Itinerary

Day 1, Monday 18th February

Journeying to Jordan

We meet at London Heathrow for our afternoon flight to Amman in Jordan. Dinner will be served onboard the aircraft. On arrival we will be met by our guide and driven to our hotel in the Christian and Moabite town of Madaba, biblical Medba for overnight stay.

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Day 2, Tuesday 19th February

Madaba, Nebo & Baptismal site

We begin after breakfast and stroll across the road to the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George which houses a sixth century mosaic map with Jerusalem at its centre. From Madaba we drive a short distance to Mount Nebo with spectacular views across the Jordan Valley to Jericho, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Here Moses is said to have stood and been shown the Promised Land. If time allows we will drive south of Madaba to Mukawir, ancient Machaerus. This was the fortress built by Herod the Great and passed to Herod Antipas after his death. This is where he imprisoned John the Baptist and Salome danced for Herod and was granted her wish that John be beheaded. In the afternoon we drive down to the Jordan River to visit the baptismal site of Bethany beyond the Jordan, the site where John the Baptist baptised Jesus and marked the start of Jesus’ public ministry. Return to Madaba in good time for dinner and overnight stay.

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Day 3, Wednesday 20th February

Jerash - Umm Qais - Tiberias

Today we leave Madaba driving north to visit two of the Decapolis, Graeco-Roman cities of Jordan. We begin with a tour of Jerash (Biblical Gearasa) to explore the stunning first century ruins of this once great city, acknowledged as one of the best preserved Roman provincial towns in the world, with its paved and colonnaded streets, soaring hill-top temples, spectacular theatres, public squares, plazas, baths and fountains. After a break for lunch we then drive to the city of Umm Qais (Biblical Gadara). Gadara is the site of Jesus’ miracle of the Gadarene swine, and commands magnificent views over the northern Jordan Valley, Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights. We then drive back down to the Jordan Valley and cross the River Jordan via the northern crossing into Israel and drive around the Sea of Galilee to our hotel, arriving in good time for dinner and overnight stay.

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Day 4, Thursday 21st February

Revelation and Annunciation

This morning after breakfast we drive to the summit of Mount Tabor, traditionally associated with the Transfiguration. After celebrating the Eucharist, and enjoying wonderful views of the Jezreel Valley, we will drive to Cana, the site of Jesus’ first sign, according to the Fourth Gospel. Finally, we will come to Nazareth, the town in which the gospel story begins. We will return to our hotel in time to freshen up for our evening meal. Dinner and overnight stay by the Sea of Galilee.

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Day 5, Friday 22nd February

Teaching and Feeding

Today we will focus on the principal sites of Jesus’ ministry around the home he made for himself by the Sea of Galilee. After commemorating the call of the first disciples in a Eucharist by the Sea itself, we will visit the excavated ruins of Capernaum, as well as sites associated with the Feeding of the 5000, the recommissioning of Peter, and the giving of the Sermon on the Mount. In addition we will have a chance to sail on the Sea itself in a modern replica of a First Century fishing boat. After a break for lunch we leave Galilee and drive south following an ancient pilgrimage route. We first visit the city of Nablus in which is found Jacob’s Well - a site which Jesus himself visited on a journey to Jerusalem. From here we drive through the heart of the West Bank and the village of Taybeh, the only entirely Christian village in Palestine, before heading up hill through the Judean wilderness towards Jerusalem and our hotel within the old walled city. Dinner and overnight stay in Jerusalem.

Day 6, Saturday 23rd February

Incarnation and abundant life

Today will give us the chance not only to see the places associated with the birth of Jesus, but to see the implications of the Incarnation as lived out by the Christians of Bethlehem. Leaving Jerusalem we drive along the vast concrete wall surrounding Bethlehem and passing through the checkpoint and make our way to Manger Square. During the course of the day we will visit the Shepherds Fields and the Church of the Nativity, as well as seeing the work of two remarkable Christian institutions endeavouring to bring something of the abundant life promised in the gospel to those living under the restrictions of the Occupation. We will visit the Holy Family Hospital, which offers the only neo-natal care in the southern West Bank, and the remarkable International Center of Bethlehem, founded by the Lutheran Pastor Mitri Raheb. We return to Jerusalem and our hotel in good time for dinner and overnight stay.

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Day 7, Sunday 24th February

The First Day of the Week

This morning we will visit St George’s Cathedral, the Mother Church of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, and worship with some of the local Christian community. Later in the day, we will have the chance of making a brief visit to the Western Wall, before heading to Ein Karem, a beautiful suburb of Jerusalem, home to the world-famous Hadassah Hospital. Here we will have a chance to see Marc Chagall’s remarkable stained glass depictions of the twelve sons of Jacob in the hospital synagogue. Ein Karem is also venerated as the birthplace of John the Baptist, and we will end the day by visiting a church associated with Mary’s meeting with her cousin Elizabeth, so that we, too, can sing Magnificat as the first day of the week draws to its close. In the evening we hope to have a visit from a member of Breaking the Silence, to have a new insight into the costs of the Occupation from former serving members of the Israeli Defence Force.

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Day 8, Monday 25th Febraury

Tears , Prayers & the denial

In the morning we drive to the summit of the Mount of Olives, to recall the Palm Sunday route, and visiting places associated with particular events in the gospels as we slowly make our way downhill. We start at Bethphage, the traditional starting point of the procession of palms, and in the course of our journey will visit the church of the Pater Noster, where we recall Jesus’ teaching of the Lord’s Prayer to his disicples, and the church of Dominus Flevit, where Jesus wept over the fate of the city. Finally, we reach the Garden of Gethsemane, and the dark and brooding Church of All Nations, where we recall Jesus’ agonized prayers prior to his arrest, and reflect on the failure of his closest friends to keep awake and watch with him. We then proceed across the Kedron valley to Mount Zion and break for lunch. We will spend the afternoon exploring the holy sites located on Mount Zion, where the earliest Christian community lived in the days following the resurrection. Here we will find a site commemorating both the Upper Room used for the Last Supper as well as the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and a striking abbey in honour of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. The principal focus of the morning, however, will be a visit to the church of St Peter in Gallicantu, built at the top of an ancient set of steps which leads up from the City of David to what is believed to have been the residence of the Jewish High Priest. Many believe that Jesus himself was led up these steps to his trial by the Jewish authorities after his arrest. Here we recall not only Jesus’ incarceration over the last night of his life, but also Peter’s faithless threefold denial of Jesus. Return to our hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

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Day 9, Tuesday 26th February

Taking up the cross

If permitted, we will start our day by visiting the Temple Mount, where we can see close up (but not enter) the glorious Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. This will lead us to the remarkable church of St Anne and the Pools of Bethesda, which we will visit, before coming to the start of the Via Dolorosa. Here we will celebrate the Eucharist, and then wind our way through the narrow alleys of the Old City, following the traditional Way of the Cross, culminating in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the afternoon, we will learn more about how the Christians take up their own cross day by day, as we visit Sabeel, the ecumenical movement founded by the Anglican priest Canon Naim Ateek.

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Day 10, Wednesday 27th February

Emmaus and on to Petra

After breakfast, we will check out of our hotel drive to the village of Abu Ghosh, one of the sites associated with the village of Emmaus in the gospels, to celebrate the Eucharist. From Emmaus we drive east and down to the city of Jericho and break for lunch and the opportunity to view the Mount of Temptation. From here we drive to the Israeli border with Jordan and on completion of cross-border formalities we cross back into Jordan and proceed south to the “Rose-red city of Petra, arriving in good time to freshen up before dinner. Overnight stay in Petra.

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Day 11, Thursday 28th February

The Rose-Red City of Petra

We wake to the sunrise in the mountains of Edom and after breakfast leave our hotel and follow a narrow path through towering rock walls into ancient Petra. Here we are confronted by a stunning spectacle of temples, tombs and monuments carved by the Nabateans and later by the Romans from the red sandstone of Petra. We plan to spend the entire day exploring this magnificent city that lay hidden from the world for centuries. Return to our hotel in the late afternoon for dinner and overnight stay.

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Day 12, Friday 1st March

The Dead Sea

After breakfast we leave Petra and drive along the King’s Highway, one of the most scenic routes in the Middle East, to our resort hotel on the shores of the Dead Sea where we will have an opportunity to bathe in its unique mineral laden waters. Dinner and overnight stay by the Dead Sea.

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Day 13 Saturday 2nd March

Our journey home

Transfer to the airport for our return flight to London Heathrow.