Suggested 10-day program – Holy Land and Jordan
Day 1 Arrive at Ben Gurion airport and drive to Haifa. Dinner and overnight. (D)
Day 2 Visit the Stella Maris Convent on Mount Carmel and the Elijah Cave. Drive to Mount Tabor, the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus. This afternoon visit the Cana, of Galilee where Jesus performed the first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding feast. Continue to Nazareth to visit the Annunciation Church, Joseph’s Workshop, and Mary’s Well. Continue north to Tiberias and check in to our hotel.
Day 3 This morning tour the Lake sites; enjoy a relaxing boat ride on the Sea of Galilee from Tiberias to Kibbutz Nof Ginosar. Take a look at the perfectly intact 2,000-year-old boat uncovered on its shores. Then on to Capernaum, the home of Jesus during His ministry. After visiting the Synagogue where He taught, drive to Tabgha, the site of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. See the Mt. of the Beatitudes and visit the site of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus preached to the people. Lunch in Tiberias “St. Peter’s Fish”.This afternoon, we visit Hazor, which was the scene of Joshua’s great victory over the Canaanites, and has become a symbol of the victory of the weak against the powerful. Drive north into the Golan and visit the Druze village of Majdal Sham and see the shouting hill where families and friends divided in two countries shout to each other to hear each other’s news across the border.
Day 4 Drive to Allenby Bridge and cross into Jordan. Enjoy some time in the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth, where you can experience the famous ‘float’ in its waters. Drive to Petra. Dinner and overnight.
Day 5 Today we explore the amazing red-rose city of Petra, a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago. We visit the Treasury, the many tombs, and a Roman Style theater. There are obelisks, temples, sacrificial altars and colonnaded streets, and high above, overlooking the valley, is the impressive Ad-Deir Monastery – a flight of 800 rock cut steps take us there.. Drive to Amman and enjoy a panoramic city tour before checking into the hotel. Dinner and overnight in Amman.
Day 6 Cross Allenby bridge back into the Holy Land. Drive to ancient Jericho and visit the ruins of the ancient city that were conquered by Joshua. Enjoy a ride up the cable car to visit the Mt. of Temptation Monastery and enjoy the views. Before arriving in Jerusalem, we stop at Bethany, where Our Lord came to recuperate in the home of His loving friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Drive to the Holy city of Jerusalem, we will enjoy a panoramic view of the Old and New city from the top of Mount Scopus before we arrive at our hotel to rest for the day before embarking on our next few days of exciting visits in and around Jerusalem.
Day 7 This morning ascend to the top of the Mt. of Olives to enjoy the spectacular view of the “Golden City”. Visit the Church of Pater Noster and the Chapel of Ascension. Walk to the Chapel of Dominus Flevit where Jesus wept over Jerusalem and foretold its complete destruction. Visit the Russian Church of Mary Magdalene then to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations, which commemorate the Agony in the Garden. Drive through the Kedron Valley to see the Tombs of Absalom, Zacharia, and James and the Gihon Fountain
Drive a few miles south to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and the cradle of Christianity. Visit the Church of the Nativity, the Manger, Shepherds’ Fields, and the Fields of Boaz. Visit the Herodian, where Herod’s Tomb has been discovered. Enjoy dinner at Everest Restaurant in Beit Jala before we return to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight at our hotel.
Day 8 We walk through the narrow, winding, and cobble-stoned streets of the Old City. Sing a hymn in the Church of St. Anne and view the Pool of Bethesda. Visit the Chapel of Flagellation, Lithostrotos, and the Arch of the “Ecce Homo”. Follow our Lord on the Way of the Cross “Via Dolorosa” to visit Golgotha and the Tomb of the Risen Savior. In the afternoon, our tour is of the Old City, Mt. Zion. In the Old City, see a view of the Dome of the Rock and El Aqsa Mosque sacred to Moslems. Visit the Wailing Wall, the holiest shrine in the world for Jews. Stand in the Upper Room where Jesus ate the Last Supper with His disciples. Then, survey the Dormition Abbey, St. Peter in Gallicantu where Peter denied Jesus three times, and King David’s Tomb. View the Hill of Evil Counsel before we go back to our hotel to rest before dinner.
Day 9 This morning we visit Emmaus, the village where Jesus appeared to the two disciples the day after He resurrected and He had a meal with them. Continue to Ein Karem to visit the birthplace of John the Baptist and the Church of Visitation where Mary visited Elizabeth. Proceed to Old Jaffa, the world’s oldest port where we walk along the winding cobble stoned streets with its charming artists’ colony and high-quality craft shops. We will have some free time to stroll around if time permits. Return to Jerusalem and enjoy a ‘Farewell dinner at an authentic Middle Eastern Restaurant’.
Day 10 We bid farewell to Jerusalem as we head to Ben Gurion airport for our return flight back home.
Bon Voyage!