We are on our way to the Holy Land!

We land and are met at Ben Gurion airport by our guide. Our first visit is right by the sea, walking the ancient ruins of Caesarea Maritima, built by Herod the Great. We see its harbor, aqueduct, and theater, as well as Herod’s Palace, where St. Paul would be kept under house arrest for two years (Acts 23-26). Next, we check into our northern hotel, where we will stay for two nights. We will enjoy dinner at the hotel in the Galilee area this evening.

We spend our first morning in Nazareth. We visit Mary’s Well, the site of the town fountain, where Mary would often go to draw water. Nearby is the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Gabriel with its many icons. From there, we walk to the Latin Church of the Annunciation, the traditional site of Mary’s childhood home and of the Angel Gabriel’s appearance to her. After lunch, we visit the rounded hilltop of Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the transfiguration. Dinner is at our hotel in the Galilee area.

This morning, we will enjoy being around the Sea of Galilee. First, we stop by the Jordan River to renew our baptism vows. Then, we will take a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, before continuing to Capernaum to see the ancient synagogue and St. Peter’s house. We will continue to the Mount of Beatitudes and visit the lakeside sites in Tabgha-The Church of the Loaves and Fish and the Chapel of St. Peter’s Primacy. Afterward, we will travel south to Jerusalem and visit the Israel Museum before checking into our Jerusalem accommodations.

Today, we are going to Bethlehem. As we go in, we cannot but notice the large wall, especially near Rachel’s tomb, that now separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Down below the town is an area known as Beit Sahour (Shepherds’ Field), where we have an opportunity to see many of the caves in which the shepherds might have stayed when they were “out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night” (Luke 2). We then go to Manger Square, From here we go into the Church of the Nativity and down the steps into the Grotto of the Nativity, the traditional site of Jesus’ birthplace. We will explore the poignant exhibits of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial before returning to our accommodations in Jerusalem for dinner and overnight.

Today, we will have a different feel as we escape into the wilderness of Judea, stopping in the Wadi Qelt to experience the desert’s early morning silence and then going down to the Jordan Valley to hike up the Mount of Temptation from where we will enjoy panoramic views over Jericho. In the afternoon, we visit Qumran, famous for the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and close our day by swimming in, or really floating in the Dead Sea! Then, we will return to our accommodations in Jerusalem for dinner and overnight.

We depart for the Western Wall, a central site within Judaism, located just below the Haram al-Sharif (the Muslim sanctuary of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Asqa Mosque). We walk through the Old City streets to St. Anne’s Church by the Pool of Bethesda. After lunch, we walk down the Mount of Olives, following the traditional route of the Palm Sunday Procession. We will stop at Churches of the Pater Noster and Dominus Flevit, where the Lord wept over the city (Luke 19). Then, we will walk in the Garden of Gethsemane and visit the Church of All Nations. We will then visit the Church at the center of Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepluchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection which marks the traditional site for Golgotha and the empty tomb of Jesus. We will visit the Princess Basma Center for a short presentation on their charity work, before returning to our accommodations in Jerusalem for dinner and overnight.

Early this morning, we will walk along the Via Dolorosa (the Way of the Cross) and pray together. We will return to our accommodations for breakfast before we travel to Herod’s legendary mountaintop fortress known as Masada, which became the last desperate stronghold of the Jewish Zealots against the Romans. We then will drive westwards past some of the sites associated with the story of Emmaus (Luke 24). Finally, we drive to the beautiful town of Jaffa (ancient Joppa) before heading to Tel Aviv airport for our journey home.

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