Birth Place Of The Virgin Mary

On our second day in Jerusalem, we were brought to the Church of St Anne's with the Pool of Bethesda, incidentally also the site where the Virgin Mary was supposedly born. Unfortunately, the place was closed that day as there was a graduation ceremony for priests, so this itinerary was shifted to our last day in Jerusalem.

It was also on this site that Jesus often went to visit with his maternal grandparents. The Church of St Anne was built on the site. We had the priviledge of going in to sing, and the church has the most beautiful natural acoustics in there! Anyone can just sing and the voices and hymns will sound so beautiful! Imagine going there to sing Christmas carols, how beautiful that will sound!

In any case, the birth place of the Virgin Mary was in the basement, in an erected room which was supposedly the exact site. Pool of Bethesda is in the outdoor compound, but the pools are mostly dried up now.

The church has a very beautiful garden in its grounds.

 Entrance to the church

 The altar. Look at the way the church is structured, the acoustics just flow!

 The roof of the church

 See this picture with a baby? This was supposedly the site where Mary was born.

 These stairs lead down to the room where Mary was supposedly born.

 These other stairs also lead down to the same place.

 The compound of the Pool of Bethesda

Being a Catholic, I am more interested in the so-called "Catholic" sites that involve the Virgin Mary. Unfortunately, we did not manage to cover a lot in this trip. Hence I was pleased that Church of St Anne was included in the itinerary, and the tour guide kindly brought us back even when it was closed. Hopefully if I ever go back there I can cover more Catholic sites!

Bethlehem

On the third day of our stay in Jerusalem, we had the priviledge of going to Bethlehem. I said priviledge because for some reason, Bethlehem is under Palestine territory, so there has to be a special permission for Israelis to go there.

Unfortunately, we did not manage to go to the Church of the Nativity, the site where Jesus was supposed to have been born, but we did manage to see a little of the new Bethlehem town, as well as old Bethlehem city, and the Shepherd's Field where the angels came to the shepherds telling them about the birth of Jesus.

 Can you see the words? Gloria In Excelsis Deo!

 Church of the Shepherd Fields

We went to a Palestinian Evangelist Church for Sunday service. It was a different experience for all of us!

After that we went on to the old part of Bethlehem for lunch.

Can you see? The appropriately named "Manger Street"

After lunch, we went back to Jerusalem and continued our tour for the rest of the days. Bethlehem is a cosy place, but unfortunately, I did not manage to spend enough time there. If I ever go back to Israel again, I will definitely spend more time in Bethlehem, and go to the Church of Nativity as well!