Bethlehem, Palestine

You know all those stories about how dangerous and scary the "West Bank" in the Middle East is?

... yeah, we went there.

Bethlehem, yeah that Bethlehem, is a holy site of huge significance to Christians. Tradition dictates it is the birth the place of Jesus of Nazareth. While in Israel we becme very familiar with the phrase, "according to tradition." It's the generally accepted way of saying, according to [insert holy book of faith here]. Whether it be the Torah, New Testament, Koran or any other ancient book of faith. Despite that, according to... our tour guide, the major attraction of Bethlehem, The Church of the Nativity, is a little different. Apparently, the site of the Nativity was actually given to us by Mary. At some point in her life she "pointed it out" to everyone.

Back in the day, sheppards built mangers in caves to help protect the livestock from the elements and predators. So the site of the nativity is a cave below the Church. This site was converted into a place of worship in 135 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian. So it's actually a little more "official" than the sites in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as less time had passed . Like many Christian sites, Constantine's mother Helena created a Basilica on the site around 330 AD. According to our guide, the front of the church had a mural of the three wise men, that can no longer be seen. When the Ottomans occupied the area they destroyed many churches in the region. However, when they saw this site and saw the depiction of three men who, "looked like them," they left the site alone. This makes it one of the oldest churches in the world.

There was another interesting holy site we visited this day, which is a cave called the Milk Grotto. According to tradition (...yeah), while nursing baby Jesus in this cave, a drop of Mary's milk spilled on the floor turning the entire cave white. There are stories of women having trouble conceiving, scratch off some of the sides of the cave and ingesting it and then being able to get pregnant afterwards.

It was amazing to see a place that we've heard so much about. Today Bethlehem was a well developed city, much like any other and full of Palestinian Christians.Read more