Nativity Church Bethlehem
Bethlehem Nativity Church
Nativity Church in Bethlehem, West Bank commemorates the birth of Jesus, which
according to the Bible was to a poor girl in a Bethlehem barn (which during the first
century was filled with animal excrement) before being wrapped and placed
in a manger - an animal food bowl. The humility of that birth is lost on
Bethlehem's
hulking (see the men at bottom left) Nativity Church, which is actually a
hodgepodge of buildings added to this site in over the centuries by the various orders of the
Catholic and Orthodox churches when they wielded power in what is now the
West Bank. The result isn't exactly
an eye pleaser.
Travel Tip
My taxi driver took a visibly circuitous route to drop me off at his "cousin's" gift shop at the rear of the Nativity Church and asked me to shop while he fetched a "free" tour guide (who wasn't free). Those with less time than I had may wish to pinpoint that their destination is the Church's front gate, which is the little black door an inch in from the picture's bottom left corner.
Travel Tip
My taxi driver took a visibly circuitous route to drop me off at his "cousin's" gift shop at the rear of the Nativity Church and asked me to shop while he fetched a "free" tour guide (who wasn't free). Those with less time than I had may wish to pinpoint that their destination is the Church's front gate, which is the little black door an inch in from the picture's bottom left corner.