Itinerary

DAY 1, SATURDAY 20 OCTOBER

DEPARTURE TO THE HOLY LAND

We gather at Luton/Manchester airport for our morning flight to Airport Tel Aviv. The flight time is approximately 4.5 hours. On arrival we will be met by our guide and driven to our hotel in Netanya on the Mediterranean for dinner and overnight stay.

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DAY 2, SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER

CAESAREA - NAZARETH - TIBERIAS

After breakfast we leave our hotel proceed north along the Mediterranean coast line to Caesarea Maritima to visit this beautiful Roman and Crusader Port City. View the ancient harbour, fortifications, twin water aqueducts and reassembled theatre. Paul was imprisoned here for almost two years before his trial in Rome. For Christians it is a place of great significance, as it was here that Peter baptised the first Gentile, Cornelius the Roman Centurion. We then proceed to the city of Nazareth in the Galilee and break for lunch. In the afternoon visit the Church of the Annunciation built over Mary's house, the synagogue where Christ may have taught, and the church built over the well of Mary. Finally, we proceed to our hotel, stopping briefly in the village of Cana, the site of Jesus’ first sign. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias.

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DAY 3, MONDAY 22 OCTOBER

JESUS’ LAKESIDE MINISTRY

We visit the main sites of western Galilee. Korazin (Mt 11:21) with its black basalt stone synagogue and Bethsaida (House of the Fishermen) (Jn1:43) ; Capernaum - Synagogue and house of Peter (Mt 4:13f); Mount of Beatitudes (Mt 5) Tabgha - Church of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (Mt 14:13f) and Church of St Peter (Jn.21:4f) Magdala (Migdal) is reputed to be the home of Mary Magdalene (Lk 8:2) and contains a number of interesting remains from the time of Jesus and Crusader period. We then proceed to the Yigal Alon Museum at Kibbutz Ginosar to see the fishing boat dating from the time of Jesus. From there we return to Tiberias by a boat ride on Lake Galilee. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias.

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DAY 4, TUESDAY 23 OCTOBER

JERICHO - DEAD SEA - JERUSALEM

After an early breakfast we leave Tiberias and drive to the Crusader castle at Belvoir with its magnificent views of the Jordan valley before driving south along the Jordan Valley to Jericho (Josh 6 and Lk.19), the oldest inhabited city in the world. There we visit the excavations of Tel Jericho and view the Mount of Temptation. We then proceed on to the Dead Sea and break for lunch and the opportunity to bathe in it’s unique mineral-laden waters. We then continue along the shores of the Dead Sea to visit the subtropical oasis of En Gedi where David hid from Saul (I Sam 23:29). We visit Qumran the home of the major archaeological discovery before travelling up the road past the ‘Good Samaritan Inn’ (Lk 10:33) to Jerusalem and check-in to our Jerusalem hotel. Dinner and overnight stay In Jerusalem.

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DAY 5, WEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER

MOUNT OLIVES - MOUNT ZION

We begin on the Mount of Olives with the inspiring panoramic view of the Old Walled city with it’s beautiful surrounding medieval walls, before visiting Bethphage, the start of the Palm Sunday walk. From the summit it is a short walk to Dominus Flevit and then to the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Kidron valley we pass ‘Absalom’s’ and Zechariah’s tombs before reaching the Gihon spring from which Hezekiah forged a tunnel through to the pool of Siloam, and if time permits we will seek to walk through this tunnel. At the Southern Wall Excavations, we can walk on the original two thousand-year old street and climbing the ancient steps that Jesus and the disciples probably also climbed. Next, visit the City of David, where Jerusalem became David’s capital some 3,000 years ago. See the Visitors Center, with its excavations of the First Temple Period. We then continue to Mount Zion, to visit the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu, where Peter denied Jesus, King David’s Tomb, the Room of the Last Supper and the Church of the Dormition - where by Catholic tradition Mary fell in to eternal sleep. We then return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

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DAY 6, THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER

THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM

After breakfast we enter the Old City at St. Stephen’s Gate, also known as Lion’s Gate, and visit the Pool of Bethesda - site of the miraculous healing of a paralyzed man by Jesus, and the beautiful Crusader Church of St. Anne. We visit the Lithostratus (Judgment Hall), and continue along the Via Dolorosa passing the Stations of the Cross and the old city shops to Calvary, enshrined within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , the ancient site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. We walk through the Jewish quarter and visit the Western Wall revered as Judaism most sacred site as the last remnant of the Second Temple. If permitted we will visit the Temple Mount with the Al Aksa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. We then continue through the Jewish quarter with its old Sephardic synagogues. Byzantine-era Cardo, Second-Temple-era Herodian Mansions and the Burnt House, and First-Temple-era Broad Wall. We bring our day to a close with a visit to the Garden Tomb - a rock hewn tomb that some believe to be the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

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DAY 7, FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER

BETHLEHEM - JERUSALEM

After breakfast we drive over to west Jerusalem to visit the Israel museum to view model of Jerusalem, based around the time of Jesus, before continuing to the Yad Vashem holocaust memorial museum and park. We then drive over to Bethlehem driving through a checkpoint in the nine-metre high Partition Wall. We visit the Church of the Nativity, the oldest church in Christendom, the shepherds fields. and meet members of the local Christian community the “Living Stones”. Late afternoon we proceed to Ein Karem, the birthplace of John the Baptist and the Church of Visitation, before returning to Jerusalem and our hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

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DAY 8, SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER

EMMAUS & JOURNEY HOME

After a leisurely breakfast we drive to Abu Gosh where we commemorate Christ’s meeting with the disciples on the road to Emmaus after His Resurrection. We then bring our pilgrimage to a close with our final act of worship in the Holy Land before proceeding to Ben Gurion Airport and our afternoon flight back to London/Manchester.

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