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Israel vacation package visiting Jerusalem, Galilee and Tel Aviv
Bible Land Tour
8 Days from $1,360
Day 1 - MON JERUSALEM
Transfer from Ben Gurion Airport to your hotel in
Jerusalem.
Day 2 - TUE JERUSALEM (NEW CITY)
Begin your tour in this ancient city with
a trip to Mount of Olives for a panorama of Jerusalem. Travel then to the
Garden of Gethsemane and Church of All Nations, each claiming to be the
location where Jesus prayed on the night of his arrest. Then see the
legendary Dead Sea Scrolls and a miniature model of Jerusalem during the
Second Temple period at the Israel Museum. Next proceed to Yad Vashem,
a Holocaust memorial and research center. In the afternoon explore the
neighborhood of Ein Karem in southwestern Jerusalem, the birthplace of
John the Baptist in Christian dogma. (B,D)
Day 3 - WED JERUSALEM (OLD CITY)/ BETHLEHEM/JERUSALEM
Enter the
gates to the Old City of Jerusalem that has been at the center of three faiths
for more than 2,000 years. Stand before Temple Mount; touch the Western
Wall; see the renewed Jewish Quarter; find treasures at the Oriental Bazaar; and pace Via Dolorosa on the way to Christianity's most scared
pilgrimage site--the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. On nearby Mount Zion,
see King David's Tomb, draped in azure and gold, and tour the vaulted
Room of the Last Supper and the Dormition Abbey. In the afternoon,
continue to Bethlehem* to visit Shepherds' Field, when an angel of the
Lord appeared to tell the shepherds of Jesus's birth, and the Church of the
Nativity before returning to Jerusalem. (B, D)
Day 4 - THU JERUSALEM/BEIT SHEAN/NAZARETH/GALILEE
Leave
Jerusalem in the morning and drive north to Jericho*, one of the oldest
inhabited cities in the world. Pass through the Jordan Valley to Beit Shean
National Park, where towering Roman columns still stand on the main
cardo, Egyptian foundations are being unearthed, and Byzantine artifacts
are regularly excavated. Then continue to Nazareth to the Basilica of the
Annunciation and Mary's Well. Finally drive through the agricultural Hula
Valley to Safed, one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities and the center of
Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, to visit a synagogue and artist colony. (B, D)
Day 5 - FRI GALILEE/GOLAN HEIGHTS/CAPERNAUM/TIBERIAS/GALILEE
Drive high up to the Golan Heights plateau, a long disputed area separating
Israel and Syria, now under authority of the former. Visit the former Syrian
fortifications and Druze villages and the source of the Jordan River at
Banias. Then proceed to Capernaum to visit ruins of a 2nd century
synagogue and the octagonal Church of the House of St. Peter. Next visit
Tabgha, the site of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, and neighboring
Mount of Beatitudes, the place where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the
Mount. End your day with a short tour of Tiberias, the old center of Jewish
learning, before returning to your hotel in Galilee. (B, D)
Day 6 - SAT LOWER GALILEE/ACRE/HAIFA /TEL AVIV
Begin your day with a
drive west to the famous crusader stronghold and medieval fortifications of
Acre. A strategic position for millennia, Acre links Mediterranean and
Middle Eastern waterways. Continue to Haifa to tour the immaculate Bahai
Shrine and Gardens and its eight-pointed star topiaries inside the Persian
Garden. Climb Mount Carmel for a panoramic view of the city and the bay.
Then drive along the coastal plain to Caesarea where excavation sites
unearth centuries of history. End the day with a short city tour of Tel Aviv -
Jaffa before retiring in your hotel in Tel Aviv. (B,D)
Day 7 - SUN TEL AVIV
Spend this full day at leisure to explore Tel Aviv on your
own or participate in an optional tour. (B, D)
Day 8 - MONDAY TEL AVIV TO USA (OR EXTEND YOUR STAY)
Transfer to Ben
Gurion Airport for your departure. (B)