11/28/12 – The Battle of St. John the Baptist

We closed out the day with a visit to Ein Karem (spring of the vineyard), the birthplace of St. John the Baptist.  If all the walking we had done today wasn’t enough to do our group in, the long walk up to the Church of the Visitation would.  Dad finds it impossible to walk slowly because “it takes too long”.  Needless to say, he broke from the tired and beaten masses early on.  I heard others comment “look at him go!”

St. John's Church - aka Church of the Visitation

We paid a short visit to the church which is also known as St. John's Church.  Confusing and problematic since there is another St. John's Church a short distance down the road.  The first and older of the two claims to be the birthplace of John the Baptist, while the second, the Church of the Visitation is supposedly where Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth who was with child, the one that would be named John.  Upon seeing Elizabeth, Mary is said to have spontaneously spoken the Magnificat, the prayer that is attributed to her.

the "other" St. John's Church

The older church has the birthplace “trump card” to its credit, but its interior is a dark unfriendly mess with two small dark stained glass windows being the only poor source of natural light.  Also, the tiles on the walls looked like something out of a poorly modeled 70s home…clearly the product of an ill thought renovation a number of years ago.

The newer church has a beautiful story and the hillside scenery to back it up.  Which shrine to St. John the Baptist wins?  The battle rages on.