The church of the convent is erected on the spot where the house of Zacharias once stood, and a chapel commemorates the place where St.
John first beheld the light.

The ascent to this chapel is by a staircase, where a round tablet of stone bears the inscription, "HIC PRAECURSOR DOMINI CHRISTI NATUS EST." Many events of the prophet's life are here portrayed by sculptures in white marble.
About a mile from the convent we find the "Grotto of Visitation," where St.Mary met St.Elizabeth.

The remains of the latter are interred here.
On the very first day of my arrival at Jerusalem I had made some observations, during a visit to the church of St.Francis, which gave me any thing but a high opinion of the behaviour of the Catholics here.

This unfavourable impression was confirmed by subsequent visits to the church, so that at length I felt obliged to tell Father Paul that I would rather pray at home than among people who seemed to attend to any thing rather than their devotions.

My Frankish costume seemed to be such a stumbling-block in the eyes of these people, that at length a priest came to me, and requested that I would make an alteration in my dress, or at any rate exchange my straw hat for a veil, in which I could muffle my head and face.