YOU ARE THE PILGRIM

PILGRIMAGE  ITINERARY

 

Please note there is extensive slow-paced walking each day on uneven terrain.

 

Day 1: Meet at the International Airport for a flight to Tel Aviv.

 

Day 2: We arrive in Tel Aviv, will be met by our Christian guide, and transfer to our hotel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee for a three nights stay. (D)

 

Day 3: Around the Sea of Galilee A boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Visit sites around the Sea of Galilee, Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, the hometown of his Galilean ministry, the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and the Church of Peter’s Primacy. See the 1stC wooden fishing boat in a museum. (B/L/D)

 

Day 4: Nazareth-Cana-Tiberias Drive crossing the fertile Jezreel Valley (Armageddon) to Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew, Mt. Precipice, the Basilica of the Annunciation, the Church of St. Joseph, Mary’s Well, the Church Synagogue of Nazareth where Jesus supposedly read Isaiah and the Nazareth Museum. Visit Cana, the site of Jesus' first sign (renewal of wedding vows). (B/L/D)

 

Day 5: Haifa-Caesarea-Bethlehem Visit Haifa, Stella Maris convent on Mount Carmel, commemorating the scapular and Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal. Continue to Caesarea by the Sea, the Roman city where Herod the Great lived, and Apostles Peter and Paul visited. Continue to Bethlehem, passing through the checkpoint in the enormous separation wall to check in our hotel in Bethlehem.  (B/L/D)

 

Day 6: Bethlehem-Ain Karem Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest intact churches in Christendom, and the nearby Shepherds Fields. Visit St Vincent Creche/Orphanage, the only facility of its kind in the West Bank, offering Christian love to over forty abandoned babies and small children. Visit Ain Karem, the Church of the Visitation. (B/L/D)

 

Day 7: Jericho-Dead Sea-Jerusalem Leave Bethlehem and drive to Jericho and take the cable car to the Mount of Temptation. Afterward, an opportunity to bathe in the unique waters of the Dead Sea. We stop to visit Qumran associated with the Essene community and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Stop at the Jordan River (renew baptismal vows). (B/L/D)

 

Day 8: Jerusalem The Cenacle (Upper Room), Dormition Abbey of Mary, and St. Peter in Gallicantu, marking the place where Peter denied Jesus. Drive to the Mount of Olives to visit Pater Noster, stop for a spectacular view of the Old City. Walk down the Mount of Olives' slopes, the traditional Palm Sunday route to the churches of Dominus Flevit, and the Garden of Gethsemane. (B/L/D)

 

Day 9: Jerusalem-Emmaus Walk the “Via Dolorosa” until the Holy Sepulchre Church, built over Golgotha and Tomb. Breakfast. Visit the church of St. Anne and the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the crippled man. Visit Emmaus, where the Risen Christ appeared to two disciples. (B/L/D)

 

Day 10: Visit the Wailing Wall and the Israel Museum (Shrine of the book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept and Jerusalem's scale model. Free afternoon. (B/L/D)

 

Day 11: Transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for the flight home.

 

Touring program subject to minor local amendments

B- Breakfast, L- Lunch, D- Dinner

Daily Mass celebrated at Selected sites