Day 6 of my trip to Israel was a very rainy day. It was the first day we woke up in Jerusalem. Aside from our evening Holy Hour in Gethsemane, this was our first chance to explore from Jerusalem. We would go to Ein Karem. These sites point us in the direction of Jesus. Later in the day, we would visit Bethlehem, so we had to make sure we had our passports handy in case we had any issues getting in or out of that town. But that's later.
Our bus parked along the main route through town. That's a lower area. We had to hike up a hill in the rain to get to the church that's at the site where John the Baptist was born. We started with this chapel that was near the main site.
But then we went into the main church. The line was long. I stood near the entryway because the line stretched from the left of the altar area, to the right, and then back to the entry. That gave me time to check out the interior. But it was under significant renovation.
The view was terrible.
All of the walls were lined with blue and white tiles. The Spanish were instrumental in this church, so their influence is very visible. But the timing of our visit made the scaffolding very visible.
The scaffolding even made many of the views of the main altar and tabernacle less than ideal.
Some statues appear on each side. The photos I'm sharing don't make it as obvious as it was in person when I saw the cracks in the bases of the statues. It became clear that this place did need some fixing.
A close-up view of some of the damage that I'm sure led to the renovation appears in this photo of the cracked tiles.
I didn't have as much to see as usual, so I looked up at the stained glass windows surrounding the dome. I saw more scaffolding up there.
I finally saw the entrance to the oldest part of the church. This leads down to the birthplace of John the Baptist.
I loved the way the photo above and below turned out without any color or lighting correction.
An early view shows bedrock above, and the illuminated area that's in the bottom of the photo light the birthplace of John.
Above that spot.
The spot itself.
Even closer.
To the left.
To the right.
The wall had this lining it. It looked really nice.
Stepping back, this is the view with the nice floor and the components I already showed.
Because of the rain, we didn't linger outside. This is also a very hilly area, so we had to watch our steps outside. So we looked down and hurried from place to place. When the day comes that I go back, I will want to explore this and other sites from this day in more detail. It's strange not to have any notable photos of the exterior of the church.
If you want to see the interior of this church with the ability to pan around, you can visit a site that I found after the trip. It's great to see these sites in the way they depicted them. I sometimes wish some sites had their 360-degree views taken from a slightly different perspective, and I wish I could point directly a given site. Instead, I have to point to the site, and then tell you what to pull up. Otherwise, I may have pointed to the site earlier.
Note, the site is a bit processor-intensive. My computer's fan tends to kick in after a while of being on the site. I usually mute the music that changes per location. In the case of this church, it is the one site that appears to be incorrectly identified. It appears as "Pater Noster Church Inside" (the church of the Our Father, which we visit later in the trip). The spot where St. John the Baptist was born also appears as "St.John the Baptist Church" (no space after "St.")
https://www.p4panorama.com/panos/HOLYLAND/
John the Baptist prepared the way of our LORD. He would point people to Jesus. He would precede Jesus by six months. So this is a very appropriate site to start our time in the Jerusalem area. This is roughly 4 miles west of the Temple Mount. The site is marked with the red marker. Gethsemane appears near the right side of the map, with the Old City just across the Kidron Valley that's to the west of it. I've seen the place spelled Ein Karem and Ein Kerem. It has a long "a" sound.
 |
| Birthplace of John the Baptist |
Our bus parked along the main route through town. That's a lower area. We had to hike up a hill in the rain to get to the church that's at the site where John the Baptist was born. We started with this chapel that was near the main site.
But then we went into the main church. The line was long. I stood near the entryway because the line stretched from the left of the altar area, to the right, and then back to the entry. That gave me time to check out the interior. But it was under significant renovation.
 |
| Entry, looking back at it from inside |
The view was terrible.
 |
| Saint John the Baptist Church (under renovation) |
All of the walls were lined with blue and white tiles. The Spanish were instrumental in this church, so their influence is very visible. But the timing of our visit made the scaffolding very visible.
The scaffolding even made many of the views of the main altar and tabernacle less than ideal.
Some statues appear on each side. The photos I'm sharing don't make it as obvious as it was in person when I saw the cracks in the bases of the statues. It became clear that this place did need some fixing.
A close-up view of some of the damage that I'm sure led to the renovation appears in this photo of the cracked tiles.
I didn't have as much to see as usual, so I looked up at the stained glass windows surrounding the dome. I saw more scaffolding up there.
I finally saw the entrance to the oldest part of the church. This leads down to the birthplace of John the Baptist.
I loved the way the photo above and below turned out without any color or lighting correction.
An early view shows bedrock above, and the illuminated area that's in the bottom of the photo light the birthplace of John.
Above that spot.
The spot itself.
Even closer.
To the left.
To the right.
The wall had this lining it. It looked really nice.
Stepping back, this is the view with the nice floor and the components I already showed.
Because of the rain, we didn't linger outside. This is also a very hilly area, so we had to watch our steps outside. So we looked down and hurried from place to place. When the day comes that I go back, I will want to explore this and other sites from this day in more detail. It's strange not to have any notable photos of the exterior of the church.
If you want to see the interior of this church with the ability to pan around, you can visit a site that I found after the trip. It's great to see these sites in the way they depicted them. I sometimes wish some sites had their 360-degree views taken from a slightly different perspective, and I wish I could point directly a given site. Instead, I have to point to the site, and then tell you what to pull up. Otherwise, I may have pointed to the site earlier.
Note, the site is a bit processor-intensive. My computer's fan tends to kick in after a while of being on the site. I usually mute the music that changes per location. In the case of this church, it is the one site that appears to be incorrectly identified. It appears as "Pater Noster Church Inside" (the church of the Our Father, which we visit later in the trip). The spot where St. John the Baptist was born also appears as "St.John the Baptist Church" (no space after "St.")
https://www.p4panorama.com/panos/HOLYLAND/
John the Baptist prepared the way of our LORD. He would point people to Jesus. He would precede Jesus by six months. So this is a very appropriate site to start our time in the Jerusalem area. This is roughly 4 miles west of the Temple Mount. The site is marked with the red marker. Gethsemane appears near the right side of the map, with the Old City just across the Kidron Valley that's to the west of it. I've seen the place spelled Ein Karem and Ein Kerem. It has a long "a" sound.
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