Tour of Bethlehem and Jericho:
The tour goes to the Good Samaritan Inn and to the location of Jesus ' famous parable in Bethlehem and Jericho. We visit Wadi Kelt and see a St. George monastery hanging over 5th-century cliffs and stopping briefly along, the ' sea level ' sign before we descend to Jericho.
The walls of Jericho were dropped in the Old Testament, as Joshua marched about the perimeter of his army on behalf of God. The New Testament Zacchaeus saw Jesus entering Jericho by the tax collector climbing a sycamore-fig tree. We see the famous sycamore tree on our tour of Jericho. We're not far from Jericho to see Mount Temptation.
Here the devil tried to tempt Him to forsake God for 40 days in the wilderness.
The journey starts from Jericho to Bethlehem, where Christ was born more than 2000 years ago. The trip to Bethlehem takes place on Manger square, visiting the Nativity Church, the cave of Jesus ' birth and the original mosaic excavated from the fourth century. The church today is an exquisite treasure trove. A silver star shows the exact place in the Holy Grotto where Christ was born.
The next in Bethlehem will be the legendary church named St. Catherine church. We go below the church to an old cellar where the Hebrew bible was translated into Latin by St. Jerome. On our way back to Jerusalem we leave Bethlehem and pass through the field of Shepherds. Here, on Christmas Eve, shepherds looked at their herds by night. The tour of Bethlehem and Jericho comes to an end after a thrilling and spiritually charged journey. The distance of Jerusalem from Bethlehem is around 8.89 km. And from Jericho the distance is 25.6km.
History of Bethlehem and Jericho? Why visit these places?
It is a center of Palestinian culture and tourism and the seat of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority. According to the Christian tradition, Bethlehem is the hometown of Jesus of Nazareth, and one of the oldest Christian communities in the world lives there, although, in recent years, the size of the community has declined due to emigration.
The city is also believed to be David's birthplace according to Biblical tradition. The city was sacked in 529 AD by the Romans following an uprising and rebuilt by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. The Islamic Caliphate of' Umar ibn al-Khattāb conquered Bethlehem in 637, guaranteeing security for the city's religious sanctuaries. Crusaders captured Bethlehem in 1099, fortifying it and substitution of a Latin for its Greek Orthodox clergy. After Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, captured the city, the Latin clergy were expelled. The city walls were demolished with the arrival of the Mamluks in 1250 and later rebuilt during the Ottoman Empire rule.
During World War I the Ottomans lost the town to the British and were to be included in the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine 1947 in an international area. In the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, Jordan was occupied in the city, and in 1967 Six-Day War Israel was subsequently occupied. Israel retained control over the entry and departure of Bethlehem, but since 1995 the Palestinian authority has been responsible for day-to-day administration.
Places to visit in Bethlehem:
- The church of Nativity of Bethlehem is the top of the town's tourist list and is called Jesus Christ's birthplace. Since the Byzantine Emperor Constantine built a chapel here in the 4th century AD, this church has continuously sat here. This was replaced by a basilica of the 6th century ordered by Emperor Justinian, built in the 12th century by the cruises.
- Milk Grotto: The Holy Family's house, after Herod ordered the murder of all infant boys, was stated to be the place of refuge in Egypt before they fled to the cave. The legend says that a drop of the blood of Mary fell on the ground and whitened the rock. Some believe that a visit to this location helps fertility, so the small 5 m by 10 m Grotto is a favorite place of pilgrimage for women in trouble. With letters of past visitors, the inner walls are covered.
- Manger Square is the center of modern Bethlehem and is surrounded by cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. On the eastern side of the square, there is the Nativity Church, and on the west is the Mosque of Omar. Although the mosque is contemporary (constructed in 1860), the name of the mosque is very beautiful.
Places to visit in Jericho:
- Here's Jericho Tell, the top thing to do. The ancient 21 m (settlement mound), also known as the Sultan Tell, is located 2.5 kilometers northwest of the main square of Jericho, opposite Elisha's Spring (also known as the Sultan's Spring). In 1860, archaeological work on this site began, but until the British excavations of 1930 and 1931 nothing of real importance was found.
- Hisham Palace built by the 10th obeyed Caliph Hisham in 724 AD, this 8th-century palace was never completed. It was ruined completely by the 746 AD Earthquake and remained ignored by British archeologists in 1937.
- The Quadrantal hillside is a significant factor in the Christian tradition in the north-west of central Jericho. To Christian visits who know the mountain as the Mount of Temptation, Jesus Christ fasted after John the Baptist had baptized This is a significant area of interest.on the Jordan River. In 340, on the top of the hill, St. Chariton built a chapel and another was constructed by the cellar in which the Lord said he had sheltered.