Heritage Tour
8 days / 7 nights
Highlights: Tel Aviv / Caesarea /Haifa / Rosh Hanikra / Acre / Safed / Tiberias / Golan / Galilee / Jerusalem
Day 1
Arrival -Tel Aviv-Caesarea-Atlit-Haifa
Pick up at Ben Gurion airport and meeting with our guide. Visit of Tel Aviv with its Bauhaus architecture, Rothschild Boulevard and the Independence Museum, where David Ben Gurion declared the independence of the new state in 1948. Continuation on the coastal road to Caesarea, with the remains of the Roman aqueduct; then on to Atlit, a small town south of Mount Carmel housing the British detention camp museum (where Jewish illegal immigrants were detained during the time of British Mandate Palestine). Visit of the museum and continuation to Haifa. Dinner and overnight in Haifa.
Day 02
Haifa-Acre-Rosh Hanikra
After breakfast, visit of the Carmel, with a panoramic view of the bay of Haifa and the gardens of the Baha'i temple. Departure for Akko (St. John of Acre) and visit of the old city, visit of the museum of the prisoners of the Jewish Resistance (under the British mandate). Lunch in the old city. Visit the Templar tunnel. Then we will continue to Rosh Hanikra, a geological formation with beautiful caves, the only place in Israel where sea and mountain meet, on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Dinner and overnight in Haifa.
Day 3
Safed-Tiberias-Golan
After breakfast, departure for Safed, one of the 4 holy cities of Judaism (with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hebron), but also spiritual center of the Kabbalists, located at 900 meters above sea level. Visit of the old city. Continuation to Tiberias, cruise on Lake Kinneret (or Sea of Galilee), lunch by the lake and then continuation to Katzrin, capital of the Golan Heights, where we will visit the famous "Golan Height Winery" with wine tasting. Then we will visit an archaeological site from the time of the Talmud (6th century CE). We will continue for a panoramic view of Mount Bental at sunset (from where we can see the Syrian border with the small town of Quneitra). Dinner and overnight at Kibbutz Lavie.
Day 4
Galilee-Jerusalem Old City
After breakfast, short visit of the kibbutz (founded in 1949) and departure for Jerusalem. On the way, view of Mount Tabor. Arrival in Jerusalem and panoramic view from the Mount of Olives, then visit the old city with its Jewish, Arab, Christian and Armenian quarters. The Cardo, an ancient Roman road, the synagogue of the Hourva, completely destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion in 1948 and rebuilt identically in 2010. Lunch in the old city. Then visit the Journey to Jerusalem, presenting the fantastic two-thousand year journey of the Jewish people through the world, until their arrival in the Land of Israel in modern times. Visit the Kotel tunnels. Free time at the Wailing Wall (Kotel). Dinner in the Old City. Then sound and light show at the Tower of David Museum. Check-in at the hotel and overnight in Jerusalem.
Day 5
Jerusalem New City
After breakfast, visit the site of the City of David, to discover the Jerusalem of the Second Temple. Then on to Ammunition Hill, the memorial site of a famous battle of the Six-Day War, visit of the museum. After lunch in the city, continue to Mount Herzl, the Israeli pantheon where the great men of the nation are buried. Among others, the murdered former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the former President of the State Shimon Peres, the former Prime Minister at the time of the Yom Kippur War Golda Meir. We will end the day with a visit to Yad Vashem, a memorial recounting the history of the Shoah and Jewish resistance against the Nazis. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
Day 6
Jerusalem New City
After breakfast, visit the Israel Museum with its Sanctuary of the Book where the biblical scrolls from the Dead Sea are kept. Then we will pass in front of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and its Menorah, a seven-branched candlestick, symbol of the State. Stroll through a real oriental souk, the Mashane Yehuda market, which gathers more than 250 vendors, and offers vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, cheeses, dried fruits, spices, bread, pastries, alcoholic beverages, clothes. It also has stalls selling falafel and shawarmas, restaurants, bars and cafes. Free time at the market before returning to our hotel. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
Day 7
Jerusalem
Leisure time in Jerusalem.
In the evening - visit the neighborhood of Yemin Moshe, the first Jewish neighborhood to be built outside the walls of the Old City at the end of the 19th century.
Day 8
Departure
After breakfast, depending on flight time, either transfer to the airport from Jerusalem, or visit the mini-Israel and, if time permits, visit the old port of Jaffa, then transfer to the airport.
This program is given as an example, the order of the visits can be modified without altering the content.