Israel Tour with Pastor Bill Overstreet - Indian Lake Peninsula Church

                            Israel Tour with Pastor Bill Overstreet - Indian Lake Peninsula Church

                                                                       March 21 - 31, 2023

March 21 (Day 1): Departure the US to Tel Aviv

March 22 (Day 2):​ Arrival in Tel Aviv –  Transfer to hotel in Tiberias

Meet your guide at the airport, and drive to your hotel in Tiberias for dinner and overnight.

March 23 (Day 3): Caesarea – Mt. Carmel – Megiddo – Nazareth – Sea of Galilee

Start the day with a visit to Caesarea Maritima where we will visit the magnificent city with Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader ruins. Continue to visit Mount Carmel, Megiddo, and explore the Tel that goes back in history to 4000 BC, looking at ruins from the times of King Solomon and King Ahab. Overlooking the Armageddon Valley, Precede to Nazareth where we visit the church of the Annunciation including the Archaeological garden. On to the Sea of Galilee for dinner and Overnight

March 24 (Day 4): Sea of Galilee – Magdala 

Start the day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Then we continue to visit the Jesus Boat Museum to visit a 2000-year-old boat from the time of Jesus. After that, we continue to visit Capernaum where we visit the remains of an ancient synagogue. We continue to visit Mt. of Beatitudes on the Sea of Galilee and Magdala. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias.

March 25 (Day 5): Sea of Galilee - Jericho – Bethlehem – Shepherd field

Check out of our hotel in Galilee and head south towards Jerusalem. drive through the Jordan valley, and visit the baptismal site on the Jordan River at Bet Arabah also known as Qasr el Yahud which means the crossing place of the Jews; It was here where the Israelites crossed the river Jordan at the very same spot where the prophet Elijah was taken into heaven and where our Lord Jesus was baptized. On to visit Jericho where we visit Tel Jericho location of ancient Jericho at the time of Joshua, from where we will also have a view over the Judean wilderness and the Mt of Temptation. This afternoon we visit the Shepherd field where the Angels appeared announcing the good news about the birth of our Savior followed by the visit to the Church of the Nativity marking the birthplace of Christ. Check into your hotel for Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.

March 26 (Day 6): Temple Mt – Pools of Bethesda - Mt. of Olives – Israeli Museum 

Start the day with a visit to Temple Mt, recalling Abraham brought his son Isaac as an offering to the Lord, it is where King Solomon Temple stood later to be rebuilt by Ezra and Nehemiah, seeing the esplanade added by King Herod the Great. We will learn about jess teachings at the Temple which in a way formed the center for Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem. We visit the nearby pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed the Paralytic and the nearby church of St Anne’s known for its acoustics to sing a hymn of praise. We precede to the Mt of Olives for a panoramic view over the city of Jerusalem, then we walk Palm Sunday road stopping at Dominus Flevit where Jesus wept the city from. On we carry on to visit the Israeli Museum including the model city of Jerusalem as it looked in the 1st century AD and the Shrine of Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display. We return to our hotel for dinner and overnight in Jerusalem

March 27 (Day 7): Mt Zion – Jewish quarter –Wailing Wall 

Start the day at the Davidson center walking where Jesus walked on streets that are dating to the time of Christ, stand on the southern steps of the Temple where Peter preached and the first Christians were baptized. On Mt Zion visiting the upper room, then we precede through Zion gate to the Jewish quarter seeing the Roman-Byzantine Cardo, King Hezekiah broad wall, Hurva Synagogue, Golden Temple Menorah. This afternoon we visit the Wailing Wall Judaism Holiest place that will take us along the western wall of the temple seeing Herodian temple's magnificent architecture. Return to our hotel for dinner and overnight in Jerusalem

March 28 (Day 8): Masada – Qumran – Dead Sea

Full-Day Tour in the Dead Sea area - we will visit Masada, the fortress built by King Herod the Great and made famous by the Zealots in 73/74 AD with the stand-off against the Romans. Then we continue to visit Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and swim in the Dead Sea. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.

March 29 (Day 9): Garden of Gethsemane –  Caiaphas House – Garden Tomb

Start the day with a visit to the Garden of Gethsemane with some time for private prayer at Gethsemane private Garden. On across the Kidron to Caiaphas Palace where Peter denied Jesus three times, continue to visit Ecce Homo, biblical Gabbatha. Follow Stations of the Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, walk through different quarters of Jerusalem, and then end the day at the Garden Tomb for a visit and communion service. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.

March 30 (Day 10): Hezekiah’s Tunnel “City of David” -  Yad Vashem 

This morning we start the day by visiting the City of David, seeing the possible finds of King David Palace, walking through Warren Shaft which might be the same pipeline that David men's climbed to take the city reaching King Hezekiah water tunnel which carries the water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam or take the dry Canaanite tunnel reaching the watergate from the times of Ezra and Nehemiah leading into the pools of Siloam where Jesus sent the blind man to wash at. On to Yad Vashem Holocaust memorials for a visit to the site. This afternoon we drive to the Valley of Elah where the encounter between David and Goliath would have taken place. Back to the hotel in Jerusalem overnight.

March 31(Day 11): Departure Tel Aviv to the US. We will arrive back in the USA the same day.