Holy Land

Depart via scheduled air service from Baltimore. The destination is Tel Aviv.

Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport. Meet your Faith Journeys Tour Manager who will assist the group to awaiting chartered motorcoach. Tour Tel Aviv. Dinner, then check into hotel in Jerusalem.

Breakfast at the hotel. Celebrate Mass in the Church of the Annunciation and view the ruins of the ancient churches and remains of Nazareth of Jesus’ day. Continue to the Church of the Wedding at Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. Visit the baptismal site on the Jordan River. Lunch, on own. Tour the Sea of Galilee. Evening dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the hotel. Drive to the Judean Desert via Bethany to stop at Wadi Qelt for a short devotion by the road of the Good Samaritan. Continue to Jericho, the world’s oldest city, climbing the ancient Tel to view the Mount of Temptation. We then drive through the Jordan Valley to Nazareth. Lunch, on own. Travel to the Shepherd’s Fields to rejoice over the glad tidings of the birth of Jesus. Continue to Bethlehem to visit the 5th-century Church of the Nativity and celebrate Mass in the Chapel of the Massacre of the Innocents. Enjoy some time at leisure to shop for famous Bethlehem crafts. 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. Ascend Mount Tabor for a breathtaking view over the Valley of Jezreel, Galilee, Gilead, and Samaria. Celebrate Mass in the Church of the Transfiguration. Travel across the Valley of Jezreel to ancient Har-Megiddo or Armageddon. Lunch, on own. Continue to Caesarea to visit the aqueduct, the ancient Herodian harbor, the remains of the seaside palace of Pontius Pilate, and the theater. Continue through the Sharon Plain to the Holy City of Jerusalem. As we catch our first glimpse of the city from Mount Scopus, your guide will welcome you with a short ceremony of bread and salt. Evening dinner and overnight

Breakfast at the hotel. Tour City of Jerusalem. We begin our day with a birds’ eye view of the Old City from the Mount of Olives and descend the traditional Palm Sunday Road, to the Church of Dominus Flevit to Celebrate Mass. Continue to the Western (Wailing) Wall, remnant of the Temple in which Jesus preached. Lunch, on own. Continue to the Temple Mount, viewing the Muslim Dome of the Rock, built on the site of the Holy of Holies of the Temple. Visit the Crusader Church of St. Anne and the Pools of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the man paralyzed for 38 years. This evening we will walk through the underground tunnels to see the remnants of the Temple Mount of Jesus’ day. Evening dinner and overnight

Transfer to the airport for return flight home.