palestine: bethlehem

My last new city during this trip was Bethlehem. For Christians around the world, the city is known as the birthplace of Jesus.

Bethlehem is just 10km from Jerusalem, but the two cities are in two different worlds. To get from one to the other, its easiest for tourists to find the one bus that goes through the military checkpoint all the way to the center of the city of Bethlehem. Of course, that was not how i did the trip, which basically meant i spent more money than i should've.

I started that morning by packing up my stuff, hiking down the road 5km, then catching the next bus from the dead sea back to jerusalem.

That trip wasn't long, it was a sunday morning. Then i had to find my way around the crazy bus station in jerusalem, to catch a bus to bethlehem. I ended up having to ask the lady at the information counter, as the bus i wanted wasn't exactly at the station, it was outside, across the street. While i was waiting for that bus, there was a bomb scare, or something along those lines. Police blocked off the street, leaving an empty space about 100m long, around a backpack someone had left behind, probably by mistake. Everyone backed up, and no buses got through the street for about 20 minutes. A guy sortof dressed in bomb gear (he didn't look like the guys you see on tv shows who dismantle bombs, but it wasn't the normal police/military outfit either...i guess these sorts of bomb/suspicious bag scares happen quite regularly in jerusalem) investigated the bag, and after a few minutes, said everything was okay...traffic started up again, life went on as normal...my bus came along a few minutes later, and i was on my way to bethlehem...

the bus i took dropped me off at one of the military checkpoints...(this was not the bus i mentioned earlier)...there were no people waiting in any sort of line, and very few signs telling me where to go...it took me a while to figure out where i should go to get out on the palestinian side of the border...people going the other way have to have their passports ready, and maybe other documents as well? I don't really know...
as i exited, a heap of taxi drivers pounced...all i wanted was a ride into the center of bethlehem, so i could walk around and see a few sights...that was not what they wanted me to hire them for, they all wanted me to hire them for a day trip around the area...one guy said a round trip taxi ride from the checkpoint to the city center (and back) would be 20 euro...is it just me, or is that a LOT? The distance is only 4.5 km each way!! i think that was supposed to include waiting time, but seeing as how i had no idea how long i'd be wandering around, this was not a deal i wanted to make...

it took me 10 minutes of haggling just to get someone to say they'd drive me one way...even so, on the way, he kept trying to get me to hire him to drive me all around the area...he explained that most tourists spend all their money in israel, and that palestinians are really suffering...he sounded very bitter to me, and i understand that...still, the feeling of being looked at as only a human atm instead of a person reminded me of how things work in southeast asia...i hate that feeling...

i got to the city centre, it took me a while to figure out which way to face my map, and where i was on that map...bethlehem is the birthplace of jesus (who was jewish) but it is now in palestine, and therefore doesn't have the same calendar work week as israel...which means me visiting on a sunday wasn't great planning on my part...a lot of places were closed, including the information center...argh...oh well...for whateva reason, it took me longer than usual to get oriented as to where i was on the map...i hate not being able to figure out where i am...

i visited the church of the nativity, which is shared by three denominations of christians...roman catholics, armenians, and greek orthodox...different areas of the church are claimed by each denomination...i don't really understand why there is squabbling, or why the differences between each denomination seem to be so important in this part of the world...anywho...

the entry to the church of the nativity is quite small, not at all ornate...i thought it was a side entrance, and kept looking for a larger, more obvious entrance, until i realized the small door was where i needed to go...the altar area of the church is 'owned' by the greek orthodox, and therefore is decorated in that tradition...(an iconostasis, hanging lanterns/lights, etc)...i don't remember which group 'owns' the grotto under the altar, or the other parts of the church...(i don't remember because to me it didn't make any difference)...

visiting on a weekend was again a mistake in that i had to wait in a line to see the grotto area under the altar...in the grotto is a hole in the floor, surrounded by a silver star...this is in a little alcove on one side of the room...this hole in the floor marks that exact spot where jesus was born...how such a thing was/is known, i don't know...i don't know who decided this was/is the right spot, but evidently enough people agree with the designation that the church of the nativity was built over the spot...the story goes that jesus was born in a manger, because all the hotels in the town were full...since a manger is not exactly a permanent structure, and jesus himself didn't become known for a number of years, i don't know how anyone would know where he was born...anywho, that's beside the point...heaps of people visit this church so they can see this spot...there is a priest standing by who keeps the line of people moving...

most visitors to bethlehem come around the christmas holidays, you have to book a hotel room months ahead if you want to spend christmas eve in the town where jesus was born...this is the only time each year when the city is busy...

after being herded through the grotto area, i spent only a few more minutes in the church...it isn't architecturally interesting, it's just a point of pilgrimmage...

from the church i made my way across what is known as manger square, and thought about entering the mosque on the other side of the square...i tried to dig a scarf with which to cover my head out of my pack, but couldn't find it, so i didn't go in the mosque...

from there i figured out where the local market was, and walked through there for a while...it's a regular market, filled with locals selling all sorts of produce...nothing unique, but i always enjoy seeing the 'normal' part of any city i visit, so i had fun wandering...and i found pancakes:)

after that i found a couple places selling postcards...the guidebook was right, everything is cheaper in palestine...i ended up buying most of my jerusalem (and bethlehem, of course) postcards in bethlehem because they were cheaper...(and when you buy them in the quantities i do, small differences in price make a big difference:)

from there i wandered to the church of the milk grotto...the outside isn't noteworthy, but the inside is all white...something about a drop of mary's milk being spilled and the whole thing turning white...waaaaay back when...

all over the city center i saw palestinian flags, which isn't so surprising...being so close to jerusalem means there are people with stronger feelings about an independent state...

around that time, i decided i was ready to go back to jerusalem...i didn't want to deal with taxi drivers again, and i was hoping there was a faster/easier way to go...i asked the clerk in one of the shops that sold me postcards, he gave me directions to find a bus that would go through the checkpoint...i love helpful people:)

on the way to the bus stop i stopped at a cafe called stars and bucks...i wonder if the international company we all know has threatened this particular cafe (yet) about changing it's name...i bought a tasty sahlab (sp?)...soooo good...

it took me a while to find the bus stop, it wasn't quite a straight walk down the road...i ended up asking a kid on the street, we chatted for a bit and he pointed me in the right direction...

getting on the bus was easy, and it was cheap...only 8 shekels!...the interesting part of the ride was when we went through the military checkpoint...all the locals had to get off the bus with their papers/passports and show them to soldiers manning the checkpoint, then get back on the bus...(it isn't easy for palestinians to cross the 'border')...as a foreigner they glanced quickly at my passport, but there were no other questions...everyone got back on the bus, and it took me to a stop really close to my hotel in jerusalem...