MONDAY OCTOBER 30
Today we embark on our Journey to the Holy Land. Prepare yourself for a life-changing experience. Depart from Atlanta for Israel. Beverages and meals will be served onboard. Get some rest on the flight for tomorrow you will be walking where Jesus walked!
TUESDAY OCTOBER 31
We arrive at Ben Gurion Airport where we will be met by our Israeli guide who will accompany us during our entire stay in the Holy Land. We check into our Hotel and the remainder of the day is free to walk along the Mediterranean Sea, rest and dinner.
Dinner and Overnight: Prima City - Tel Aviv
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 1
After breakfast, drive north along the coast to Caesarea where Paul was imprisoned for two years, Acts 24. We’ll see the Roman amphitheatre and aqueduct, then on northward to Mount Carmel, the site from which Elijah called fire down from heaven to defeat the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings 18. Here we will view the Valley of Jezreel/Valley of Sharon and break for lunch in a Druze Village. Then we travel to Megiddo, 1 King 9, the fortress city of King Solomon and the area of the Battle of Armageddon, Rev. 16:16. Next we travel east to the boyhood home of Jesus, Nazareth, Luke 2, and visit the first century synagogue, Luke 4.
Dinner and Overnight: Kibbutz Ein Gev - Sea of Galilee
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2
We will start our day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Continue our day at Tel Dan, a beautiful nature reserve and one of the sources of the Jordan River, as well as an Israelite city, built to compete with Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. You’ll see one of the oldest arches in the world, said to date back to the time when Abraham came to Dan the Israelite Gate and the High Place of Jeroboam. Visit the site of ancient Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus demanded to know of His disciples who people were saying He was. Next we will climb up to the Golan Heights and remember the Road to Damascus, and enjoy the breathtaking view from the Peace Vista. End the day at the Jordan River and renew your baptism as a true pilgrim!
Dinner and Overnight: Kibbutz Ein Gev - Sea of Galilee
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 3
Begin our day at Mt. Beatitudes where Jesus gave his “Sermon on the Mount” (Matt.5). At Tabgha we will remember the miracle of Multiplication of loaves and fishes (Mark 6) with which he fed thousands of people. Visit Capernaum – known as Jesus’ “own town” (Matt. 9:1) – “walking where Jesus walked” takes on thrilling new meaning. As you sit on the stone benches of Capernaum’s ancient synagogue, you’ll be reminded that right here, Jesus taught (Mark 1:21; John 6:59) and healed a man possessed by an evil spirit (Mark 1:23-27). It was the synagogue on this very spot, whose foundations you can still see, which Luke says was built by the centurion whose servant Jesus later healed (Luke 7:3-5). Jesus also raised from the dead the daughter of this synagogue’s leader (Luke 8:49-53). Next our travel takes us to Beth Shean, 1 Sam. 31, where King Saul and his sons were killed and now is the place of the restored Roman city of Scythopolis. We continue along the Jordan River to Herod’s spring, Judges 7, where Gideon chose 300 men to defeat the Medianite army.
Dinner and Overnight: Kibbutz Ein Gev - Sea of Galilee
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 4
We will depart early today after breakfast and start our drive to the oasis of Ein Gedi on the shore of the Dead Sea combines a wild, natural setting, history and archaeology. Nakhal David and Nakhal Arugot flow year-round through deep canyons surrounded by lush vegetation – a sharp contrast to the surrounding desert. This is where David took refuge from King Saul. Continue to the mountaintop fortress of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. Less than 40 years after Jesus was crucified, Jewish rebels took over Masada. In contrast to Jesus’ instruction to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Luke 20:25), the rebels believed in zero-tolerance for Roman rule. The rebels were surrounded by the Roman army, and took their own lives rather than become slaves. This act has made Masada a symbol of the human spirit’s yearning for freedom and gives a greater understanding of this era of conflict that was the backdrop to Jesus’ ministry.
Dinner and Overnight: Daniel Resort - Dead Sea
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 5
Begin the day with a taste of Abraham’s hospitality at Genesis Land and experience life as it was in biblical times. Complete your experience with a Camel trek from Genesis Land along the ridge above the spectacular riverbed of Wadi Kelt. Enjoy the glorious view of the Old City of Jerusalem from Mount of Olives. Visit the Garden of Gethsemane and see its ancient olive trees, remembering Jesus’ agony in prayer for us and the quiet garden chapel of Dominus Flavit, marking the site where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Visit Mt. Zion and the Upper Room, remembering the Last Supper and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Below we can pray and pay homage to Israel’s famous king and ancestor of the Messiah at King David’s Tomb. Then we enter the compound at the St. Peter en Galicantu Church which is built over the site of the house of Caiaphas where Jesus was imprisoned.
Dinner and Overnight: Ramada - Jerusalem
MONDAY NOVEMBER 6
First we visit the spot where Abraham offered Isaac in sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount. Visit the Davidson Center and imagine what it was like for a pilgrim to go to the Temple 2,000 years ago. You will walk among the excavations of the Ophel where Jesus and His disciples would have walked. Prepare to be “Awestruck” at the Western Wall, the last remnant of the Jerusalem Temple Jesus knew, destroyed 2,000 years ago by the Romans. Walk through the Western Wall Tunnel – the original Western Wall of Herod’s Temple Mount over which Jerusalem of later eras was constructed, walking along 1,445 feet of the original, enormous 2,000-year-old Herodian stones, seeing the lofty Warren’s Gate, a street and other finds, and a fascinating interactive model. We will walk through the Jewish Quarter and can visit the stores along the Cardo, a typical Roman street built in the 6th century.
Dinner and Overnight: Ramada - Jerusalem
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 7
Begin our day with a visit to the Israel Museum, the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and one of the leading art and archaeology museums in the world. Visit the Yad Vashem museum Israel’s Holocaust remembrance and education center which is an emotional and heartrending experience, but seeing the exhibits and remembering the Holocaust gives the more than one million individuals, world leaders and dignitaries who pass through its doors annually a meaningful way to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Continue on to Mahane Yehuda the largest open market in Israel. Walking through the market’s alleyways has always been a good opportunity to meet Jerusalem and its fascinating human mosaic.
Dinner and Overnight: Ramada - Jerusalem
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 8
Check out of the hotel this morning. Our final day in Jerusalem climaxes with a walk through St. Stephen’s Gate, Acts 7, then on to the Pool of Bethesda, John 5, and then to Pilate’s Judgment Hall, John 19. Here over the original pools the purest crusader church in the whole country was built: St. Anne's. View Ecce Homo, the church at the site that Pilate delivered his speech to the crowds beginning "Behold the Man" during Jesus' trial. We will reverently walk the historic Via Dolorosa to the Damascus Gate, through the colorful bazaars of the Old City. We will then visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the most sacred ground in the Christian world; this ancient church stands over the Tomb of Jesus and the last of the Stations of the Cross. Outside the gate we will follow in the steps of our Lord to Calvary, Luke 23, and the Garden Tomb and view “The place of the Skull”, Matt. 27. Enjoy our Farewell dinner at an Israeli restaurant before we head to the airport for our overnight flight home.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9
Arrive in the USA!
PLEASE NOTE! We reserve the right to omit any site and/or change the itinerary
Should it be necessary due to local conditions.
DAY BY DAY ITINERARY
October 30 to November 9, 2023
