Duration: 9 Days
Dates: May 19, 2023 to May 27, 2023
Departure City: Toronto, Canada (YYZ)

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Detailed Itinerary

Day 1: SAT (19MAY): Departure to Tel Aviv
Today, we board our international flight to Tel Aviv.

Day 2: FRI (20MAY): Tel Aviv – Transfer to the hotel in Herzliya
Arrive in Tel Aviv and board a new, climate-controlled motor coach where our guide will greet us and give us an orientation of the land as we travel towards Jaffa. There we will consider the vision of Peter (Acts 10) and start following the sequence of events that lead to the opening of the gates of the early church to Gentiles. As we look at the very place where Jonah ran from the Lord, we will also reflect on our own walk with God. Check into our hotel on the coastal plains of the Mediterranean Sea. Dinner and overnight in the hotel in Herzliya. (D)

Day 3: SAT (21MAY): Caesarea Maritima – Mount Carmel – Nazareth – Tiberias
After a buffet breakfast, we depart the hotel on route to Caesarea Maritima (included), where we will visit the magnificent city with Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader ruins. Here we will elaborate on the story of the baptism of Cornelius, the first gentile converts into Christianity (Acts 10), and on the travels of Paul — those events that led Caesarea Maritima to become the springboard of Christianity to the West. We will then continue to Mount Carmel (included) and consider the contest between the Prophet Elijah and the false prophets of Baal (I Kings 18), discussing the reasons why the Prophet chose that place for the contest, and the lessons we learn from the story. We then travel to Megiddo and explore the Tel that goes back in history to 4000 BC, looking at ruins from the times of King Solomon and King Ahab. Overlooking the Armageddon Valley (included), we will also discuss the reasons why we believe this will be the setting for the final battle between good and evil mentioned in Revelation 16:16. After a lunch break we travel to Nazareth where we will climb the Mount of Precipice, the brow of the hill on which the city was built (Luke 4). There we will reflect on the rejection of Jesus by his family and friends in Nazareth. In addition to discussing Jesus’ boyhood we will also consider the life and times of Deborah (Judges 4). We check into our hotel on the Sea of Galilee for the next two nights and enjoy another dinner together. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias. (B/D)

Day 4: SUN (22MAY): Sea of Galilee – Ancient Boat Museum – Capernaum – Mount of Beatitudes – Peter’s Primacy – Magdala – Tiberias
After breakfast, we begin our day with a sail on the Sea of Galilee on a replica of a boat from Jesus’ time (included). We will dock in Ginnosar where we will visit the ancient boat museum (included), containing a 2000-year old fishing boat which is a good example of how the boats looked like in Jesus’ time. We will visit Capernaum (included), hometown of Jesus as described by the Gospel, also Jesus’ Galilean ministry base. There we will see the house of Peter’s mother in law and the ancient synagogue where many  of  Jesus’  teachings  took  place.  Visit  Mount  of Beatitudes where we enjoy its enchanting gardens and reflect over Jesus’ teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. Passing through Tabgha, visit the Church of St Peter’s Primacy, where Jesus appeared to his disciples the third time after the Resurrection. During  lunch  break  you  will  have  the opportunity to try St. Peter’s fish, commonly eaten by people in Jesus’ day (lunch not  included).  We  visit  Magdala (included), home town of Mary Magdalene to include the 1st century Synagogue, oldest Synagogue discovered on shores of Galilee with a stone carved model of the Temple, including a Menorah carving. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias. (B/D)

Day 5: MON (23MAY): Beit Shean – Bet Arabah – Jericho – Old Roman Road – Jerusalem
After a buffet breakfast, we leave the area of Galilee, following the Jordan Valley Road to Beth Shean (included), the capital of the Decapolis. There we will see the ruins of the Roman and Byzantine cities. We will also discuss the demise of King Saul and his sons, whose bodies were hanged on the walls of Beth Shean. We will then continue traveling south to the actual location where John the Baptist was baptizing on the Jordan River. Jericho will be our next stop, where we will visit the Tel of Jericho (included), with its ancient ruins, pointing out what possibly could be the foundations of the ramparts that Joshua and the Israelites brought down. After lunch, we travel to the Old Roman Road, where we will consider the setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan. From there we will go up to Jerusalem and have a Genesis Welcome to the Holy City. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem. (B/D)

Day 6: TUE (24MAY): Temple Mount – St. Anne’s Church & Pools of Bethesda – Mount of Olives – Southern Wall Excavations – Wailing Wall – Bethlehem – Jerusalem
After quick buffet breakfast, visit Temple Mount where the Jewish temple stood until it’s destruction in 70 A.D. Here we reflect over Jesus’ ministry at the Temple of Jerusalem, seeing the Dome of the Rock, a possible location of the Holy of Holies. Visit Church of St. Anne’s (included), a perfectly intact Crusader church. It is a wonderful place to gather and sing a song (sometimes with fellow Christians from all over the world). There, we will also visit the Pools of Bethesda where the healing at the pool took place (John 5). We then travel a short distance to the Mount of Olives for a breathtaking view of Jerusalem and a panoramic photo we our guide will point the most important sites in Jerusalem, then we will walk the Palm Sunday Road. Back in the Old City, we visit visit the Southern Wall Excavation site (included). Here we will walk on the very stones where Jesus trod to Herod’s “second temple”, and see the place where our Savior taught the Scriptures. Visit the Western Wall, called the Wailing Wall, a section of the Western retaining wall of the Temple Mount, and Judaism’s holiest site. First, we visit Shepherd’s Field where the angels appeared to the shepherds and announced the birth of Our Lord. These fields are also the setting of the Book of Ruth. Visit the Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity built over the Cave of Christ’s Birth, we will view the actual place where Our Lord was born. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem (B/D)

Day 7: WED (25MAY): Masada – Ein Gedi – Qumran – Dead Sea – Jerusalem
After a buffet breakfast, we begin our day visiting Masada (included), the fortress built by King Herod the Great and made famous by the Zealots in 73/74 AD with the standoff against the Romans. We visit the fortress and see the ruins that are considered a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. We then continue to Ein Gedi (included), the oasis in the desert where the meeting between David and King Saul took place (I Samuel 24) and where many of the psalms were written by David. After lunch, we visit Qumran (included), the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by a Bedouin boy back in 1947. There we will see the caves and other buildings that the Essenes, the group of Jews who wrote the scrolls, lived. We will end the day with some time to float in the Dead Sea. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem (B/D)

Day 8: THU (26MAY): Garden of Gethsemane – Kidron Valley – Mount Zion – Ecce Homo – Via Dolorosa – Holy Sepulcher – Garden Tomb
After breakfast, start our day with visiting the Garden of Gethsemane where amid the 2000 years old olive trees we see the Rock of Agony on which Jesus prayed and the nearby Gethsemane cave where Jesus often spent the nights at and where he was arrested at the hands of the High Priest guards. There we will pause for a prayer time in private garden (subject to confirmation). Later on we will walk along the Kidron Valley following the footsteps of Our Lord, seeing Absalom Tomb, Gihon Spring, Water Gate, past the Pool of Siloam. We proceed to visit House of Caiaphas, the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (included), where we can see parts of the streets that Our Lord was dragged on by his capturers. We will have a chance to visit and pray at the dungeon where He was kept overnight. Visit the Cenacle, that commemorates the Upper Room in which Jesus shared the Last Supper with the disciples. Then, visit the nearby King David’s tomb, a site which is considered to be the place of burial of biblical king. On to the Old City, where we reach Ecce Homo (included), the site named for Pontius Pilate's words “Behold the man”, where Jesus was beaten, crowned with thorns and clothed in a purple robe. We see the Stone Pavement called Lithostrotos and have some time for prayers and meditations. We walk the Via Dolorosa following Christ passion toward the church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the afternoon, we visit Garden Tomb (included), a peaceful spot where we can remember Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection. We see the Calvary and the empty Tomb. Celebrate communion service at the Garden reaching the climax of Pilgrimage at the empty Tomb. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem. (B/D)

Day 9: FRI (27MAY): Free day in Jerusalem – Departure
Today you will travel to the airport to return home with unforgettable memories, amazing new friends and a life-changing understanding of the Bible. (B)

*In case of unforeseen events, this itinerary is subject to change.*