Nevertheless, there is Jerusalem proper and there is suburbia. In some of the surrounding satellite towns such as Ma'ale Adumim to the east, Efrat to the north, or Beit Shemesh to the west, prices can be as much as a third to a quarter of the prices in Jerusalem. But for those who can afford it, Jerusalem offers homes in the hilly, forested area around the capital, namely Motza and Mevasseret Zion. Motza is the nearer of the two to the capital. It lies in a valley just outside Jerusalem.
Housing there is relatively expensive.
The roots of modern Motza go back nearly 150 years ago when some Jewish settlers from Jerusalem bought land for agricultural purposes. But its original roots go even farther back. The valley was used for agricultural purposes as far back as biblical times. But it first became an urban center about 2,000 years ago when the Romans built an urban center and called it Colonia. In Motza there are archeological remains of the Roman, the Byzantine, and the Crusader era.