A week in Israel Eilat>Tel Aviv

(for Christians who have already seen some of Israel…) 

Day 01:

Meet and assist at the Taba / Arava Border by the staff of Ahalan Olympus (your tour operator), and transfer to Eilat. If time permits, visit the Underwater Observatory Marine Park, to enjoy the colorful coral reef of the Red Sea. O/N Eilat.

Day 02:

Visit the ancient copper mines, once named "King Salomons Mines" in the Timna Park. We will also be able to enjoy the different rock formations carved naturally in the red sandstone, among them the famous "Salomon's Pillars", "The Sphinx", "The Mushroom" and more… We also visit the 1:1 model of the Tabernacle, placed at a place where the children of Israel really passed by during their journey through the desert and to the Holy Land. We continue driving through the Arava valley, passing the state-of-the-art agricultural installations that made the prophecy about the Arava that shall "blossom like a Lilly" come true. Passing the Biblical Sodom we stop at Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We will watch the antiquities and the audio-visual presentation of the life of the Esseans living there, comparing it to the ideas of John the Baptist. Then we will triumphally ascend to Jerusalem through the Mt. of Olives. O/N Jerusalem.

Day 03:

If the political situation allows it, we will set out to Bethlehem, to visit the place where Jesus was born – the Church of Nativity. This church is the oldest existing church, were services were held without any break since St. Helen built the first church in the 4^th century! From here we drive through the Judean Hills, through a landscape that did not change much since biblical times, to the ancient city of Hebron, to visit the Machpela Cave, tomb of the Patriarchs. This buiding, first built by King Herod the Great, is holy for Jews, Christians and Muslims, so it also has remnants left by the Crusaders as well as the Arabs. O/N Jerusalem.

Day 04:

We start "where it all began" in Jerusalem – the recent excavations in the City of David, which actually changed the whole archaeological concept of what had happened in Jerusalem during the time of the kings David and Salomon. If you are courageous enough, we can also wade in the water through Hezekiyah's Tunnel, an extraordinary engineering project, dating back to 701 BC! At the "Davidson Center" we will see the latest excavations of the Temple of Jerusalem, at it's most glamorous days. The findings come alive through some state-of-the-art audiovisual presntations. Today, Sunday, we will also visit the "Garden Tomb", where the burrial and resurrection of Jesus come alive. O/N in Jerusalem.

Day 05:

This day is dedicated to the New City of Jerusalem. We visit the Model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period, located in the Israel Museum. This is a 1:50 scale model of the city, as it was during one of it's most important periods, when Judaism and Christianity, as we know them today, started to evolve. The model is built from the original materials, and is updated according to the most recent archaeological researches. At the Israel Museum we also visit the "Shrine of the Book", where the "Dead Sea Scrolls" are exhibited.

We also visit Yad Vashem, the memorial of the holocaust, the famous "Menorah" (Candelabre) located in front of the "Knesset"-Building, housing Israel's Parliament. The "Menorah" depicts the history of the Jewish people, that survived thousands of years of presecution through it's spirit, symbolized by the light.

Day 06:

Today we leave Jerusalem and drive along the Jordan Valley to the Land of Galilee. On the "Mt. of Beatitudes" we can enjoy the special church built by the Italian architect Berluzzi, as well as the wide view over the Sea of Galilee. We also visit the archaeological excavations of Capernaum, "The Town of Jesus", and its well-known Synagogue. We drive up to the Golan Hights, and visit the reconstructed Talmudic village in Katzrin. We also drive up to the top of Har (Mt.) Bental. From the summit of this mountain, a non-active volcano, there is a wide view over the area, that allows us to understand the geographical and political uniqueness of the Golan in the past and in the present. Return to Jerusalem.

Day 07:

Time at leisure in Jerusalem/Tel Aviv. If time permits, we can also visit the ancient Jaffa, an ancient port city since early biblical times, where the house of Simeon the tanner stood, and Peter raised the little girl from the dead ("Thalita Kumi!"). Transfer to the airport for your flight back home.

For booking&information, please call your Israeli tour operator at Ahalan Olympus +972-50-3392425 or contact us by e-mail