Holy Land

Depart via scheduled air service. The destination is Cairo.

Arrive at Cairo International Airport. Meet your Faith Journeys Tour Manager who will assist the group to an awaiting chartered motorcoach for a transfer to your hotel in Cairo. Late afternoon hotel check-in. Evening Welcome Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. This morning we will travel to the ancient capital of Memphis to see the Step Pyramids at Sakkara. We will then continue to the Pyramids of Giza to see the iconic Sphinx, carved out of a single piece of stone. Lunch, on own. Experience a camel ride by the Pyramids and visit the Papyrus Institute. Evening dinner. Enjoy a spectacular Sound and Light show at Giza. Return to hotel for overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Begin the day with a visit to the Egyptian Museum, with the fabulous treasures of King Tut-Ankh-Amon and antiquities dating back 50 centuries. We will explore the famous Cetadel of Saladin and enjoy a panoramic view of Cairo. Lunch, on own. Continue to Old Cairo to see the Hanging Church, the Abu Serga Church, and the Church of St. Mary where many people witnessed the Miraculous Apparitions of Blessed Mary. We will also visit the Alabaster Mosque and stroll through the 14th-century Khan El Khalili Bazaar. Celebrate Mass at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Starting early from Cairo, we drive through the desert and cross the Suez Canal, retelling the story of the Exodus. Lunch, on own. Visit the towering red granite mountains that include Jebel Musa, the Traditional Mt. Sinai (or Mt. Horeb) with St. Catherine’s Monastery. In the Byzantine Period, this entire area was populated by tens of monasteries and caves of hermit monks. Evening dinner and overnight at Morganland Village.

Before dawn we will ascend Mt. Sinai by camel or foot, walking in the footsteps of Moses At the summit, we will celebrate Mass at sunrise. Breakfast at the hotel. After breakfast, we will tour the Monastery, taking in some of the oldest surviving icons in the world, as well as the traditional site of the burning bush, from which God spoke to Moses. Lunch, on own. We will then head towards the eastern shores of the Sinai Peninsula on the Red Sea. At Nuweiba, we will embark on a ferry to Aqaba ($135 additional) in Jordan, or transfer by deluxe motorcoach. Meet our Jordanian guide and transfer to our hotel in the Nabataean city of Petra. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. After an early Mass at our hotel, we will proceed to Petra. We will walk through the Siq, the main entrance to Petra to the Treasure and continue past tombs and burial chambers carved into the sandstone mountains. Lunch, on own. Travel by bus through the Mountains of Moab to Amman. From these mountains, Balaam was commissioned to curse the people of Israel, but God turned his curses into blessings. Amman was the Old Testament Rabbath-Amon and the Decapolis town of Philadelphia of Jesus’ day. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. This morning we will drive to Mt. Nebo, from which God showed Moses the Promised Land. We will visit the recently discovered and excavated baptismal site of “Bethany beyond the Jordan.” Lunch, on own. We will proceed to the Allenby Bridge, crossing the Jordan near the place where Elijah and Elisha crossed at Beth Abara. We will meet our Holy Land guide and continue to Tel Jericho, where we visit the remains of the world’s oldest city and traditional mountain of Jesus’ temptation. We will then travel to Mt. Tabor and ascend to the top for a breathtaking view over the Valley of Jezreel, Galilee, Gilead, and Samaria. Celebrate Mass in the Church of Transfiguration. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. We begin the morning with Mass at the Mount of Beatitudes. Descend the hillside to Tabgha, visiting the Church of Loaves and Fishes, marking Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the Five Thousand and the Church of the Primacy of Peter. We will then visit Caphernaum to see the house of Peter and visit the synagogue where Jesus preached. Lunch, on own. Continue through the Upper Jordan Valley and the foothills of Mt. Hermon to the headwaters of the Jordan at Banias – Caesarea Philippi, where Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Christ. We will board a wooden boat for Tiberias – sailing in the footsteps of Jesus. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. We will start at the Church of the Wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle, changing water into wine. We will drive to Nazareth to visit the Church of the Annunciation to celebrate Mass and see the ruins of the ancient churches and remains of the town of Nazareth of Jesus’ day. Lunch, on own. Continue to the Mt. of Precipitation and survey the Plain of Jazreel and battle sites of King Saul and the prophetess Deborah. Continue to Haifa via Mt. Carmel, site of Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Descend the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea to visit the aqueduct, the ancient Herodian harbor, the remains of the seaside palace of Pontius Pilate. Continue to hotel for evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. This morning, we begin on the Mt. of Olives, where many events in the life of our Lord took place. Visit the Chapel of Ascension and outlook for a breath-taking view of the Old City. Descend the traditional Palm Sunday Road to the Church of Dominus. Continue to the Garden of Gethsemane. Lunch, on own. Visit the Tomb of the Blessed Virgin then drive to Mt. Zion to visit the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu. This afternoon we will travel to the Shepherds’ Fields to rejoice over the glad tidings of the birth of Jesus. Return to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity and celebrate Mass in the Chapel of the Massacre of Innocents. Finally, we will shop for famous olive wood and crafts produced by the Christians of Bethlehem for centuries. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Drive to Bethany to visit the Tomb of Lazarus and hold Mass in the Church of the House of Mary and Martha. Continue through the Judean Wilderness to the desert fortress of Masada. We ascend by cable car to view the palaces of Herod and the site of Zealots’ last stand against the Romans. Lunch, on own. Stop in Ein Gedi to walk up to the waterfall and see the conies and ibex. After a short stop in Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written, we will float in the Dead Sea, at the lowest point on the face of the earth. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. This morning we visit the Western Wall. We will continue to the Temple Mount viewing the Muslim Dome of the Rock, built on the site of the Holy of Holies of the Temple, and the Mosque of El Aqsa. Lunch, on own. This afternoon we will visit the Pools of Bethesda and the Church of St. Anne. Beginning at the Chapel of the Flagellation, we then proceed up the Via Dolorosa past the fourteen Stations of the Cross. We will enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, proceeding to the Hill of Golgotha, the Chapel of the Skull of Adam, and the empty Tomb. In the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, we conclude our pilgrimage with the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Evening Farewell Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Time at leisure for additional sightseeing, shopping, or reflection. Check out of the hotel. Lunch, on own. Transfer to Tel Aviv via Emmaus. Possible worship service at the site of the post-resurrection revelation of Jesus to his disciples. Evening dinner before late night or early-morning flight home.

Return to the USA.