Little Town of Bethlehem

I told the border crossing guard that I had only planned to visit Jerusalem and maybe Tel Aviv. I also told her that I was not going to the West Bank or Palestine. I lied. Today after walking around the old town and running into some Polish travelers I decide that I am going to join them in their day trip to Palestine, specifically to visit the Little Town of Bethlehem.



Near Damascus Gate we find a minibus stand and there we take the local route to the border crossing into Palestine. The border crossing looks like a maximum security prison, not that I would know what a maximum security prison actually looks likes. But if I were to imagine a maximum security prison or from all the ones depicted on TV, this border crossing definitely fits that vision. There are high walls lined with barbed wire. There are several chain link fences around the outside that funnel into the main entrance of the structure.



Inside the border crossing we queue up behind two booths along with all the locals. When an Israeli guard sees us he waves us over and we by-pass the 20 or 30 people in front of us and walk directly through the gate. We didn’t even have to flash our passport and thus the fact that I didn’t even have an Israeli entry stamp didn’t come into play.



On the other side, a line of taxis wait to rip off tourists. After bargaining with 10x what the rates should be, we start walking on foot and finally a taxi driver chases after us with the standard rate. We are taken into the touristy heart of Bethlehem.



The Church of Nativity is where Jesus was born and it is the main attraction of Bethlehem. There is a long queue to see the star that marks the exact spot where Mary gave birth to Jesus. We visit several other churches that are historically/religiously important such as the Milk Grotta Church where Mary hid Jesus away from the massacre of males in Bethlehem.



I got a bunch of pictures of churches and significant sites, however my favorite was towards the end of the day. We are walking the narrow streets of Bethlehem when two cars crossed and neither would yield. They both inch forward until they both get stuck. They get stuck and it requires several people lift up one of the cars so that pedestrian can cross. It was quite a hysterical site. I guess the Little town of Bethlehem wasn’t really designed for cars.