CICC: HOLYLAND TOUR

• We arrive in Israel around 5:05 pm. After health, security, and customs check, we meet our Jewish guide and travel north along the coastal plain to our Hotel in for Overnight.

• We check out of our hotel after breakfast and travel to Caesarea Maritima by the Mediterranean Sea. This is where the first Gentile convert, Cornelius, met Peter.
• We proceed next to Mount Carmel, site where the Prophet Elijah challenged the priests of Baal in an offering.
• We drive to Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus, at Nazareth Village, we will walk back in the ancient times to understand the way of the people that lived in the area.
• We then proceed to a strategic city of Megiddo, which King Solomon fortified. We will also have a panoramic view of the Jezreel Valley, where the battle of Armageddon will take place in the future.
• We arrive in Tiberias along the shores of the Sea of Galilee for Dinner and Overnight.

• Today we focus on sites from the life of Christ and begin our tour with a hike to the top of Mt. Arbel.
• We proceed with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, view the “Jesus Boat,” an actual boat used by fishermen in that area during the first century.
• We then have a lunch of St. Peter’s Fish. On to the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus preached his famous sermon, then proceed to Capernaum where Jesus performed many of His miracles. There we will see a synagogue and Peter’s house.
• We then end the day at Yardenit, the traditional baptismal site in the Jordan River. Anyone who wants to be baptized or rededicated can do it there.
• We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

• We travel through Upper Galilee on our way to Hazor, the largest city in the Promised Land during the days of Joshua.
• We continue up north to Caesarea Philippi where Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” We will take a walk and see an altar built by Jeroboam at Tel Dan.
• We then drive to Katzrin and visit the Olea Olive Oil Factory for shopping for olive oil products. On our way back to Tiberias we stop at Magdala, believed to be the birthplace of Mary Magdalene. It was an ancient city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee north of Tiberias, where an oldest synagogue in the Galilee were found.
• We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

• We check out of our hotel after breakfast and drive to Beth She’an, one of the Decapolis cities of the Roman Empire and where the Philistines hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan after Israel’s defeat. We stop next to Ein Harod, where Gideon chose his 300 men.
• We then proceed to Jericho, the city that Joshua first conquered and where Jesus met Zacchaeus.
• We will visit the Tel and glimpse at OT Jericho onto the Mount of Temptation.
• We drive to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found among its caves.
• We check in to David Dead Sea hotel along the Southern shores of the Dead Sea for dinner and overnight.

• We start our day in Ein Gedi, where David may have hidden when he fled from King Saul and composed many of his famous Psalms.
• Then we drive through the Negev Region and visit Beer Sheva, the largest city in the Negev Desert often referred to as the “Capital of Negev”. In the book of Genesis, Beersheba (which means a “Well of Seven or Well of the Oath”), was founded when Abraham and Abimelech settled their differences over a well of water and made a covenant.
• Then we descend below sea level back to our hotel at David Dead Sea.
• We will have the afternoon free to relax, reflect of what we’ve learned and experienced, visit the spa or enjoy an “unsinkable swim” in the Dead Sea.
• Dinner and overnight in our hotel.

• Today we check out of our hotel and drive a short distance to Masada, Herod the Great’s magnificent, fortified palace in the sky, and the site of the Jewish Zealot’s last stand resistance against the Roman legions in A.D. 73.
• We travel through the Judean wilderness and see part of the road of the Good Samaritan and stop at Genesis Land to experience the “Hospitality of Abraham” and learn what life was like when he arrived in the Promised Land.
• We then take the road up to Jerusalem, see a Panoramic view of the old city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. From there we take a walk down the Palm Sunday Road, stopping by the Dominus Flevit where a church was built to remember the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. At the foot of the mount is the Garden of Gethsemane where we visit the Church of All Nations and pause for a moment of solemn reflection.
• We then check in to our hotel then dinner and overnight.

• We begin our day at the ancient City of King David, the place where David established his kingdom and where the history of the people of Israel was written.
• We walk through below ground and step into the ancient main street of Jerusalem leading us into the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount, believed to be where Jesus would often teach when he was in Jerusalem.
• We then drive few kilometers South to Herodium, Herod the Great built this monumental Fortress and Palace in the Judean Desert, and believed he was buried here. The site was also a stronghold during the Great Revolt against the Romans.
• We continue to Bethlehem where we see the Shepherds’ Fields and the Church of the Nativity.
• We return to our hotel for Dinner and Overnight.

• Early Start at the Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque stand.
• We enter the Old City of Jerusalem through Lions Gate, walk the Via Dolorosa beginning at the Pool of Bethesda through the Fortress Antonia, ending at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
• We pass through the cardo and stop at the Western Wall, the holiest site of the Jews and where prayer items are slipped into cracks of the wall.
• Then we drive to the Ancient Biblical City of Shechem (Nablus) located between Mt. Gerezim also called “Mt. of Blessing” and Mt. Ebal also called “Mt. of Curse”.
• We will see the ruins of the Samaritan Temple, and the City of Sichem. We will also be reminded of the Story of the Samaritan Woman we read about in the Gospel of John who was told of the “living water” Christ offers.
• We return to Jerusalem for Dinner and Overnight.

• We check out of hotel and start the day at the Garden Tomb for a communion Service.
• We then proceed to Mt. Zion and see the traditional site of the Last Supper.
• We travel across the city to the Israel Museum where the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed and view a magnificent scale model of Jerusalem as it was in the time of Jesus.
• Then we leave Jerusalem and conclude our tour in Jaffa, see the ancient streets (Biblical Joppa), where Peter saw a vision of unclean animals leading him to an encounter with Cornelius (the first Gentile convert) in Caesarea.
• Travel to Tel Aviv Airport and check in for our flight back home.

We fly back to Los Angeles at midnight via Istanbul and arrive home at noon. The next time we open our Bible, we will read it with a new understanding.

****Planned activities may be affected by the pace of the group, weather, and certain unforeseen events resulting in some visit to sites to be delayed. If need be, sites and activities may be replaced or switched to another day as appropriate without compromising the pilgrimage experience.