As I sit here drinking a small glass of Bethlehem wine, I realize that I completely forgot to post my most recent adventure in what is fast becoming my favorite place (for now).
Last Saturday (Shabbat) was Mike’s birthday, and being that the whole city shuts down, we decided that we’d head over to see some holy sites in “the world’s most famous small town”. Took the Damascus (Arab) bus down to the Old City and from there it was a straight shot to Bethlehem (via another bus of course). Roundtrip, the whole thing was $5 USD, which is significantly less any other options, of which there are none. Since there are few formal bus stops along the route, the driver dropped us off at the “last” stop, aka random spot in the city. Thankfully, after a few minutes of wandering we got to a spot that I recognized from my brief expedition last time and proceeded to the Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. Upon arriving at the church and ducking under the 4 foot door, we were approached by a man named Naif (sp?) who, largely without our asking, proceeded to give us a tour. While I was skeptical at first, he proved his worth within minutes, by showing us the spot where Mary gave birth and the manger that she laid Jesus in (somehow I missed it the first time). He also informed us that it was OK to take pictures, so you can check those out on Picasa.
I was surprised at the significance that the church held for me. I’ve always been a little hesitant when it comes to relic, pilgrimages, etc., yet even with everything that I’ve gone through religiously speaking, I was extremely moved by the site. Weird.
Anyway, Naif proved himself again by sneaking us into house of St. Jerome that lies below the church and at the time of our visitation was closed off. However, Naif hurried us down for a look. In case you didn’t know, like me before I got there, St. Jerome spend some thirty odd years translating the Bible from Aramaic to Latin. The Roman Catholic Church thanked him by taking his bones from the tomb in Bethlehem and whisking them away to the Vatican. So now its empty…
After showing us the Church, Naif insisted on taking us to a shop that had “good prices” (the catch of having him guide us). The lady who worked there, curiously named Mary, offered us (fantastic) tea and coffee and showed off here wares. I was initially struck by how amazing the prices were: 80 shekels for an olive wood carving and 150 shekels for a silver statue of Samson. To my shock and horror, due to the frequency of American tourists, all the prices were in US dollars, or four times what I thought. Even with this Mike still bought the statue of Samson, which was beautiful, but only after he got Naif to talk to the real shop owner, Joseph (hmmmmmm), and lower the price a little.
Naif then rushed us to the Milk Grotto, where Mary, Joseph and Jesus hid from Herod before fleeing to Egypt. Apparently, Mary was breast feeding Jesus while Joseph was dreaming of Egypt, and a precious four drops hit the ground, turning the stone of the cave white. While the shrine was beautiful, I think this is a good example of why I am a little doubtful about this kind of thing.
Mike and I finally pried ourselves away from Naif’s services, but only after paying him a “suggested tip” of 90 shekels. He kindly pointed us in the direction of Shepherds’ Field (“one mile that way and then left”) and we opted to walk instead of taking a bus. This was the second best decision we made on the whole trip. Not only did we make a couple of wrong turns thanks to forks in the road, but we completely forgot the “turn left” portion of Naif’s directions and three miles later were on the other side of Beit Sahour, a neighboring village. I say this was a good decision because we got to see parts of the city that most visitors probably don’t get a chance to see, and maybe don’t want to. We also got to interact with some interesting people, my personal favorite being a group of kids who wanted to shake hands with us and try out a little bit of English. Since Mike was just getting over a bad virus he refrained from shaking, turning their initial looks of fun into faces of offence. I therefore made sure to quickly shake all their hands and use extremely basic English to talk to them and redirect ourselves to Shepherds’ Field (we were going the wrong way again). We also came by a number of Fatah security outposts that we hurriedly passed. Finally, out stubbornness gave way and we took a bus two miles back to where we wanted to go, and therefore costing us twice what we would have paid if we took the bus the first time.
Apparently there are multiple Shepherds’ Fields, a Catholic one, an Orthodox one, and one more that I currently forget. We went to the Catholic one. This was the best decision that we made. While the chapel was pretty and the grounds gorgeous, right next door were excavations on a Byzantine chapel from (if my reading of the Roman numerals was right) the 4th century. The gate was open and no one was guarding the area, so we headed on in to check it out. And the further we walked, the more there was to see. There were caves and assembly areas, which are still in use, and what looked like an old congregation area, although we really didn’t know. One thing was for sure: we needed to come back with flashlights and Indiana Jones hats.
And with that, we headed out of B’lem, but not before getting some wine from the local monastery, which is delicious and only nine dollars. And with that its time for bed because I have Ulpan bright and early tomorrow for 5 wonderful hours….
Pictures on Picasa are under "Second Trip to Bethlehem"
(also, thanks go out to Mike for letting me use his blog as a refresher. If you want a much more detailed account, check it out at http://exploratorius.wordpress.com/)
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