Local Interest

• Nativity Church

  The Church of the Nativity is a basilica located in Bethlehem, Palestine. The church was originally commissioned in 327 AD by Constantine and his mother Helena over the cave that marks the birthplace of Jesus. Due to its cultural and geographical history, the site holds a prominent religious significance to those of both the Christian and Muslim faiths.

  The Church of the Nativity is a World Heritage Site, and was the first to be listed under Palestine by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

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• Solomon's Pools

  are located in the south-central West Bank, immediately to the south of the Palestinian village of al-Khader and about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) southwest of Bethlehem.  The pools consist of three open cisterns, each rectilinear pool with a 6 meters (20 ft) drop to the next, fed from an underground spring. With each pool being over 100 meters (330 ft) long, 65 meters (213 ft) wide and 10 meters (33 ft) deep, the total water capacity is approximately 200,000,000 liters (53,000,000 US gal). Consequently the pools have played a significant role in the area's water supply for centuries. King Solomon the Wise, as mentioned in the Bible, constructed these pools for his wives, reportedly one thousand in number, so that they could bathe here. The three large reservoirs, following each other in line, at a distance of 50 meters (160 ft) from each other, are partly excavated from the rock and partly built; they are intended to collect the rainwater that descends from the overlooking hills and the water of the springs of the surrounding countryside.

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• Artas monastery

  This lovely church, built at the turn of the twentieth century, is located across the Artas Valley from the village of the same name. In fact, "Artas" is thought to be derived from "Hortus Conclusus," alluding to a verse from the Song of Solomon. Ethnographers have found many parallels with that canticle in the traditions of the village. The association extends to the nearby Solomon Pools, traditionally guarded by the villagers of Artas during the Ottoman period, and equally present in their folklore. The existence of the convent in the midst of an entirely Muslim village attests to the centuries of peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land. The Solar Park adjoining the Convent often served as the site of the Annual Artas Lettuce Festival before it outgrew the space

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• Herodian Mountain

  Herodion (is a truncated cone-shaped hill, located 12 kilometres south of Jerusalem and 5 kilometres southeast of Bethlehem,West Bank. Herod the Great built a fortress, a palace, and a small town in Herodium, between 23 and 15 BCE, and has been buried there, it’s  758 meters above sea level, the highest peak in the Judean desert

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• Milk Grotto

  "Grotto of the Lady Mary" only a few minute' walk from Manger Square in Bethlehem. As the Holy Family took refuge here during the Slaughter of the Innocents. while Mary was nursing Jesus here, a drop of milk fell to the ground, turning it white. The irregularly shaped grotto is hollowed out of the soft white rock. A church was built above it by the 5th century, also you can find mosaic fragments on the terrace of the grotto. Both Christians and Muslims believe scrapings from the stones in the grotto boost the quantity of a mother's milk and enhance fertility. Mothers usually mix it in their drinking water; would-be mothers place the rock under their mattress.

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• Shepherd's field Church

  Identified since ancient times with the shepherds who saw the Star of Nativity.. There are two rival locations for the exact site, one run by the Greek Orthodox and the other by the Franciscans. Both sites have been excavated, and there have been churches and monasteries on both sites since the 4th century or earlier.

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