Today was one of our rather exciting days! We had to go into Bethlehem, which is off limits to any Israeli's. But we first started our day out by going to one of the palaces of Herod the Great, Herodiom. It was built on top of a mountain that looks like a volcano. It was not one of his largest palaces but it was one of his best protected ones. The most exciting thing found there in recent years is actually the tomb of Herod himself. We saw the excavation site that is still being worked on. We exited the palace by going through the waterway tunnels. They were really spacious which was surprising compared to some of the others we have gone through.
Next we went to Bethlehem. When we got to the borders of the city we had to switch buses and guides because they had to be Palestinian and not Israeli. We had to go through a security checkpoint and also a huge wall that is built along the Palestinian territory. Our time in Bethlehem was very interesting. We first saw the Church of the Nativity. Three churches have been built on top of the cave that Jesus was born in. The churches were beautiful, and one of them was actually one of the oldest churches in the world. The other one was built by the Crusaders. The best part though was going down into the cave and seeing the manger and the birthplace of Jesus. It was so inspiring knowing that we were right in the exact place that our Saviour was born 2000 years ago...
Our next stop in Bethlehem was Bethlehem Bible College. We had a lecture there and learned more about the Palestinian view of things rather than the Israeli side. The Palestinians are quite bitter and want more than anything to have the wall in Israel torn down. We learned about the one state and two state solutions and how Israel is not accepting any. It was an interesting lecture to end an interesting day!
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