Today is our last full day of touring in Israel and we begin by heading south towards Bethlehem. We drive to Beit Sahour for a view of the Shepherds’ Fields. At nearby Bethlehem, we visit the Church of Nativity to see the Grotto with a star marking the traditional place where Jesus was born.
Next, we will stop at another fortress built by Herod the Great, called Herodium. He built this as a place to flee to if Jerusalem ever rebelled. Recently, what is believed to be his tomb has been found on the hillside.
There will be time for shopping in Bethlehem, an excellent place to buy beautiful items hand-carved from olive wood and see one of the original Dead Sea Scroll pots.
For some additional on buying olive-wood sets in Bethlehem, read one of my older blog posts:
http://fpeb.blogspot.com/2009/04/bethlehem-olivewood.html
We next travel the Emmaus road to the Valley of Elah, where David slew Goliath.
We will take a small hike into one of the most exciting new archaeological excavations in Israel in the past few years: Khirbet Qeiyafa.
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