Jerusalem - En Karem

En Karem Road in Jerusalem runs down into the En Karem valley (4km/2.5mi). According to a Christian tradition going back at least as far as the fifth or sixth century the village of En Karem was the home of Zacharias and Elizabeth, where Mary visited her pregnant cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1,39-56) and where Elizabeth's son John the Baptist was born (Luke 1,57-66). From the main road a street on the right leads to the Franciscan friary of St John. The church was built in the 17th century over the Grotto of St John, traditionally John's birthplace. In another grotto near the entrance to the church is a mosaic of the fifth or sixth century depicting peacocks and doves, with a Greek inscription "Greetings to God's martyr". The church has fine wrought-iron screens. Steps lead down to the crypt, the Grotto of St John, with a marble slab bearing the inscription "Hic praecursor Domini natus est" ("Here the forerunner of the Lord was born"). Round the walls are reliefs of scenes from the life of John the Baptist.