Christian Gems Of The Holy Land Trip - 4 Days

Pick-up from your hotel in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and start you tour to Jerusalem. From the top of the Mount of Scopus you can see some truly breathtaking views of Jerusalem. Before we set off we'll admire the views, then we'll set off down the mount, passing various different landmarks inclusive of the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations and the Kidron Valley. We'll enter the Old City via the Jewish quarter, where we'll see the many centuries old Cardo before moving to the Western Wall. At the Western Wall a tradition is to place a prayer on a piece of paper and placing it within the ancient stones of the wall, which we get the opportunity to do so before heading on. We'll then follow in the footsteps of Jesus himself and follow the Via Dolorosa which will follow the same route that he took when carrying his cross, ending at the place where Jesus was both crucified and buried, now named the Holy Sepulchre. After a lunch break, we'll head to New Jerusalem via the Old City Bazaar and drive through the modern city towards the Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum where we'll see many authentic documents and artifacts, and we'll see some photos and video testimonials of the Holocaust survivors

We drive south from Jerusalem in the direction of the Dead Sea on the way we pass the Inn of the Good Samaritan and continue on through the Biblical wilderness of the Judean Desert. We pass Wadi Kelt and can see the 5th century Monastery of Saint George. We pause at the mark which indicates that we have reached "sea level" and from there we continue on to Jericho 258 meters below sea level. This ancient city features in both the New and Old Testament. Joshua led his troops around the city walls until they fell (Joshua 6) and Jesus entered Jericho after his sojourn in the wilderness. When Jesus entered Jericho, The City of Palms, the tax collector Zachaeus climbed a sycamore tree to see him better and we stop to take a look at this ancient tree. Jesus spent forty days and forty nights on the nearby Mount Temptation, here the devil tried to turn Jesus away from God but Jesus responded "Man shall not live by bread alone." (Mathew 4:1-4). Our journey takes us back towards Jerusalem and the Judean Mountains where we visit Bethlehem, both the home of Jesse, King David's father and the place where Jesus was born. From Manger Square we enter through a small door into the Church of the Nativity. The church was built in the 4th century over the grotto where Jesus was born and later in the 6th century the church was reconstructed. In recent times the church has been restored and renovated. Within the church is the Grotto of the Nativity where a star marks the spot where Jesus was born and an altar to the three Wise Men. Next we visit the Crusader Church of Saint Catherine and see the underground grotto where Saint Jerome painstakingly translated the Bible from Hebrew to Latin, creating the Vulgate. We make another stop in Bethlehem at the Shepherds Field where an Angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds on Christmas night to tell them of the imminent birth of the savior.

On this tour our first stop is the Church of the Ascension We'll start off on the Mount of Olives, a place famous for the church from which Jesus ascended into heaven. A neighboring church can be found named the Church of the Pater Noster. This church is significant as it's the place that Jesus taught his disciples of the Lord's Prayer. As is told within the bible, Jesus stood and wept over the destruction of Jerusalem as he stood on the Dominus Flevit, another vital part of our tour. As we move onto the next part of the tour we'll visit the Church of All Nations where stationed adjacent to this is the Garden of Gethsemane, famous for being where Jesus was arrested the evening of his crucifixion. Moving onto the Old City, we'll be able to see the Pools of Bethesda on our way before stopping at the Church of Saint Anne and the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. To finish our tour, we'll walk the same footsteps that Jesus took as he carried his cross through Jerusalem, the walk now named the Via Dolorosa before we head back.