Duration: 10 Days
Dates: December 12, 2023 to December 22, 2023
Departure City: Dallas, Texas (DFW)

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Detailed Itinerary

Day (1): Wednesday (13th Dec. 2023)- Departure to Tel Aviv
After much prayer and preparation, we will depart arrive at the airport at least three hours early for our international check-in and departure for Tel Aviv.

Day (2): Thursday (14th Dec 2023) Arrive in Tel Aviv- Herzliya Arrive in Tel Aviv
Where our guide will greet the group and give them an orientation of the land as we travel. Drive to our hotel in Herzliya for dinner and overnight. (D)

Day (3): Friday (15th Dec 2023) Caesarea- Mount Carmel- Nazareth- Tiberias
Following our breakfast, we will travel towards Caesarea Maritima (entrance included), where we will have a brief visit to 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, and on the travels of Paul — those events that led Caesarea Maritima to become the springboard of Christianity to the West. Continue to Mount Carmel (entrance included) and consider the contest between the Prophet Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, discussing the reasons why the Prophet chose that place for the contest, and the lessons we learn from the story. Then we depart to Megiddo lunch on you own, Travel to Nazareth where we will climb the Mount of Precipice, the brow of the hill on which the city was built. There we will reflect on the rejection of Jesus by his family and friends in Nazareth. While there overlooking the Armageddon Valley, 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. Visit the Annunciation church in Nazareth. Check in at our hotel for dinner and overnight. (B/D)

Day (4): Saturday (16th Dec 2023) Boat Ride & Museum / Magdala / Mt. Of Beatitudes / Capernaum / Tabgha – Primacy of Peter / Jordan River
After a buffet breakfast, we will visit the ancient boat museum containing a recently-discovered 2000-year-old fishing boat (entrance included). We will then sail on the Sea of Galilee on a replica of that boat (included). Afterwards, we will drive to Magdala (entrance included) the hometown of Miriam Magdalena. Then we will visit Mt. of Beatitudes and discuss the sermon on the Mount; we will then visit Capernaum (entrance included), Jesus Galilean ministry base. After that, we will stop to have Lunch at St. Peters’ Fish (included). Then, we drive to Tabgha and will see the Primacy of Peter where Jesus appeared to the disciples the third time after the resurrection, our last stop of the day will be to the Jordan River where you will get a chance to renew baptismal vows. we return to our hotel in Tiberias for Dinner and overnight. (B, L, D)

Day (5): Sunday (17th Dec 2023) Beit Shean- Jericho- Wadi Qelt- Jerusalem
After a buffet breakfast, we leave the area of Galilee, following the Jordan Valley Road to Beth Shean (entrance 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 Bet Arabah where John the Baptist was baptizing on the Jordan River. Lunch on your own at Jericho, then we will visit the Tel of Jericho (entrance included) with its ancient ruins, pointing out what possibly could be the foundations of the ramparts that Joshua and the Israelites brought down. Then we will go to Wadi Qelt. Drive to our hotel in Jerusalem Check in, dinner and overnight. (B/D)

Day (6): Monday (18th Dec 2023): Mt. of Olives - Southern Wall Excavations - Bethlehem- Jerusalem
After a buffet breakfast, we will begin our day with an orientation over the holy city from the Mount of Olives, pointing out important locations within the Old City, connecting them with Biblical stories and prophecies about the return of Jesus. We will then walk down the Palm Sunday Procession Road to the Garden of Gethsemane, where the passion of Jesus began. We will then visit the Southern Wall excavations (entrance included) where ruins of the retaining walls of the Temple Mount are still visible. We will then gather at the teaching steps, the main entrance to the Temple where Rabbis met and taught their disciples. We then travel to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. We begin with a visit to the Shepherds fields 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, Lunch on your own. We will then travel to the Church of the Nativity and view the actual place where Our Lord was born. We return to our hotel. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem. (B, D)

Day (7): Monday (19th Dec 2023): Masada- Ein Gedi – Qumran- Dead Sea- Jerusalem
After a buffet breakfast, we begin our day visiting Masada (entrance & cable car 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 En Gedi, the oasis in the desert where the meeting between David and King Saul took places and where many of the psalms were written by David, Lunch on your own. This afternoon visits Qumran (entrance 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. Our last stop will be at the Dead Sea enjoy our time with healing properties and have free time to swim. Back to our hotel in Jerusalem for dinner and overnight. (B/D)

Day (8): Tuesday (20th Dec 2023): Temple Mount- St. Anne & Pools of Bethesda- Israeli Museum – Jerusalem
After a buffet breakfast, we begin our day entering the Old City and a visit to the Western Wall, a section of the Western retaining wall of the Temple Mount, and Judaism’s holiest site. We will ascend the Temple Mount, discussing its connection to both the Old and New Testaments. On to visit St Anne’s church (entrance included) and a visit to nearby Pools of Bethesda where the healing at the pool took place. Lunch on your own. This afternoon we travel to the Israel Museum (entrance included), where we will visit the Second Temple Period Model of Jerusalem, a 1:50 scaled model of the city from the 1st century AD, followed by a visit the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are on exhibit, in addition to the archeological section where many artifacts are displayed, we will play special attention to those items that relate to Bible history. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem. (B, D)

Day (9): Wednesday (21st Dec 2023): Upper Room – Caiaphas House - Gethsemane Via Dolorosa - HS - Garden Tomb
After a buffet breakfast, we begin our day by Drive to Mt. Zion where we will have a visit to the Upper Room, the place of the Last Supper followed by a visit to nearby location of the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas (entrance included), where Jesus was tried and where Peter denied Our Lord. Continue to visit Gethsemane with its ancient olive grove, and there visit the Church of Agony, where Jesus prayed and was arrested (private time will be given in the private section of the Garden). We then walk the Via Dolorosa to the sisters of Zion Convent (to see the Pavement where Jesus stood as he was being tried by Pilate) and the Ecce Homo Arch (entrance included), and then follow the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. Late in the afternoon we will visit the Garden Tomb (entrance included) and celebrate a communion service. (B.D)

Day (10): Wednesday (22nd Dec 2023): Departure- Drive to the airport

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