Muslim Tour
7 days / 6 nights
Highlights: Jerusalem / Bethlehem / Hebron / Jericho / Dead Sea / Caesarea / Haifa / Acco
Day 1
Paris / Jerusalem
Arrival to Ben Gurion International Airport, welcome and assistance with border formalities. Board the air-conditioned coach with your Arabic-speaking guide, who will assist you throughout your stay.
Depending on flight arrival times - visit Jaffa. Visit the Hassan Bek mosque, built in 1916 and located at just a few meter's from the seafront in Tel Aviv. Then head to Jerusalem, transfer to the hotel. Dinner & overnight @ Jerusalem
Day 02
Jerusalem - Old City
After breakfast, visit of the Old City of Jerusalem, the holy city for the three great monotheistic religions. Few cities in the world had quite as much ink spilled about them as this thousands of years old marvel, nor survive having been ruined twenty times! Visit the Al Aqsa Mosque, (Haram al-Sharif), the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. Prayers in the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, then guided tour of the site with its many monuments dating from pre-Islamic periods. In the old city of Jerusalem, stroll through the souks and discover many important landmarks, including the Cardo “the ancient Roman city”, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the most emblematic monuments of Christianity and the Muslim quarter. Dinner & overnight @ Jerusalem
Day 3
Jerusalem
After breakfast, board the bus again, for a further exploration of Jerusalem. Marvel at a gorgeous panoramic view of the city from the Mount of Olives. Gain a better understanding of the complex issues that embody the city of Jerusalem, which is home to places of great importance for the three monotheistic religions. Visit the tomb of Raba'a Adwieh, a dancer and singer of the Abbasid period, who decided to leave the world of entertainment and devote her life to Islam. To date, she remains one of the most famous women in Islam. Visit of the tomb of Salman Al Farisi, a companion of Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab: together they went as far as Jerusalem in 638 AD. Then in the old city of Jerusalem, visit various important places, mosques, etc. visit the Museum of Islamic Art, home to one of the most important collections in the world of objects of Islamic art, and an exhilarating collection of ancient clockwork. The permanent exhibition consists of different objects and utensils, which take us through the history of Islamic culture, from Spain to India, including Turkey and Iran, from the dynasties of the first Umayyad caliphs, up to the Ottomans, as well as the Mamluks, Mongols and others. Dinner & overnight @ Jerusalem
Day 4
Bethlehem/Hebron
Breakfast at the hotel, then transfer to Bethlehem. Visit the historic centre of Bethlehem and the Basilica of the Nativity; this church in Bethlehem, one of the oldest in the world, was built over the grotto where Christian tradition holds that Isa (Jesus) was born. The Church of the Nativity is also venerated by Muslims; tradition says that Salah al Din prayed in a corner of the church in homage to the prophet Isa. This charming little city in the heart of the hills was created over three thousand years ago and offers many architectural and historical riches. A stroll through its old quarters, its many small churches and mosques and its ancient treasures marries the charms of a small town on a human level to traditional Palestinian culture. In the afternoon, board the bus and head out to Hebron/Al-Khalil, one of the oldest cities in the Middle East which was built by the Canaanites around 4000 BC. This city has an exceptional historical heritage. Visit the old town, with the tomb of the Patriarchs (Ibrahim - Ishmael - Jacob). Prayers in the Al-Khalil Mosque. The Kasbah has many surprises in store for visitors, including the famous and ancestral factories of glass and ceramic in oriental colours. Dinner & overnight @ Jerusalem
Day 5
Jericho-Dead Sea
After breakfast, head out to Jericho, a bustling oasis near the Dead Sea. At 250 meters below sea level, Jericho is the lowest city in the world. It is also the oldest city in the world. It was fortified as early as 8000 BC! Jericho truly is a green oasis in the heart of the desert, and the surrounding region offers many possibilities for exploratory walks. Discover in particular St. George monastery and Mount Quarantania clinging to the ochre cliffs of the mountains. Continue to Qumran, the location of the caves where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Finally arrive to the Dead Sea, the surface and shores of which are 430.5 metres below sea level, which makes it Earth's lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With a salinity of 34.2% (in 2011), it is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, which makes swimming similar to floating! This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. Dinner & overnight @ Jerusalem
Day 6
Caesarea – Haifa - Akko
After breakfast, spend the morning visiting Caesarea, the city built by Herod the Great, capital of the Roman procurators; discover the theatre, the Roman city and the city of the Crusaders. Proceed to Haifa, where Mount Carmel is the home of the World Centre of the Baha’i faith: view of the astonishing Shrine of the Báb, the mausoleum with the golden dome, where the remains of the Báb, founder of the Bábí Faith and forerunner of Baha’u’llah in the Baha’i Faith, are buried; it is considered to be the second holiest place on Earth for Baha’is, after the Shrine of Baha’u’llah in Akko. Marvel at the spectacular and largest hanging gardens in the world. Afternoon visit to Akko, a city that boasts 5,000 years of history. This old port city is the former capital of the Crusader kingdom. Akko was one of the most important cities of ancient times. Various cultures found refuge there, the Crusaders conquered it and the Ottomans lived there for many years. Napoleon Bonaparte himself wanted to conquer the city, but after two months of siege and several assaults, he failed and had to leave the place inglorious; once there, you will understand why. Visit the el-Jazzar Mosque, also known as the White Mosque, which is located on el-Jazzar Street inside the walls of the old city of Akko, overlooking the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and is named after Ahmad Pasha el-Jazzar ("the Butcher"), the Ottoman governor of the Sidon and Damascus provinces. El-Jazzar ordered the mosque's construction in 1781 and had it completed within the year. Return to Jerusalem. Dinner & overnight @ Jerusalem
Day 7
Departure
Depending on the return flight schedule, either free morning in Jerusalem or transfer to Ben-Gurion airport for the return flight.
This program is given as an example, the order of the visits can be modified without altering the content.