Exotic Journeys' Holyland Tour - Israel - 8 Days

Tel Aviv • Jaffa • Caesarea • Mt Beatitude • Bio-Bee Kibbutz SdeEliahu • Mt. of Olives • Israel Museum • Tel Aviv

DAY 1: Tel Aviv

Arrive in Tel Aviv. A representative from Exotic Journeys International Group ( EJIG) will meet you and escort you to your hotel.

Balance of the day at leisure.

Overnight: Tel Aviv
Carlton Hotel, Tel Aviv or similar.

DAY 2: Jaffa – Flee Market - Neve Zedek - Independence Hall - The White City of Tel Aviv, (UNESCO World Heritage) – Carmel Market

Private transfer to Jaffa. Walk along the artist quarter to the old port. Jonah set sail to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3) and King Solomon built his port (2 Chron. 2:16).

Proceed to the Flea Market, with its cornucopia of second-hand treasures and shabby-chic gems.

Stroll through Neve Zedek, the first neighborhood in Tel Aviv, established in 1887 outside the walls of Jaffa and a recently gentrified area with wonderful restored homes and small shops and restaurants.

Visit the Independence Hall where David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, declared Israel’s independence in 1948.

Enjoya walking tour of the World Heritage Site of the White City of Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 and developed as a metropolitan city under the British Mandate in Palestine. The White City was constructed from the early 1930s until the 1950s, based on the urban plan by Sir Patrick Geddes, reflecting modern organic planning principles. The buildings were designed by architects who were trained in Europe where they practiced their profession before immigrating. They created an outstanding architectural ensemble of the Modern Movement in a new cultural context. The new town of Tel Aviv is an outstanding example of new town planning and architecture in the early 20th century, adapted to the requirements of a particular cultural and geographic context.

End the day at the bustling Carmel Market, the major local market of Tel Aviv.

*** Optional evening out: EatWith is an easy and wonderful way to access the underground food scene and connect with creative, open-minded and local interesting people.

Overnight: Tel Aviv
Carlton Hotel, Tel Aviv or similar

DAY 3 - Caesarea - En Hod artist village; DADA Museum– World Heritage Site of Acre

Israeli buffet breakfast in your hotel

Drive along the Mediterranean shore line to visit Caesarea. Built by Herod the Great and once the seat of Roman rule. View the excavated Roman Theater, with its acoustic and theatrical sound, which was used for many performances throughout the centuries. Enjoy an audio-visual presentation brings to life the times of the Romans who controlled these shores 2,000 years ago. Walk through the excavated fortress and view the aqueduct, once used for conveying water.

Continue to the artist’s village of Ein-Hod to visit the DADA Museum and enjoy a guided tour.The museum is also named after Marcel Janco (1895-1984), a renown painter and one of the founders of the Dadaist movement (anti-artists) was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso who belonged to the Dadaists Group in Paris.

On to the World Heritage Site of Acre. Acre is an exceptional historic walled port-city with continuous settlement from the Phoenician period. The present city is characteristic of a fortified town dating from the Ottoman 18th and 19th centuries. Acre preserves substantial remains of its medieval Crusader buildings beneath the existing Moslem fortified town dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The remains of the Crusader town of Acre, both above and below the present-day street level, provide an exceptional picture of the layout and structures of the capital of the medieval Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Present-day Acre is an important example of an Ottoman walled town, with typical urban components such as the citadel, mosques, khans, and baths well preserved, partly built on top of the underlying Crusader structures. Visit the Crusaders Halls and Al Jazar Mosque.

Drive to Tiberius for dinner and overnight.

Overnight: Tiberius Scott hotel

DAY 4:Mt Beatitude - a jeep ride along the Golan Heights -Nazareth

After breakfast, visit Mount of Beatitudes; North of the Sea of Galilee, atop the Beatitudes Mount, lies a beautiful church with an octagonal dome that represents the 8 “Beatitudes” of the sermon that Jesus Christ blessed his disciples with 2000 years ago.Enjoy a splendid panoramic view of Tabgha and Capernaum.Continue to a jeep tour, ascending the Golan Heights to visit one of the most famous wineries of Israel; Pelter Winery. Enjoy a wine tasting. On to Mt Bental, for a stunning panoramic view of the Golan Heights, overlooking the border between Israel and Syria. Learn about the Geopolitics of the region.

End the day in Nazareth, Jesus’ boyhood home for a tour of the city. Visit the Church of the Annunciation.

Return to your hotel for dinner and overnight.

Overnight:
Tiberius Scott hotel

DAY 5: Bio-Bee kibbutz SdeEliahu – Massada - Swim and Float at the Dead Sea - WadiKelt view point

Enjoy the famous Israeli buffet breakfast in your hotel. This morning we check out from our hotel heading to Jerusalem along the Jordan Valley. Our first stop is in Kibbutz SdeEliahu, to visit BioBee. BioBee is one of the world’s leading producer of Phytoseiulus persimilis, the most effective natural predator of Tetranychusurticae (red spider mite).

Drive along the Jordan Valley and the shoreline of the Dead Sea to visit Massada. 500 meters high above the Dead Sea, the fortress of Massada is set on a giant cliff, 600 m. length, 300 m. width and 2000 years old - the greatest castle in history build by King Herods. A cable car takes the visitors up to the cliff, to an unforgettable tour of the palaces, the warehouses and resident areas, the water complex, the impressive fortified system and to the most fascinating views of the Judean Desert.

Descend Masada and enjoy the Dead Sea experience; Swim and Float at the lowest place on earth.

Drive to Jerusalem; Time permits stop for a view point on St. George's Monastery, build in the 5th century CE on the cliff of WadiKelt.

Continue to

Overnight: Jerusalem
Inbal / Mamila hotel

DAY 6: Mt. of Olives - Via Dolorosa - Austrian Hospice view point - Church of Holy Sepulcher - Jewish Quarter - Western Wall

After breakfast ascend Mt. of Olives for a view point on Jerusalem: Overlooking the Old City, the mount is covered partly in olive trees, cemeteries and churches - commemorate the Christian events of Jesus.Enter the Old City of Jerusalem.

As we walk along the Via Dolorosa we shall enjoy a special view from the Austrian Hospice rooftop in the Old city. On to visit the Church of Holy Sepulcher. We then proceed on a tour of the Jewish Quarter, which was reconstructed in 1967. A special point of interest in the restored Jewish Quarter is the "Cardo", meaning the "heart" of this ancient Byzantine City.

On to the Western Wall; Most sacredplace for the Jewish people, the remains of the wall that surrounded Temple Mount.

Overnight: Jerusalem Inbal / Mamilahotel

DAY 7: Israel Museum – YadVashem – Bethlehem – Separation wall in Jerusalem; special tour with Danny Tirza (Col. Reserve)

Enjoy breakfast in the hotel. Our first visit is at the Israel Museum; Visit the scale model of Jerusalem from the Second Temple period and the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book.

Proceed to Visit YadVashem, the official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 and located on Mt. Herzl.

Drive to Bethlehem, believed to be the birth place of Jesus. Visit Church of Nativity.

We shall be joined by a local historian who will lead us on a borders and boundaries tour covering the separation fence, disputed neighborhoods, and other current issues surrounding Jerusalem.

Overnight Jerusalem Inbal / Mamilahotel

DAY 8: Departure

Transfer to Tel Aviv international airport. Depart on your onward journey.

*****
Suggested advance booking: At least 180 days or earlier prior to departure with 20% per person deposit. Final payment required: 120 days prior to departure.