OUR DAILY ITINERARY



Day 1 – New York/Boston/LAX Pastors and spouses meet at New York’s JFK or Newark for check-in. (Specific departure airport will be announced well ahead of the departure date. West coast pastors usually fly nonstop to Israel from LAX.) Dinner & breakfast are served during our nonstop flight to Israel and we have time to rest.

Day 2 - Tel Aviv We arrive in Israel at Ben Gurion Airport. After brief airport formalities & baggage claim, we meet our guide and are escorted to our waiting motor coach. Depending on arrival time, we will tour ancient Joppa, then proceed to our hotel beside the Mediterranean for check-in, dinner and a relaxing first night in Israel.

Day 3 – Caesarea / Mount Carmel / Megiddo / Nazareth / Cana / Tiberias We begin the first full day of our spiritual journey in the Holy Land by traveling north along the Mediterranean Sea to visit Caesarea, the ancient seaport built by Herod the Great. Paul was imprisoned here and this was the site of Peter's first Gentile convert. Then we ascend Mount Carmel, where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. Here we have an astounding view of the Jezreel Valley/Valley of Armageddon. After lunch at a well-known Druze restaurant, we visit Megiddo with its 26 layers of civilizations. This was Ahab’s chariot city and one of the most strategic crossroads of the world in Old Testament times. We proceed to Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus and tour Nazareth Village, an authentic re-creation of Nazareth when Jesus lived there. We drive through Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed His first miracle, and on to Tiberias where we see the beautiful Sea of Galilee for the first time. Dinner and overnight at our hotel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Day 4 – Galilee Boat Ride / Ancient “Jesus” Boat / Mt of Beatitudes / Tabgha / Capernaum / Jordan River View sunrise over the Sea of Galilee, enjoy a delicious full Israeli buffet breakfast, We visit the newly discovered synagogue from the time of Jesus at Magdalla, then the ancient “Jesus boat” found in the Sea of Galilee. Then we drive a short distance to the Mount of Beatitudes, site of the Sermon on the Mount. We continue to Tabgha, site of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, and Capernaum, “Jesus own town” and the center of His ministry. We will view the House of Peter and visit the ruins of a 2nd Century synagogue. We then take a boat ride across the Sea, stopping for a time of reflection and prayer on the water. A delicious “St. Peter’s” fish lunch awaits us at a Kibbutz beside the sea. If time permits, we will drive up the Golan Heights for spectacular vistas of the entire Galilee region. Our day ends with a visit to the Jordan River baptism site. Dinner and overnight.

Day 5 -.Bet Shean / Jericho / Jerusalem Today we travel down the Jordan Valley to Bet Shean, one the cities of the Decapolis, dating from the 5th Century B.C. It is the site of the largest ongoing archaeological excavations in Israel. We drive to Jericho, viewing the Mount of Temptation and Mount Nebo in Jordan, where Moses viewed the Promised Land. We soon reach Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. After viewing the caves where the scrolls were untouched for nearly 2000 years and a time for lunch, we begin an ascent of 4000 feet to Jerusalem. Our first view of the Holy City will be from Mt. Scopus. We will then drive the short distance to Bethlehem and visit the Shepherd’s Fields and the 1600 year-old Church of the Nativity. We return to Jerusalem to check into our beautiful centrally located hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 6 - Jerusalem We begin our first full day in Jerusalem at the

Mount of Olives, with an outstanding view of the Old City walls, the Dome of the Rock and the Eastern (Golden) Gate. From there we descend by foot on the “Palm Sunday Road” to the Garden of Gethsemane. We have time for prayer in this lovely setting where old olive trees from the time of Christ, still stand today. We travel around the Old City viewing the tombs of Absalom and Zachariah, and continue to the House of Caiphas to stand in the pit (dungeon) where it is believed Jesus was held the night before the crucifixion. There you will view the stone steps Jesus walked up Mount Zion. We proceed to the nearby Upper Room, site of the Last Supper and where the Holy Spirit was first given. We then enter the Old City through the Zion Gate and enjoy lunch in the restored Jewish Quarter. We walk to the Western (Wailing) Wall where we can place prayers in the wall before beginning our visit to the amazing Western Wall (Kotel) Tunnels. We exit on the Via Dolorosa and visit the Pool of Bethesda and the Church of St. Anne, where we can sing in a church with a 10-second delay. We leave the Old City through the famed Lion’s Gate. Dinner and overnight at our hotel.

Day 7 - Jerusalem Drive through modern Jerusalem, viewing the Knesset, seat of the Israeli Parliament, then proceed to the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed. There we’ll also visit an amazing scale model of Jerusalem at the time of Christ. We drive to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial, and spend time in this extremely moving place which documents the Holocaust and remembers the 6 million Jews who perished. We return to the Old City and visit the Davidson Center, stand beside Robinson’s Arch and walk the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount. There you will stand on actual steps from the time of Christ. We end the day at the amazing new high-tech Friends of Zion (FOZ) Museum which celebrates the contributions of Christian believers to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. We return to our hotel for dinner, free time and overnight.

Day 8 - Jerusalem Today we re-enter the Old City through the Jaffa Gate and pass through intriguing markets and bazaars to again walk a portion of the Via Dolorosa. We arrive at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed by many to be the place of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. We visit the remains of the Antonia Fortress, Pilate’s Judgment Hall and the Ecce Homo Arch. After lunch in the Christian Quarter, we visit the Garden Tomb where we will view Golgotha (the place of the skull) and celebrate communion beside the Empty Tomb. Many will consider this the highlight of their tour. We depart late afternoon for our Farewell Dinner, then continue to Ben Gurion Airport for our return flight.

Day 9 - Tel Aviv / USA We arrive back in the U.S. with fond memories of our journey to the Land of the Bible and already making plans to return with a group from our congregations.

Note: Pastors FAM Tours typically allow for greater flexibility in visiting sites than regular tours. Our guide will give explanations at all sites, and at some sites, there will be time for singing, prayer, or a few words from any pastor who wishes to speak. The sightseeing sequence is subject to change, and although every effort is made to include all sites on the itinerary, some sites may be deleted, and others may be added due to arrival times, local conditions, or other considerations.

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