St George's Monastery

20km/12.5mi from Jerusalem on the road to Jericho a side road signposted to the monastery goes off on the left. This leads to a parking lot on the left of the road, from the rather higher north side of which there is a first view into the gorge of the Wadi Qilt. From the parking lot a track suitable only for all-terrain vehicles runs northeast (about 1.25 hours on foot) to a hill with a cross, from which there is a view of the Greek Orthodox monastery of St George and, far to the left, a rivulet flowing down the hillside from a spring, water from which is channeled to the monastery. The stony track continues (another half-hour's walk) to the entrance to the monastery, which clings precariously to the sheer north face of the gorge (it lies