Charming Jerusalem Tour - 3 Days

Day 1: Jerusalem Old & New / Way of the Cross / Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Pick-up from your hotel in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and start your charming tour to Jerusalem.

From the top of the Mount of Scopus you can see some truly breathtaking views of Jerusalem. Before we set off we'll admire the views, then we'll set off down the mount, passing various different landmarks inclusive of the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations and the Kidron Valley. We'll enter the Old City via the Jewish quarter, where we'll see the many centuries old Cardo before moving to the Western Wall. At the Western Wall a tradition is to place a prayer on a piece of paper and placing it within the ancient stones of the wall, which we get the opportunity to do so before heading on. We'll then follow in the footsteps of Jesus himself and follow the Via Dolorosa which will follow the same route that he took when carrying his cross, ending at the place where Jesus was both crucified and buried, now named the Holy Sepulchre. After a lunch break, we'll head to New Jerusalem via the Old City Bazaar and drive through the modern city towards the Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum where we'll see many authentic documents and artifacts, and we'll see some photos and video testimonials of the Holocaust survivors

Day 2: In the Footsteps of Jesus / Church of All Nations

On this tour our first stop is the Church of the Ascension We'll start off on the Mount of Olives, a place famous for the church from which Jesus ascended into heaven. A neighboring church can be found named the Church of the Pater Noster. This church is significant as it's the place that Jesus taught his disciples of the Lord's Prayer. As is told within the bible, Jesus stood and wept over the destruction of Jerusalem as he stood on the Dominus Flevit, another vital part of our tour. 

As we move onto the next part of the tour we'll visit the Church of All Nations where stationed adjacent to this is the Garden of Gethsemane, famous for being where Jesus was arrested the evening of his crucifixion. Moving onto the Old City, we'll be able to see the Pools of Bethesda on our way before stopping at the Church of Saint Anne and the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. To finish our tour, we'll walk the same footsteps that Jesus took as he carried his cross through Jerusalem, the walk now named the Via Dolorosa before we head back.

Day 3: City of David / Underground Jerusalem / Tomb of King David / Hall of the Last Supper

From the elevated position on the Mount of Olives we have a panoramic view of the Holy City of Jerusalem. We look out beyond the Jewish cemetery on the mount's slopes towards the Temple Mount where the Second Temple once stood until it's destruction in 70AD.

Our drive along the Kidron Valley takes us past an ancient cemetery and at the foot of the mount we see the burial tombs of Absalom, King David's 3rd son; Zechariah, a First Temple priest and the tomb of the sons of Hezir. We also have a view of the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane. We reach Mount Zion where we visit the Tomb of King David. Within the tomb is David's cenotaph covered with a velvet cloth with embroidered symbols of a lyre and crown. Men and women sit in separate areas in this holy Jewish site where they can recite prayers facing the cenotaph. We continue our tour into the Old City through the Zion Gate and into the Jewish Quarter where we see a complex of four Sephardic synagogues which date back to the 17th and 18th century. The Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue, Istanbuli Synagogue, Emtsai Synagogue and the Eliahu Ha'Navi Synagogue were found desecrates, burnt and in disrepair when the Israelis reclaimed Jerusalem following the Six Day War. The historic buildings have since been fully renovated and restored.

Our next stop is at the Byzantine Cardo, once the main thoroughfare of the city, today we can see the findings of ongoing archaeological excavations and in part of the restored Cardo, ancient Crusader stores are used for modern shops.Through the Jewish Quarter we pass the excavated foundations of an ancient wall which stood 2,700 years ago during the reign of King Hezekiah (Is 22:10). We go beneath the present day streets to discover the 2000 year old Herodian mansions. The original mosaics and the ritual bath can be seen clearly. The complex of mansions gives great insight into the lifestyle at that time. We arrive at the Kotel, the 2000 year old Western Wall, once part of the outer walls of the Second Temple which stood on Temple Mount until the Temple's destruction in 70AD. Here you'll have a chance to place a prayer note between the stones of this ancient wall. We exit the Old City through the Dung Gate where we can explore the excavation site of the City of David which dates back 3000 years. We can marvel at the ingenuity of the Canaanites and Hezekiah who constructed tunnels to bring a water supply to the people within the city walls. These tunnels are described in Chronicles II 32:2-4 and in Kings II 20:20 – "…the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the pool and conduit, and brought water into the city…"

We rest at the Spring of Gihon and contemplate that it was here that Zadok the priest anointed Solomon king of Israel.

Finish your charming tour of Jerusalem and drop-of in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv hotel