Jerusalem Day 3

Today we started our day with a trip to Bethlehem, which is basically a suburb of Jerusalem, with one big difference compared to a US metropolitan area.  Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank, is a Palestinian territory so our Jewish Israeli tour  guide could not join us, and we passed through a border control area on the way.  There is also a fence between the Palestinian territory and Israel.  That being said, this day, along with every other day, has been uneventful and safe.  

We viewed the Shepherds Field and the Church of the Nativity.  The field and cave pictured below are representative of the fields where the angels announced Jesus's birth to the shepherds.

The Church of the Nativity was the traditional site of Jesus's birth.  It was a very crowded venue with a long wait and a climb down to the 'location.'  It was too dark and crowded to get good photos.  

However ther was another church with some nice frescos, below.

We returned to the Old City of Jerusalem for a quick lunch of falafel in a pita and the hoofed it to the Church of the Sepulchre.  A few days ago we visited the Garden Tomb, the site of Jesus death and burial.   However, different Christian religions have different venues for the major events for a variety of reasons and the Church of the Sepulchre is the traditional spot for most of the denominations.  We did see a processional of the Greek Orthodox Archbishop and his staff while waiting to get in.  This place was also hard to get photos in - dark and crowded.  This church was huge and had many different areas.  

We took another hike through Old Jerusalem with our destination being the Garden of Gethsemane.  After a day of bustling cities we enjoyed some quiet time in the Garden of Gethsamane with just our tour group of 20 and took the photo below.

This area is maintained by the Francisans and also has a beautiful church, in which a mass was being said when we entered. The facade of the church is below.

We had a very interesting day of religious history.  It's amazing to be in a place where the Islam daily prayer call can be heard while you are stepping into the Church of the Sepulchre, with the ruins of the Jewish temple just hundreds of feet away.

Karen