Note: The itinerary is subject to change.
WELCOME TO ISRAEL !
Shalom! "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; whose heart is set on pilgrimage" (Ps. 84:5). After the passport and customs formalities we take time to praise the Lord for journeying mercies and to ask him to bless us as we start our Holy Christian Pilgrimage. We drive northwards across the coastal plain to the ruins of the ancient city of Caesarea. We continue over the crest of Mt. Carmel and stop to see the place of contest between the Prophet Elijah and the Priests of Baal. We stop for lunch enroute before continuing to Nazareth, a town in the hill country of Galilee where Jesus lived for most of the first 30 years of His life on Earth. Visit the Basilica of the Annunciation. We check in to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 2 SEA OF GALILEE
The Sea of Galilee is an area which is rich in memories of the three years of Jesus’ ministry around its shores. We start this first full day of our pilgrimage with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee from Tiberias to Ginosar. Then we continue to Tabgha to visit the Church of Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes and Chapel of Primacy. Drive on to the Mount of Beatitudes, the scene of the Sermon on the Mount, and continue to the pilgrim shrines on the NW coast of the Sea of Galilee to visit the ancient town of Capernaum which in Jesus' day was a flourishing border town and was called "his own city" (Matth. 4:13) because of the frequency with which he visited it and the mighty works he did there. We shall also visit the ancient synagogue and the "House of Peter". We drive through the beautiful landscape of Lower Galilee, the scene of much of Jesus' ministry to Cana in Galilee, the scene of the wedding feast, where Jesus turned the water into wine (John 2:1-11). Finally this day we return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 3 JERICHO – JERUSALEM
Just before we say farewell to the Sea of Galilee early this day we will be visiting Mt. Tabor, the Mount of the Transfiguration and Mount of Temptation. From the top of the Mount there is a magnificent panoramic view over the beautiful Galilean landscape. We will then drive southwards through the Jordan Valley to Jericho, the most ancient city in the world. After lunch we drive on, stopping in the shade of a sycamore tree of the kind which Zacchaeus climbed in order to see Jesus (Lk. 19:1-10), and on through the Judean Wilderness to Jerusalem, the Holy City of God, where we shall spend the next 2 days of our stay in the Holy Land. Before checking into our hotel we shall have the opportunity of taking a first glimpse of the Holy City from one of the heights surrounding Jerusalem. Dinner and overnight.
Day 4 MT. OF OLIVES -GETHSEMANE – OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM
We begin this day with a drive to the top of the Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection. From the Mount there is a magnificent view over all of ancient and modern Jerusalem, the center of the biblical world. We visit the holy shrines on the Mount and walk on down the “Palm Sunday Road” visiting the Chapel of Dominus Flevit (Jesus wept) enroute to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations where Christ prayed on the night of His betrayal (Luke 22: 40-46). Next we shall enter within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and walk in the footsteps of our Lord as he bore the burden of our sins to the Cross at Golgotha. We visit the Pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed the man who had been crippled for 38 -years (John.5:1-9) and walk on following the 14 Stations of the Cross from Pilate’s Judgment Hall to the empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Then we stop for a time at the Western (Wailing) Wall, the most holy shrine of the Jewish people. We end this memorable day with a visit to the Garden Tomb and Gordon's Golgotha. Dinner and overnight.
Day 5 MT. ZION - BETHLEHEM
After breakfast drive to Mt. Zion to visit the Upper Room and the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, which is built over the ruins of the Palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest before whom Jesus was brought for trial (Mark 14: 53-65). We visit the room of the last supper and King David's Tomb. In the early afternoon we shall drive to Bethlehem and after lunch we shall visit the Basilica of the Nativity where there will be the opportunity to kneel at the birthplace of Christ in the Grotto of the Nativity. Before returning to Jerusalem we shall visit the Field of the Shepherds' where the Angel of the Lord proclaimed the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Dinner and overnight.
Day 6 DEAD SEA – EILAT
After breakfast we shall depart Jerusalem and drive to the Dead Sea where we shall visit Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written over 2000 years ago. We continue to the "AHAVA" plant where we can buy Dead Sea products and have a dip in the mineral rich waters of the Dead Sea. After lunch we continue our drive through the Arava (plain of Jordan) to Eilat. Dinner and overnight in Eilat.
Day 7 THABA BORDER – MT. SINAI
This morning we shall visit the underwater observatory, displaying the richest presentation of animal life in the Red Sea. We enjoy an early lunch and continue to Taba border. After border formalities, we cross the border into Egypt. We drive inland through the Sinai Desert, where the children of Israel wandered for 40 years before being finally allowed to enter the Promised Land. In the late afternoon we arrive at the Holy Mount, at which Israel became a nation under God's law. Check in to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 8 MT. SINAI – EILAT
Before dawn this day we shall have the opportunity to climb the Mount where "Moses went up to God, and the Lord called unto him out of the midst of the cloud" (Exodus 24:12-13). Here the great Lawgiver, Prophet and leader of the Israelites from Egypt received the Tablets of Testimony on which the 10 commandments were engraved. After seeing the beautiful sunrise from this awesome place we shall descend the Mount and enjoy breakfast at our hotel. We shall visit the 600 year old Monastery of St. Catherine with the traditional site of the "Burning Bush". Lunch enroute before we drive back to Thaba border. After the border crossing, we return to our hotel in Eilat for dinner and overnight.
Day 9 EILAT – BEERSHEVA – TEL AVIV
We set out after breakfast driving northwards across the Wilderness of Zin to the Mizpe Ramon Crater and after lunch we drive northwards via Beersheba, the city of Abraham and capital of the Negev Desert. We continue our drive northwards and arrive in the city of Tel Aviv in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight in Tel Aviv.
Day 10 TEL AVIV – DAY AT LEISURE
Day at leisure in Tel Aviv.
Day 11 DEPARTURE
Departure to Ben Gurion Airport for departure flight.
WELCOME TO ISRAEL !
Shalom! "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; whose heart is set on pilgrimage" (Ps. 84:5). After the passport and customs formalities we take time to praise the Lord for journeying mercies and to ask him to bless us as we start our Holy Christian Pilgrimage. We drive northwards across the coastal plain to the ruins of the ancient city of Caesarea. We continue over the crest of Mt. Carmel and stop to see the place of contest between the Prophet Elijah and the Priests of Baal. We stop for lunch enroute before continuing to Nazareth, a town in the hill country of Galilee where Jesus lived for most of the first 30 years of His life on Earth. Visit the Basilica of the Annunciation. We check in to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 2 SEA OF GALILEE
The Sea of Galilee is an area which is rich in memories of the three years of Jesus’ ministry around its shores. We start this first full day of our pilgrimage with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee from Tiberias to Ginosar. Then we continue to Tabgha to visit the Church of Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes and Chapel of Primacy. Drive on to the Mount of Beatitudes, the scene of the Sermon on the Mount, and continue to the pilgrim shrines on the NW coast of the Sea of Galilee to visit the ancient town of Capernaum which in Jesus' day was a flourishing border town and was called "his own city" (Matth. 4:13) because of the frequency with which he visited it and the mighty works he did there. We shall also visit the ancient synagogue and the "House of Peter". We drive through the beautiful landscape of Lower Galilee, the scene of much of Jesus' ministry to Cana in Galilee, the scene of the wedding feast, where Jesus turned the water into wine (John 2:1-11). Finally this day we return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 3 JERICHO – JERUSALEM
Just before we say farewell to the Sea of Galilee early this day we will be visiting Mt. Tabor, the Mount of the Transfiguration and Mount of Temptation. From the top of the Mount there is a magnificent panoramic view over the beautiful Galilean landscape. We will then drive southwards through the Jordan Valley to Jericho, the most ancient city in the world. After lunch we drive on, stopping in the shade of a sycamore tree of the kind which Zacchaeus climbed in order to see Jesus (Lk. 19:1-10), and on through the Judean Wilderness to Jerusalem, the Holy City of God, where we shall spend the next 2 days of our stay in the Holy Land. Before checking into our hotel we shall have the opportunity of taking a first glimpse of the Holy City from one of the heights surrounding Jerusalem. Dinner and overnight.
Day 4 MT. OF OLIVES -GETHSEMANE – OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM
We begin this day with a drive to the top of the Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection. From the Mount there is a magnificent view over all of ancient and modern Jerusalem, the center of the biblical world. We visit the holy shrines on the Mount and walk on down the “Palm Sunday Road” visiting the Chapel of Dominus Flevit (Jesus wept) enroute to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations where Christ prayed on the night of His betrayal (Luke 22: 40-46). Next we shall enter within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and walk in the footsteps of our Lord as he bore the burden of our sins to the Cross at Golgotha. We visit the Pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed the man who had been crippled for 38 -years (John.5:1-9) and walk on following the 14 Stations of the Cross from Pilate’s Judgment Hall to the empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Then we stop for a time at the Western (Wailing) Wall, the most holy shrine of the Jewish people. We end this memorable day with a visit to the Garden Tomb and Gordon's Golgotha. Dinner and overnight.
Day 5 MT. ZION - BETHLEHEM
After breakfast drive to Mt. Zion to visit the Upper Room and the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, which is built over the ruins of the Palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest before whom Jesus was brought for trial (Mark 14: 53-65). We visit the room of the last supper and King David's Tomb. In the early afternoon we shall drive to Bethlehem and after lunch we shall visit the Basilica of the Nativity where there will be the opportunity to kneel at the birthplace of Christ in the Grotto of the Nativity. Before returning to Jerusalem we shall visit the Field of the Shepherds' where the Angel of the Lord proclaimed the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Dinner and overnight.
Day 6 DEAD SEA – EILAT
After breakfast we shall depart Jerusalem and drive to the Dead Sea where we shall visit Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written over 2000 years ago. We continue to the "AHAVA" plant where we can buy Dead Sea products and have a dip in the mineral rich waters of the Dead Sea. After lunch we continue our drive through the Arava (plain of Jordan) to Eilat. Dinner and overnight in Eilat.
Day 7 THABA BORDER – MT. SINAI
This morning we shall visit the underwater observatory, displaying the richest presentation of animal life in the Red Sea. We enjoy an early lunch and continue to Taba border. After border formalities, we cross the border into Egypt. We drive inland through the Sinai Desert, where the children of Israel wandered for 40 years before being finally allowed to enter the Promised Land. In the late afternoon we arrive at the Holy Mount, at which Israel became a nation under God's law. Check in to our hotel for dinner and overnight.
Day 8 MT. SINAI – EILAT
Before dawn this day we shall have the opportunity to climb the Mount where "Moses went up to God, and the Lord called unto him out of the midst of the cloud" (Exodus 24:12-13). Here the great Lawgiver, Prophet and leader of the Israelites from Egypt received the Tablets of Testimony on which the 10 commandments were engraved. After seeing the beautiful sunrise from this awesome place we shall descend the Mount and enjoy breakfast at our hotel. We shall visit the 600 year old Monastery of St. Catherine with the traditional site of the "Burning Bush". Lunch enroute before we drive back to Thaba border. After the border crossing, we return to our hotel in Eilat for dinner and overnight.
Day 9 EILAT – BEERSHEVA – TEL AVIV
We set out after breakfast driving northwards across the Wilderness of Zin to the Mizpe Ramon Crater and after lunch we drive northwards via Beersheba, the city of Abraham and capital of the Negev Desert. We continue our drive northwards and arrive in the city of Tel Aviv in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight in Tel Aviv.
Day 10 TEL AVIV – DAY AT LEISURE
Day at leisure in Tel Aviv.
Day 11 DEPARTURE
Departure to Ben Gurion Airport for departure flight.