6 Days Israel Pilgrimage

JERUSALEM (TEMPLE MOUNT VIEW) & BETHLEHEM

• Birth place of Jesus Christ
• Place where Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ in a cave used for animals
• The place where local shepherds came to worship baby Jesus Christ
• The famous place where Three Wise Men from the East came to pay homage and present their gifts to baby Jesus Christ
• The birth place to King David who was the second King of Israel after King Saul

CHURCH OF SAINT PETER IN GALLICANTU

• The place where St. Peter rejected Jesus Christ thrice before the cock crowing
• The place where St. Peter raised Tabitha from the dead
• The place of a Byzantine Shrine dedicated to St. Peter’s repentance which was first built in 457 AD before being destroyed by Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in 1010 AD. Thereafter, it wasrebuilt by crusaders in 1102 AD and destroyed again during another fall of Jerusalem before reconstruction in 1931 of thepresent-day church
• The Holocaust Museum (Yad Vashem)
• Mount Zion to visit the ‘Upper Room’
• The place where Jesus Christ was taken for trial before Caiaphas the High Priest

THE CINACLE

• The traditional location of Jesus Christ’s Last Supper with the disciples

BASILICA OF LADY’S DORMITION

• The German Benedictine Abbey located on top of Mount Zion for remembering The Virgin Mary at the Chapel of Dominus Flevit (in the traditional site of her death whereby the name means ‘eternal sleep’)
• Also worth of mentioning is the location of Simon the Tanner’s house where the impure animals vision took place

HAIFA

• Israel’s largest port city on the slopes of mount Carmel
• A brief halt to the place where is found Prophet Elijah’s cave at STELLA MARRIS

MUHRAQA

• The place of sacrifice where Prophet Elijah defeated the False Prophets of Baal.

JERUSALEM

• Walk along the DOLOROSA (which stands for WAY OF THE CROSS) and make several stops visiting Churches as well as places marked by Christian tradition which ends at the Holy Sepulcher
• The Holy Sepulcher is a Church which was established in 333 AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine after his mother Queen Helena marked the place of GOLGOTHA during her visit in 326 AD.
• The site for Holy Sepulcher was selected based on memories of the site being an EXECUTIONPLACE of Jesus Christ during the CRUCIFIXION as well as the existence of a garden, Tombs and fragments of Wooden Planks

NAZARETH

• Visit the Basilica of The Annunciation (in memory of where The Virgin Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel to receive news about how she was to conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Messiah)
• Go to St Joseph Church which is in the traditional home of the Holy Family of Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph
• Visit MARY’S WELL or Fountain of The Virgin Mary which is the spot where Mary drank water on visiting Elizabeth after getting news from the angel Gabriel
• Drive through lower Galilee which is famous for being the home place to many of Jesus’ disciples
• Go to Mount PRECIPICE where wrathful inhabitants of Nazareth wanted to cast Jesus down headlong
• Go to CANA for a visit to the WEDDING CHURCH where Jesus Christ performed his first miracle of turning water into wine

JERUSALEM

• Go to the mountain of Olives from where Jesus Christ Ascended to Heaven after resurrection
• Visit GETHSEMANE which is a Catholic Franciscan Church that was built in 1924 through donations from many nations across the world
• Climb the temple view for a spectacular sightseeing of ancient and modern Jerusalem which is the centre of the Biblical world
• Visit Holy shrines and descend along PALM SUNDAY ROAD and get to see the place where Jesus Christ wept en-route to the Garden of Gethsemane and also the Church of All Nations where Jesus prayed
• Go to the CHURCH of VISITATION which is the place where mary visited Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist
• Visit St. John the Baptist Church which is a Catholic Church as well as a Monastery built over Byzantine and inside of which is a CAVE that was the birth place of John the Baptist

SEA OF GALILEE & THE TOWN OF CAPRNAUM

• Boat trip across the Sea of Galilee followed with St. Peter’s Fish Lunch
• Visit the Mount of BEATITUDES which is the scene of the Sermon on the Mountain by Jesus Christ
• Go to TABGHA to visit the Church of the MULTIPLICATION of Loaves and Fishes to feed over 5,000 men by Jesus Christ and also visit the nearby Chapel of the Primacy
• Visit the ancient town of Capernaum that was Jesus Christ’s home city and where also is found the ancient SYNAGOGUE; including the ‘House of Peter’
• Go and see the GOLAN HEIGHTS to witness the former SYRIAN FORTIFICATION
• Visit KNESSET which is Israel’s House of Parliament

JERICHO

• Get to see a city with the oldest known protective wall in the world
• Go and marvel at the Mountain of Temptation where Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days after his baptism in River Jordan by John the Baptist
• Visit the GOOD SAMARITAN INN National Park which is renowned for a mosaic collection that were made during the Byzantine period (4^th – 7^th Century)
• Float in the DEAD SEA which is also recorded as the lowest place on earth
• Go to QASR EL YAHUD National Park which offers the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus Christ (YARDENIT BAPTISM SITE) and also the place where JOSHUA crossed River Jordan while leading the people of Israel into the PROMISED LAND
• Drive on and stop in the shade of a SYCAMORE TREE which is the kind that ZACHAEUS the tax collector climbed in order to see Jesus Christ as is recorded in the Holy Bible
• Also go to PASS QUMRAN where the DEAD SEA SCROLLS were found

JERUSALEM

• Visit the POOL OF BETHSAIDA where Jesus Christ healed a man who had been crippled for 38 years
• Follow the 14 STATIONS OF THE CROSS from PILATE’S JUDGEMENT HALL to the empty TOMB in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher including the WAILING WALL (The Western Wall) which was part of the most magnificent buildings ever seen in Jerusalem and one of the four walls that Herod the Great built to support the 1,555,000 square foot plaza on which the Temple stood at almost 1,500 feet long (and 60 feet under the ground)
• Go and see Mount Tabor where the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ occurred in the presence of his disciples namely Peter, John and James

BEN GURION AIRPORT

• Free time in the morning hours
• Transfer in the afternoon to BEN GURION AIRPORT for flight back to Kenya

THE END