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Day 1 - Saturday: Johannesburg – Tel Aviv
Evening departure from Johannesburg with El Al. Dinner will be served on board. (D)
Day 2 – Sunday: Early morning arrival in Israel – Tel Aviv – Jaffa - Caesarea Maritima
Light breakfast on board prior to landing. On arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, you will meet your driver and guide who will be with you for the duration of your tour in the Holy Land. Drive through the modern city of Tel Aviv, founded 100 years ago on the Mediterranean shore. Next have a short tour of the ancient port city of Jaffa ("Joppa"), from where the prophet Jonah set sail, and where the "cedars of Lebanon", sent by the Phoenicians, arrived to be used in King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Drive north along the fertile coastal plain. Stop in Caesarea Maritima, King Herod’s masterpiece city, built to impress the emperor in Rome as well as the local population. See the ancient theatre, hippodrome for horse and chariot races, and Herod's private palace, as well as the Crusader city. Travel north to your hotel for the night.
Dinner and overnight: Haifa area. (B,D)
Day 3 - Monday: Haifa – Mt. Carmel – View of Bahai Gardens – Muhraqa – Druze village – Megiddo/Armageddon – Nazareth - Nazareth Village – Cana
Your first Israeli breakfast. See the beautiful coastal city of Haifa, and a panoramic view of the magnificent Bahai Gardens. Drive along Mount Carmel to the Carmelite Monastery of Muhraqa, where tradition holds that the prophet Elijah defeated the pagan priests of Ba’al. From here you will also have a panoramic view of the fertile Jezreel Valley (Valley of Armageddon). Stop in a Druze village and learn about these interesting and friendly people, and sample delicious Middle Eastern food. Next travel through the Jezreel Valley to the site of Megiddo/Armageddon, and discover why this tel (archaeological mound), which holds 5,000 years of accumulated cities, is viewed as the place for the “Cataclysm of the End of Days.” See the stables and gateway built by King Solomon nearly 3,000 years ago. Continue to Nazareth, the town where Jesus spent His childhood, and visit the Church of the Annunciation and also Mary’s Well. Then experience Nazareth Village, a unique reconstruction of what first century Nazareth looked like on an actual ancient agricultural site. Finally, see the village of Cana where the first miracle of turning water into wine took place. Arrive at your hotel in the Galilee.
Dinner and overnight: Galilee. (B,D)
Day 4 - Tuesday: Sea of Galilee – Mt. Beatitudes – Tel Dan – Caesarea Phillipi/Banias – Golan Heights – Mount Bental – Yardenit Baptism Site
Breakfast in your hotel. Today and tomorrow explore sites around the lovely scenic Sea of Galilee, and in the northern Galilee and Golan Heights (Biblical “Bashan”) with their extensive archaeological evidence and rich traditions relating to the early part of the Christian era. Begin on Mount Beatitudes, where the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. Then drive up to the unique nature reserve and antiquities at Tel Dan with its Canaanite city gate from the time of Abraham (3,800 years old) and Israelite city built by King Ahab (only 2,900 years old!), as well as bubbling springs and rivers that are sources of the Jordan River. Next have a brief visit to the fascinating park at Caesarea Philippi/Banias, with its Roman pagan ruins and beautiful pools under Mount Hermon, and the traditional place where Peter confessed his faith in Jesus. Continue up to the Golan Heights to see the extraordinary view from Mt. Bental and learn about the geo-political issues in the area. End this day at the Yardenit Baptismal Site on the Jordan River, where the river meets the Sea of Galilee. (Baptismal service can be arranged).
Dinner and overnight: Galilee. (B,D)
Day 5 - Wednesday: Sea of Galilee Boat Ride – Capernaum – Tabgha – Bethsaida – Jordan River Valley – Jerusalem
Breakfast in the hotel. Start the day with a Boat Ride on the Sea of Galilee followed by a visit to Capernaum, hometown of St Peter and also Jesus’ headquarters during His ministry in the Galilee. Next stop is at Tabgha, the site of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, and nearby the place traditionally linked to Jesus telling Peter to become a “Fisher of Men”. Continue to the first century town of Bethsaida, currently being excavated, which although it was home to at least three of the Disciples and is mentioned in all four Gospels, was only discovered and identified in recent times. Then travel south along the Jordan River Valley, passing by the modern city of Jericho, with a view also to the Mount of Temptation. From here begin to "ascend" to the Holy City of Jerusalem, driving through the stark and beautiful Judean Desert. Arrive at your hotel in Jerusalem.
Dinner and overnight: Jerusalem. (B,D)
Day 6 - Thursday: Jerusalem – Haas Promenade – Southern Wall Staircase – Western (“Wailing”) Wall – Cardo – Pool of Bethesda – St. Anne's Church – Via Dolorosa – Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Breakfast in your hotel. Begin your exploration of ancient Jerusalem with the magnificent view from the Haas Promenade. Tour the Southern Wall excavations of the Temple Mount, and walk on the stairs where Jesus taught, that led into the Temple. Then visit the Western Wall, remnant of the foundation of the Second Temple from the time of Jesus, and holiest site of Judaism. Walk along the Cardo, the main road of Roman/Byzantine Jerusalem, beautifully restored for some modern-day shopping. See Bethesda Pool where Jesus healed the lame man, and the Church of St. Anne. Nearby is the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, with remains of the Antonia Fortress, where Jesus was kept in prison. Follow the Via Dolorosa ("Way of the Agonies"), the path Jesus walked to the Crucifixion, leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Calvary and Burial of Jesus. Walk through the bazaar area.
Dinner and overnight: Jerusalem. (B,D)
Day 7 - Friday: Dead Sea – Masada – Swim in the Dead Sea – Ein Gedi
Breakfast in your hotel. Drive down through the Judean desert on your way to the lowest point on earth - the Dead Sea, located some 400 metres below sea level. Ascend the rock of Masada by cable car, walk through palaces built by Herod the Great and see evidence of the heroic struggle and last stand of the Jews against the Roman 10th Legion nearly 2000 years ago.
View the caves at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and talk about their significance. Stop at the Dead Sea and enjoy a “swim” in the salty, mineral rich waters. Enjoy a walk in the beautiful oasis of Ein Gedi, where David hid in one of the many caves from King Saul who was seeking to kill him. See the pools and waterfall. Return to Jerusalem.
Dinner and overnight: Jerusalem. (B,D)
Day 8 - Saturday: Bethlehem – Jerusalem – Mount of Olives – Gethsemane – Dominus Flevit – Mount Zion – Shopping
Sleep a little later this morning. Breakfast in your hotel. Start the day’s touring in Bethlehem, where you will see fields with sheep grazing and it is easy to imagine how it must have been 2000 years ago. Visit the Church of the Nativity the traditional place of Jesus' Birth. Return to Jerusalem and walk on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Old City. Visit the Church of Dominus Flevit, where Jesus “wept” over the future of Jerusalem, and the Garden of Gethsemane, where He hid from the Romans and was arrested. Next to the garden, see the Church of All Nations (also called "Church of the Agony"). Visit Mount Zion, where some traditions place King David's tomb and the Room of the Last Supper. A few hours will be available for shopping.
Dinner and overnight: Jerusalem. (B,D)
Day 9 - Sunday: Garden Tomb with Communion – City of David – St. Peter in Galicantu – Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum
Breakfast in your hotel. Today begin at the Garden Tomb, set in peaceful surroundings, for a Communion Service. Here you will have an opportunity for peaceful meditation. Explore the exciting City of David, the actual city built by King David, and which served as the capital of Israel for over a thousand years from the tenth century BC until the destruction by Rome in 70 AD. See the tunnel cut into the rock mountain by King Hezekiah to protect the spring from the Assyrian invaders. See the Church of St. Peter in Galicantu, traditional site of the house of the High Priest Caiaphus, where Jesus was imprisoned after being arrested. Next visit Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, the national memorial to the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. Drive through modern Jerusalem, passing the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, and the Supreme Court building.
Dinner and overnight: Jerusalem. (B,D)
Day 10 - Monday: Sorek Cave – Elah Valley – Beersheva – Abraham's Well – Beit Guvrin/Tel Maresha Caves and Archaeological Dig
Breakfast in your hotel. Drive out of Jerusalem to visit the Sorek Cave, a beautiful natural stalactite cave in the Judean mountains, where you will wonder at the amazing natural formations that lay hidden deep in the earth. Then travel through the Elah Valley, where great battles between the Israelites and Philistines took place 3,000 years ago (including David and Goliath) to the modern city of Beersheva, largest city in southern Israel. Here you will visit Abraham's Well, and along the way, see modern day Bedouin encamped outside the city. In the afternoon, visit the national park at Tel Mareshah/Beit Guvrin, and tour fantastic caves, some of which were used as a refuge for Jewish rebels against the Romans, and where tradition holds that the Holy Family hid from the Romans on their way to Egypt. Here there will be an opportunity to actually participate in an ongoing Archaeological Excavation.
Dinner and overnight: Jerusalem. (B,D)
Day 11 - Tuesday: Morning free in Jerusalem for shopping – Ein Karem – Church of John the Baptist – Church of the Visitation – Emmaus – Evening Departure
Breakfast in your hotel. Morning free in Jerusalem. In the afternoon, tour the village of Ein Karem near Jerusalem, including the Church of John the Baptist, traditional site of his birth, and the Church of the Visitation, commemorating the meeting between Elizabeth, mother of John, and Mary, mother of Jesus, before they were born. Then stop for a visit at Emmaus, traditional site of the meeting between Jesus and the Disciples after the Resurrection. In the evening, transfer to airport for evening departure flight. (B)
Day 12 – Wednesday: Johannesburg
Morrning arrival in Johannesburg.
Please contact ITT for a quote.
Please note that all our Pilgrimage Packages have been created for groups of 20 or more passengers and as they do not operate with regular scheduled departures, cannot be booked by individual passengers unless they form part of a pre-arranged group.
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