - it's Palestinian water they're using, but it has to (for some reason) be piped into Jerusalem first - so they take it for free, then send it back at a cost. Hm.

Anyway, from the King David wells we went to the Milky Grotto - this (get this!) is apparently where Mary first lactated. They built a church there! Apparently when Mary breastfed Jesus a drop of milk fell on the ground, and get this, turned the rock white. Surprisingly, for a Catholic church, some parts of the church were really modern. It was quite refreshing. Sure, there were your pictures and statues of Mary, but compared to the church of the Holy Sepulchre, these were quite subtle and understated. Maybe it wasn't really a Catholic church - it might've been Greek Orthodox or something.

We went from there to the Shepherd's fields. Of course, there are no longer any fields of sheep there, but again, another church. This one was actually pretty modern too, nice paintings of the nativity story hanging on the walls.

The closest I actually got to any sheep at Shepherd's Fields...and this is on full-on zoom

After the Shepherd's fields we went out to see Herod's palace - after we stopped off at the souvenir shop and bought it up - I got a very nice Nativity set (thought it appropriate, this is Bethlehem after all). Anyway, Herod's palace. This was absolutely amazing. We climbed up and had an incredible view of Bethlehem (and the Israeli refugee camp area plus the military).

We also went to see some monastery that some dude had built in the middle of nowhere, and then he had to build a separate place because his mother couldn't come visit him in the church as no women were allowed. And as no women were allowed, we weren't allowed to go in. Their loss, I assure you.

The final part of our journey took us actually to the Church of the Nativity. I'll be honest with you, this was the first time I actually had shivers down my spine on this trip. It's because there is no dispute about this location, not like there is with Calvary, so it must be the place of Jesus' birth. Ok, so there's no stables here now, just a gaudy church, and again, a hole in the ground under an altar for you to put your hand in and 'touch' the place where the manger lay - but hey. It was pretty special.

After this, and bearing in mind our 2 hour tour had now taken closer to 3, we went back to the taxi and made our way back to the wall. No, not the wailing wall - this is a wall that the Israeli's have built to separate Jerusalem from Palestine. We went back through the passport check and got our bus back to the minibus station. And then got straight on another bus back to Palestine... This time we headed north west. Jericho. But again we had to go to the edge of Jerusalem and then catch an Arab bus to Jericho. Fortunately this time there was no wall to get through, no heavy duty passport control and the like. Not really. I mean, there were a few passport checks on the way, but nothing major.

So we got to Jericho and made our way to the Temptation Mount. We got the cable car up and although the monastery commemorating the event was closed, we got as close as we could to the place where Jesus was tempted by Satan. I tell you, the view of the surrounding city and countryside from up there really is very nice, if it had been me up there being offered 'all this', well I might've had to think about it for a split second. Just joking...

Had a nice coffee there and took some pics of some bats hanging upside down in the caves, then it was time to get the cable car back down. Once down, we started walking to the centre of town, looking for the Zaccheus tree - but darkness was fast falling and we were running out of time. Managed just to get a minibus to take us back to Jerusalem and which would stop by the Zaccheus tree for pics. The Zaccheus tree is the tree that Zaccheus climbed up to see Jesus, and then Jesus called him down and invited himself to Zaccheus' place (Luke 19:5). This tree is still there, and its pretty impressive to see. Huge, thick trunk - if its not the original tree, its got to be pretty close, judging by the thickness of the trunk.

The photo doesn't really show how thick the tree's trunks are - but this is supposedly the Zaccheus tree

Only problem was, this guy was transporting his cousin too, and his cousin smelled like a brewery. Like he'd been swimming in it, to be more precise. When we got on the bus, it was just the driver, the drunk and the drunk's wife. The check point took longer to get through because of some commotion the drunk was causing. That was the check point out of Jericho, but there was another one, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and it was now getting late, and there was a very strong possibility the minibuses into Jerusalem would stop running - so we would be at the outskirts and have no way of getting out of Palestine. This is because the only taxis around there are Palestinian, and they can't go into Jerusalem. Fortunately there were still a few buses running (our driver was yelling out the window at one to make sure he stopped for us) and we managed to get back to the Old City.

Of course, there wasn't anything to do at this late (yeah right - it was only 8pm) hour, so we went back to the Church of the Sepulchre so Agnieszka could lay her crosses on the tomb, and also so she could buy more crosses from the bazaar next door, and then made our way back to the hostel.

It really had been an amazing day... and we've still got heaps to see yet in Jerusalem - Mount of Olives, Garden Tomb, and the Via Dolorosa...