Today was a visit to Herod's Tomb (only recently excavated and identified) and the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Herod built a large citadel on a hill (which he first made taller). The "Herodian" stands within sight of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. It was a grand citadel with a palace and gardens below and a theater half way up and the citadel and a more private palace on top. (top photo - Peter, the hat is for you.) He had several round towers on the top including a large one that was 37 meters tall. A water system allowed him to have a garden surrounded by colonnades and a bath with tile floors and a domed roof - the oldest domed roof in Israel (photo 2). Herod's burial site was grand but archeologists found his sarcophagus in a thousand pieces...
5 kilometers away from Herod's grand testimony to his power, the church of the Nativity marks the site of Jesus' birth. Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian churches share the site. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century CE. The photo shows columns inside the Greek Orthodox church which was standing when the Crusaders visited in the 12th century.
Visiting Bethlehem brings to reality the painful conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The last photo shows a portion of the wall separating these two peoples. We passed through numerous check points, had to produce passports twice, and we had to leave our Israeli tour guide behind and pick up a Palestinian guide (who was Greek Orthodox) to visit Bethlehem . The highlight for many on this trip was sharing scripture and singing Christmas carols in Jerome's study under the church.
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