Bethlehem is ten minutes south across the West Bank checkpoint — the Church of the Nativity and Banksy's "Walled Off Hotel" are both here. Jericho, the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, is 40 minutes east across the Judean Desert. Masada and the Dead Sea are a long half-day out — float, then climb the Snake Path at sunrise. Ein Kerem, a quiet hillside town believed to be the birthplace of John the Baptist, is technically still within Jerusalem and reachable on bus 28; churches, monasteries, cafés. The monastery wineries around Latrun, Deir Rafat and Beit Jamal run free tastings and are a good afternoon with a car.