Israel Tour and Jordan 7 days

Departing from Bucharest - Israel and Jordan 2023

DAY 1 | BUCHAREST- HAIFA- TIBERIAS
Meeting at Otopeni Henri Coanda International Airport with the Romanian group leader. After customs formalities, boarding on the flight to Tel Aviv. After landing at Ben Gurion airport, we start our journey to Lud, ancient Lida, where we will visit the Church of Saint George the Victorious (where the relics of the Saint and the arm with which he was bound are located). Short city tour of Tel Aviv - Jaffa, the largest and most cosmopolitan city in Israel.
Visit to the fortress of Jaffa, then drive along the Mediterranean coast to Haifa, a splendid port city on the Mediterranean Sea, situated in a large bay at the foot of Mount Carmel. Visit to the Stela Maris Monastery. View of the Bahai Temple with its hanging terrace gardens.
Dinner and accommodation at 3/4* hotel in Tiberias/Nazaret.

DAY 2 | MOUNT TABOR - CANA GALILEE - NAZARETH - CAPERNAUM - TIBERIAS

Breakfast. Drive to Mount Tabor. Transfer by minibus to visit the Greek Orthodox Church, located on the site of the Church of the Annunciation.
Drive to Nazareth to visit the Catholic Church of the Annunciation, built on the site of the house of Saints Joachim and Anne and the Orthodox Church of St. Archangel Gabriel, with the spring where he announced to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to Jesus Christ - the Son of God, painted by the Morosanu brothers in 1977. We continue to Capernaum, called the City of the Lord, Tabgha where Jesus enjoyed the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the Mount of Happiness where the Saviour pronounced the Beatitudes.
OPTIONAL, depending on time available, mini-cruise on the waters of the Sea of Galilee
Dinner and hotel accommodation in Tiberias/Nazaret.

DAY 3 | TIBERIAS- JORDAN VALLEY- AMMAN
Breakfast. Drive Tiberias - Jordan River - Chibut Yardenit, the arranged place of the Baptism. Drive to Ben Shean (Decapolis); we will cross over the Sheikh Hussein Bridge, the water of Jordan, crossing from Israel into Jordan.
Drive to Amman, capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, formerly called Philadelphia.
Jerash (ancient Gerasa), an important city in Roman times. Visit of the old city with its imposing entrance gate (Hadrian), streets, arches and columns particularly well preserved. We will visit the Oval Forum, the Amphitheatre, the Temple of Zeus, the Cardo Alley, in a straight line with more than 200 columns in Doric and Ionic style. Continuing through mountains and deep valleys, we head for Amman, capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, called Philadelphia in ancient times.
Dinner and accommodation in a 4* or similar hotel in Amman

DAY 4 | AMMAN - PETRA - AMMAN
Breakfast. Drive by coach to ancient Petra (about 3 hours and 30 minutes/way) on the original Desert Highway. Visit the extraordinary capital of the Nabateans, carved out of pink rock, rediscovered in 1812 after a search of some 300 years, one of the most spectacular achievements of mankind. We will see narrow gorges, rock faces, temples, burial tombs. We will stop in particular to visit the Al Khazanek Treasury and the Amphitheatre. Petra was included by universal vote in 2007 among the new 7 wonders of the ancient and modern world.
Petra with its treasures is Jordan's most famous tourist attraction (comfortable footwear is recommended for walking about 5 km). We leave Petra and, crossing the Valley of Moses, return to Amman.
Dinner and hotel accommodation in Amman.

DAY 5 | MOUNT NEBOD - MADABA - SEA OF DEATH - IERIHON - BETHLEHEM (~170 km)
Breakfast. We drive to Mount Nebo (800m), where Moses was buried, making it the most revered holy site in Jordan. On this mountain, you can see what Moses saw: an impressive panorama encompassing the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, Jericho, Jerusalem, the land called the Holy Land. The first church on Mount Nebo was built at the end of the 4th century to mark the place where Moses died and was buried, and is a place of pilgrimage for Christians, according to
was designated by Pope Paul John II himself. We are off to the town of Madaba, famous for its Byzantine period mosaics, the most famous of which is the one inside St George's Orthodox Church which
reproduces on part of the floor a map of the Holy Land. The mosaic, which dates from 560, depicts Palestine, Jerusalem, the city of Bethlehem, the Jordan River and the Dead Sea on this map. Drive to the Jordan Valley. We continue towards the border and cross from Jordan into Israel at Jericho.
First stop: Qumran at the Dead Sea (-430m), the lowest sea on earth. Stop at the cosmetics shop and self-service restaurant. Short stop at the Dead Sea
We enter the West Bank for a visit to the oldest city in the world: Jericho. Visit to the Romanian Church of All Saints
Dinner and accommodation at 3/4* local standard hotel or similar in Bethlehem.

DAY 6 | BETHLEHEM - JERUSALEM - MOUNT ZION - EIN KAREM (~16 km)
Breakfast. Visit of the Orthodox Church of the Nativity (here is an icon of Our Lady of Bethlehem, miracle worker); St. Catherine's Roman Catholic Church and the Milk Grotto Transfer by minibus to the Judean desert to visit the monasteries of St. Theodosius (5th century) and St. Sava the Holy (4th century). Jerusalem. Visit to Mount Zion, the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, the Holy Supper - the site of the first Church in the world, the Tomb of the Great King David. Visit to the Cardo archaeological site and the Wailing Wall. Drive to Ein Karem - the homeland of St. John the Baptist, where we will visit the Church of St. John built on the birthplace of St. John the Baptist. Dinner and overnight at hotel
in Bethlehem.

DAY 7 | BETHLEHEM - MOUNT MASLIN - JERUSALEM
Breakfast. Transfer by coach to the Mount of Olives. Continue on foot with a visit to the Pater Noster (Our Father) and Dominus Flevit (Lord wept) Churches, the Gethsemane Garden with the Church of the Nations, the Church of the Tomb of the Mother of God and the Gethsemane Cave. We will enter the Holy Citadel through the gate of St. Archdeacon Stefan. Walk along the Via Dolorosa with the 14 stations where Jesus stopped on the Way of the Cross to the Holy Sepulchre. Visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Centre of Christian Earth. Ascent to Golgotha, the Stone of Anointing, visiting all the Holy Paracels.
Transfer to the airport with boarding to Bucharest.