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Join us in Israel!

(As of November 13, 2011 the trip has been canceled, but another may be planned for down the road.)

March 27-April 6, 2012

$3964 from Chicago

(Price covers everything except lunches and personal spending money!)

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Final Payment due December 27, 2011

The Gai Beach hotel in Tiberias

In Jerusalem we'll be at the Dan Panorama hotel, where we stayed on our trip in 2009. The Dan Panorama is walking distance from the Old City of Jerusalem and nearby modern shops where people can enjoy seeing present day Israeli culture.

The Dan Panorama dining room

Susan Marcus, our Israeli tour guide, has done a spectacular job for us on past trips and will once again be our guide. You will love her!

Let me walk you through the overview details of our Tour itinerary, as we begin our trip from Chicago. Know that these are the sights we'll see, although occasionally the order may change to make things run smoothly as we time our arrivals at certain places. (Our touring usually beings around 8:00 a.m. and finishes at around 4:00 p.m. allowing us time to see many things, and still have time to relax around a wonderful dinner, then take a walk or rest or whatever we'd like to do in the evening.)

Day 1 March 27 - Tuesday

Leave Chicago in the morning. Come in relaxed clothing for the flight to JFK where we pick up the second leg of the trip to Tel Aviv.

Day 2 March 28 - Wednesday

We arrive in the morning in Israel after having caught some sleep on the plane (ya right! :-) ) and begin to tour on our deluxe air conditioned coach bus, with Susan leading the way for us.

(Denna by our bus. The driver stays with the bus, so all our gear is protected all the time.)

We'll make stops on the beautiful Mediterranean cost at Caesarea Maritime, seeing the amphitheater and nearby aqueduct that may have carried the water that was used to baptize Cornelius and his family in the book of Acts.

Then it's on to Mt. Carmel where Elijah battled the prophets of Baal. We walk through Megiddo, with its nearby valley named for it, which you may know better as Armageddon (The Valley of Megiddo). Overnight in Tiberias at the Gai Beach hotel, where dinner will be served. After which we can take a walk to downtown Tiberias and scan the Sea of Galilee on which shores Tiberias is located.

Day 3 March 29 - Thursday

We'll have a full day on this day, taking a sail on the Sea of Galilee, the go to a museum to see the "Jesus boat" a first century boat found on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Lunch today is a "St. Peter's Fish" special lunch. We'll stop at the Mt. of the Beatitudes where Jesus famous sermon was preached, stroll through Capernaum where Peter lived and see his house which is still there today. Nearby we'll walk through the ancient "White Synagogue". And we'll go to Tabgha where the feeding of the 5000 is thought to have taken place. Back to the Gai Beach hotel for the dinner and the evening.

A trip on the Sea of Galilee will never be forgotten!

Marty and Kathy in thought at the Mount of the Beatitudes

Day 4 March 30 - Friday

On to the ancient town of Caesarea Philippi, not to be confused with Caesarea Maritime. This Caesarea is where the ancients thought the gates of Hell resided. The headwaters of the river Jordan are nearby, as we then swing to Tell Dan, a place that Abraham certainly traveled to. We'll see a door to the city gates that Abraham almost certainly walked through over 3,000 years ago. This day we take ride in jeeps across the Golan Heights. This jeep ride was one of the most remembered parts of our trip in 2009! People loved it, and I think you will too. If it is possible with Israeli schedules, we will visit an active Israeli military outpost. I can't promise this will happen as much depends on timing for the men and women there, but having done this in the past, if we are able to work it out, it will be a major highlight of the trip and something new for those who came in 2009.

Marty marvels that through this door Abraham certainly walked

Back to the Gai Beach hotel for dinner.

Day 5 March 31 - Saturday

We begin our drive to Jerusalem with a meaningful stop at the Jordan River at the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. Here we will baptize in the Jordan anyone who would like to be baptized! If you have already been baptized, don't hesitate to do so again. When will you ever be in Israel again?! Many times we would hope, but take advantage of this opportunity while we are there.

A happy group from our trip having just been baptized in the Jordan River

Then we go to one of the most spectacular archaeological sites you will ever see: Beit Shean, the place the Bible says that Saul and Jonathan's heads were taken by their enemies. The city is an architectural marvel you won't want to miss.

Denna and Kathy at Beit Shean's spectacular site

We'll see Gideon's spring where his men lapped water and his small army was chosen.

After a drive to get us closer to Jerusalem, we have dinner, not at the hotel, but with "Abraham" in his Bedouin tent. This is an experience you will never forget and includes a camel ride to the tent for those courageous enough to get on the camels!

Denna and Bonnie on a camel taxi to dinner in a Bedouin tent!

Pete and Deb listen as "Abraham" explains the meal

After dinner Bedouin style, we are off to Jerusalem to the Dan Panorama for a good nights rest and the beginning of our southern Israel touring the next morning.

Day 6 April 1 - Sunday

Day 6 has us heading out of Jerusalem to Qumran. What is Qumran you ask? The place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found! Spectacular to consider. And Qumran is right on the Dead Sea, as you might expect since that is how the scrolls got their name, and is on the way to Masada. Masada is a "must" stop on our Israeli tour. Its table top "mesa" is 1100 feet off the floor of the Dead Sea area. We access it by cable car and learn the courageous story told by Josephus, of the Jews who held out to the last against the Romans and Titus. We'll save the story for Susan's telling, which is an amazing and memorable experience all by itself. Remarkable.

On the way back from Masada, we see from the road En Gedi, the spring that David drank from and the cave in which he hid. We stop nearby at the beach...the beach? Yes! The beach right on the Dead Sea, where those who would like to can float in the Dead Sea water! You can't sink! It's amazing and worth doing if you never have done so.

Rick and Pete head for the Dead Sea

Nick and Katrina relax at the Dead Sea as others float by

Qumran caves where Dead Sea Scrolls were found

Back to the Dan Panorama in Jerusalem for the evening.

Days 7 - 10 April 2 - Monday - Thursday April 5

These days in Jerusalem are such a highlight. The Mount of Olives, the path of the Triumphal Entry, the shepherd's fields overlooking Bethlehem on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Caiaphas's house, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, if possible on top the Temple Mount itself, the Rabbis Tunnel, the Pools of Bethesda, St. Anne's Church with its spectacular acoustics...there is so much to see.

The Via Dolorosa in the Old City, the Judgement Hall of Pilate, Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum), the Temple Institute where utensils for the next Temple have been built and are on display, a large scale model of the ancient city of Jerusalem, the Souther Stairs of the Temple, if there is time, the city of David which has been discovered in recent years.

Ancient Olive Tree in the Garden of Gethsemane

Israeli children's group visits the Western Wall

Susan teaching us on the Temple's Southern Steps

And to cap off these days in Jerusalem, yes we will have seen the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where some believe the Crucifixion and burial of Christ took place, but we'll also see a place that seems to be even more so the place of the burial and resurrection of Christ: The Garden Tomb, formerly called Gordon's Calvary or Gordon's Garden Tomb, named after the British officer who found the location. There we will have communion within eyesight of a first century tomb and perhaps THE first century tomb out of which Jesus arose.

The place of the Skull at Gordon's Garden Tomb

After some time in the Old City this day, we are back at the hotel for a farewell dinner.

We depart this evening for home.

Day 11 April 6 - Friday

Arrive home in Chicago

What can I tell you folks, this is a spectacular trip and one we love to share with others. I'll be glad to supply references to any who would like them, and some of you on this mailing list would be those references having gone with us before.