Desert Monastery.
An impressive sight, carved out of rock in the middle of the desert of Judea, about half an hour from Jerusalem. It's the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. George, built more than fifteen hundred years ago - a hidden gem and now accessible to tourists from all over the world. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism has finished improving access to the monastery, after carrying out repairs to a road and rebuilding a bridge that had collapsed because of erosion.
But even though it now has road access, visitors must still traverse the last part on foot. Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III requested the reconstruction. Religious leaders of various denominations attended a festive ceremony to mark the project's completion.
Carved out rock and stone at the end of the fifth century, St. George in Koziba is one of the oldest of many monasteries its kind, also known as "laure". They were built in this desert for three centuries (from the time of Constantine to the Arab invasion) and …More