Bethlehem

Any of you who grew up going to Sunday school…or reading bible stories in Religion class remember the little colorful kids Bibles they used to have to illustrate the stories of Jesus to you. Well… I got to go to two of those places! I think that’s pretty cool…if I do say so myself. Needless to say, they don’t quite look like those colourful illustrations…

All of the crew on the ship had the chance to sign up for a one day tour to Bethlehem & Jerusalem city which was offered on three different days. I’m not sure how it works on other ships, but I thought this was a pretty amazing opportunity. From Haifa (where the ship was docked), it was about a 2 hour drive into Jerusalem and then Bethlehem. We had a personal tour guide who pretty much knew everything about every single rode, field & building we passed along our entire drive! I fell asleep a few times…and every time I opened my eyes, he was still talking. Our original tour guide was Israeli…and apparently they are not allowed to enter Bethlehem because it is located in Palestine, so he had to leave the bus as soon as we got to the gate…and we got a new tour guide.

Our first stop was the nativity church where Jesus was born. Of course everything has been rebuilt to depict, or rather honor to life of Jesus and his followers…with small bits and pieces incorporated into the new building that now stands today. Visiting Bethlehem was almost a little sad for me… because it has been taken over so much by the tourism industry, I just felt like I was exploiting a sacred place that wasn’t meant for thousands of people to stand around and flash their cameras…but hey, that’s just my opinion. Not to mention that the locals try to shove crosses and other figurines made of olive wood down your throat. I just wanted to observe…experience, and imagine what the city must have been like back in the days Jesus was alive…instead I was being pushed and shoved by a bunch of smelly people.

It was still a great experience though, again, pictures do no justice…but here are a few.

View of the nativity church that now stands

Beautiful olive wood cross in the gift shop 

inside the church...in the background is where Jesus was born (underneath the church) The church was actually built on top of the original site because the original church was destroyed..didn't get to go underneath because the wait was 3 hours to get inside!