Day 1:  Meeting and assistance at Tel Aviv airport. Transfer to your tent camp in the Negev Desert for dinner and overnight.

Day2:  AM: Free to enjoy the desert. In the afternoon,  descend into the largest of the desert craters which divide the rugged mountains of the Negev Desert. Walk along the floor of the crater in the foot steps of Abraham, and follow part of the ancient “Spice Route”. Return to Beer Sheba for a tour of the old town before returning to your tent camp for overnight.

Day 3:  In the morning drive to Kibbutz Sde Boker and follow a route through the wilderness of Zin and the magnificent desert scenery to the Ein Argev. Continue to the Nabetean city of Avdat, a vital link in the ancient caravan route between Petra in the Mountains of Moab and the Mediterranean port of Gaza. In the evening visit the desert observatory to view the stars and the constellations in the place where our forefathers viewed them. Dinner and overnight at your tent camp.

Day 4: After an early breakfast, leave Beer Sheva and drive across the Negev plateau to descend into the Arava valley to pass Sodom, the lowest point on earth en-route to Masada, which is ascended by cable car, or on foot up the winding snake path (for the fit and adventurous). Visit Herod’s beautiful stepped Palace and place of the final resistance and mass suicide of Jewish Zealots during the revolt against Rome. Descending Masada we continue to Ein Bokek on the Shores of the Dead Sea. Stop to relax and bath in the mineral laden waters of the Dead Sea.

 Continue north along its shore and west through the Judean Hills to climb to the crest of the Mount of Olives for your first breathtaking view of Jerusalem. Continue to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight.

Day 5:  Walk on the ancient walls of Jerusalem. Visit Mount Zion and the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu overlooking the City of David. Within the Old City visit the Pools of Bethesda, continue to the Convent of the Sisters of Zion built on the foundations of the Roman garrison of Jerusalem where Jesus was condemned by Pontius Pilate. Follow the way of the Cross along the narrow street of the Via Dolorosa to Calvary enshrined within the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.  Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.

Day 6:  In Jerusalem visit the Church of Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Continue across to the crest of the Mount of Olives into the Judean Wilderness to descend to Jericho “the site of the oldest city on earth”. Continue north along the Jordan River Valley, then west across the Jezreel valley to Nazareth to spend time in the town where Jesus grew up. Visit the Basilica of Annunciation and the Church of St. Gabriel. A short distance away, visit Cana, the site of the first miracle, then down to Tiberias.  Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Tiberias.

Day 7:  After breakfast, leave Tiberias by boat and sail across the Sra of Galilee to Ginosar. Drive to Mt. of Beatitudes overlooking the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee and the places where Jesus lived and worked. Walk down to the lakeside at Tabgha and continue to Capernaum which became the center of Jesus’ Galilean Ministry. Cross the River to Kibbutz Ein Gev. Drive into the Golan Heights overlooking Syria to Banias, a source of the Jordan River and Caesarea Philippi.  Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Tiberias.

Day 8:  Transfer to airport for departure.

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