Known as Beit Lahm in Arabic, this town of 29,000, just a 20- to 30-minute drive south of Jerusalem, is celebrated as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, and so it has traditionally been by far the West Bank´s most important Christian pilgrimage destination, with its top site being the Church of the Nativity, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Manger Square whose current structure was built under the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the 6th century and of course enlarged over the centuries, to cover more than 129,000 square feet. Besides a main nave and four side aisles, its star attraction, so to speak (marked by a 14-point silver star) is a grotto crypt under the main altar where Christ is said to have been born. Other notable site: the Chapel of the Milk Grotto, where traditional has it that Mary and Joseph hunkered down with baby Jesus during King Herod´s "massacre of the innocents" (so named because the rock supposedly turned white after a few drops of milk fell from Mary´s breasts); Shepherd´s Field just outside town, said to be where angels announced the birth of Jesus to local herders (and marked by a pair of churches, one Catholic and one Greek Orthodox); and Rachel´s Tomb, an Ottoman-era structure said to be the burial site of an Old Testament matriarch and honored by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, Apart from all that, there's a highly atmospheric old town of stone buildings and cobblestone streets (such as the main thoroughfare Star Street) to explore, including a Bethlehem Museum; the Al Badd Museum of Oil Production; the Baituna Al Talhami Museum (an historical house showcasing Palestinian heritage); Palestinian Heritage Centre; and a series of thought-provoking Banksy street murals painted in 2005 (including images of a dove in a bulletproof vest; a girl frisking a soldier; and a masked Palestinian about to hurl a bouquet of flowers instead of a rock or Molotov cocktail).
Read more in my post The Top 10 Musts in the West Bank of Palestine - Plus 1 More.
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