We were up and off by 6am today in order to be at the hotel in Netanya in time for the Beit Harim Tour pick-up at 6.30a.m.. We’d not been very successful in achieving an early night and had been disturbed during the night by thunderstorms (we were later told this was the first day in 26 years that they had had rain in Jericho in June!!). Despite a few sprinkles of rain the weather was lovely with about 27C in Bethlehem and 36 in Jericho – apparently last week it was in the mid-40s. I don’t think I’d have enjoyed that.
A couple of changes of transport later we were settled and headed for Bethlehem, driving through the crossings into the Palestinian Territories where large signs warn that Israelis may be at risk if they enter. Having picked up our local – Palestinian Christian – guide we walked from the bus to the Church of the Shepherd’s Fields. It was built in the early 20th century, designed by the same man who designed the Church of Gethsemane. And there are certainly similarities: this church is simple but has some lovely art work in recesses reminding the visitor of the Nativity story
Behind the formal building is a church in a cave. It displays some relics from Byzantine times and represents where the shepherds may have lived or at least sought shelter on long winter nights.
From the village of Beit Sahour where these churches are it’s a short drive to the centre of Bethlehem where the first stop was a souvenir shop before the bus was parked in the local bus station and we walked uphill for five minutes to Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity which our guide kept telling us was the oldest active church in Christendom today.
For me it was a nightmare! There had been warnings about long queues but I had not expected what we were faced with. We walked down a clear nave and joined the queue behind a group of Russian Orthodox visitors. And waited. And waited. Slowly we inched forward and slowly I realised that the steps down to the cave below were semicircular and the whole group should be moving forward at once: it was a bit like the Arms Park when a try has been scored after most of the crowd have left – and they turn back. I thought it was really dangerous as you couldn’t see the steps down which you were to walk.
Sadly, it’s impossible to portray the intensity of this experience without sound: guides looking for lost groups; individual visitors calling for their family or friends to join them; even the intake of breath from someone who has lost his footing in the darkness.
Reaching the holy place itself one would expect to be able to stand and reflect: no such thing!! There were guides shouting ‘touch the star and move on’ at everyone and at every opportunity. I had initially thought the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was bad, but it has nothing on this! No sense of worship and not much respect!
A few explanations in the nave, an apology that the ‘new’ Church building from which the Christmas Eve mass is broadcast every year was not open and we were back to the bus on our way to Jericho via the Judaean desert.
Jericho is the world’s oldest, lowest (and probably hottest!) city and we saw only the archaeological site. looking out over the Jordan valley.
It’s also a city remembered for its Biblical connexions: Joshua making the walls come tumblin’ down and Elisha making good water out of bad, to name but two.
Another site was the tree known as Zacheus’s tree. where the tax collector is supposed to have sat to see Jesus as He passed through. After a visit in 2016 it was bought by Dmitry Medvedev on behalf of the Russian people and is now only accessible for a fee!
It’s a bit like the land, really, so sad that it all has to be parcelled off into sections with all the political issues involved in ownership!
But there was a bit of fun in this outing. Our first stop – even before Jerusalem – was at the Elvis Inn, where Hannah simply had to have a photo with the King!!
Living the Journey 