
I feel so blessed I had the oppertunity to show my parents the Holy Land and all the sites (religious, historical, fun, and cultural) we saw. Today is a symbolic…
The Kingdom of Israel was established by 900 BC under King David, but conquered and enslaved by Babylon in 586 BC. After that time, the land we know as Israel was under Persian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine control until The Arabs conquered the area in the mid 600 AD, bring the new Islam religion with them. Starting in 1099 the Crusaders controlled the area for almost a hundred years until the Arabs expelled them and controlled the area again. In 1516 the entire area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and remained under their control until the end of World War 1 when the empire was dissolved.
Since the 1st century AD Jewish revolts against the Romans were put down the Jewish population in the area dwindled significantly, but interestingly the small population that did exist fought with the Arabs against the Crusaders. By the 15th century the Jewish population was around 10,000.
Following World War 1 and through World War 2 the area was under a British mandate system called Mandatory Palestine. Starting in the last years of the Ottoman Empire Jews were immigrating back to the area and after World War 2 this increased significantly and reached 1.4 million Jews in the area. In 1948 the State of Israel was established under United Nations resolution and ever since that time, Israel and their neighboring Arab nations have been in constant conflict.
In 2016, I undertook a week long religious pilgrimage trying to visit all the important sites of Jesus’s ministry while taking in the history and culture at the same time. I started in Old Jaffa, where Peter received his vision to share the good word with non-Jews. From there I headed to Jerusalem where I followed the Via Dolorosa, which is the route Jesus followed to his death and contains the 14 stations of the cross. I spend a day in Palestine visiting Bethlehem (birthplace) and Jericho (baptism) before I headed to Nazareth, where he grew up, via Akko (long story, but worth it….read the blog to see why). I finished at the Sea of Galilee to see many of his ministries before I headed across the border to Jordan.
I ended up enjoying my time in Israel and Jordan so much that I returned with my parents in 2019 to show them all the sites I had seen and to spend more time exploring the historic sites dotting this small country. This time we spent almost two weeks starting in the Negev Desert before crossing to Jordan via Eilat. Upon returning into Israel we explored the Galilee area with a base of operation in Nazareth for four days and then moving to Jerusalem for another five days.
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed both trips in Israel and felt a vast spiritual growth due to my pilgrimages. On top of the sites of Jesus, I was able to see many historical and religious places. This is due to Israel’s long history and having locations of the upmost importance to four different religions.
I felt like the itineraries fit our needs and showed us the most in the weeks we had here, but there is so much to see in this country that you could have spent an entire month and still have a busy itinerary. You can quite easily do a trip on your own, but tours are plentiful also. You can choice from private tours ($700-1000 a day) or group tours ($1500-2500 a week). I would also be interested in leading a group through this facinating country again, so feel free to contact me if you are interested.
One thing I can honestly say that I did not like in Israel is the security at the airport. You can read what happened to me here.
You can get even more helpful hints by watching the travel video I made for Israel. Also, you can read what all I did there in my blog posts below the video.
I feel so blessed I had the oppertunity to show my parents the Holy Land and all the sites (religious, historical, fun, and cultural) we saw. Today is a symbolic…
[Mom – September 27, 2019 – We rented a car and left Jerusalem this morning for Tel Aviv where we will catch a plane late tonight to head to NYC….
[Mom – September 26, 2019 – We had another wonderful special day with a trip by bus to the West Bank and then a tour by taxi of Palestine to…
[Mom – September 25, 2019 – Today was very special as we visited the West Wall, the Temple Mount and the Israel Museum. Touching the West Wall was something we…
[Mom – September 24, 2019 – Shane, Janice and I had another fun day exploring Jerusalem. Bill stayed in the apartment to rest because the things we are doing the…
[Mom – September 23, 2019 – What a special day today was as we walked the 14 Stations of the Cross. All stations were moving, but Bill getting down to…
[Mom – September 22, 2019 – Today was moving day for us as we moved from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Our apartment in Nazareth where we stayed 4 days was really…
[Mom – September 21, 2019 – Another day in Israel led to some very interesting experiences for Shane, Janice and me. We started our day at Bet She’arim National Park,…
[Mom – September 20, 2019 – Shane, Janice and I visited 3 World Heritage Sites today. Bill stayed back because he was feeling a little drained. It is a good…
[Mom – September 19, 2019 – It was another wonderful day for us here in Israel. We visited the Sea of Galilee and started with looking at a fishing boat…
[Mom – September 11, 2019 – Yesterday’s adventure was to Timna Park in Israel (30 minutes north of Elilat on the Red Sea). Timna Park is the oldest known copper…
On September 9th we said goodbye to the Camel Ranch, which offered such wonderful memories and experiences. It was time to drive down to Eilat, which is an Israeli town…
[Mom – September 8, 2019 – Today’s adventures included a drive along the Dead Sea, a visit to the Masada National Park and then back to the camel ranch where…
After six weeks traveling through the Baltics and the Aegean coast of Turkey I arrived in Tel Aviv on September 7th to meet my parents and one of their good…
Check out this awesome scene I took of my mom, her friend, and I riding camels in the Negev Desert. This is just one of many adventures we had during…
So a funny story about this photo, I set my alarm for 5:30am in order to walk along the boardwalk and get a sunrise photo over the Sea of Galilee….
This is the last blog I will be posting about Israel (although tomorrow I have a sunrise photo from the Sea of Galilee as the “Photo of the Day”) and…
Two days ago I wrote a tongue in cheek recount of how everything shuts down in Israel for the Sabbath. Well it is now Sunday and my last day in…
When you are are in Israel, what can you do on the Sabbath to pass the time? Well when I was at the Sea of Galilee this is how I…
If you spend at least a week in Israel, you will have to deal with the Sabbath like I did on my pilgrimage through the Holy Land. The Sabbath is…
Yesterday I talked about exploring Nazareth as part of my pilgrimage through his life and ministry. One of the places I went was the Synagogue Church where he worshiped growing…
Today I woke up in Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, as I continued my pilgrimage through of his life and ministry in the Holy Land. My goal with this blog…
Ok. I know it is a bad joke and my girlfriend is moaning and telling me to stop it, but I think it still a classic. 🙂 I hope you…
So today I woke up in Akko due to me not paying attention to which bus I was getting on. As I say you can not change the direction of…
Do you need a lift? 🙂 I have been writing about my pilgrimage Through the Holy Land this week. To make sure you don’t miss another “POTD” you should FOLLOW…
Here is the “Photo of the Day” looking at the eastern wall of Jerusalem. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times,…
Welcome back to the story of my pilgrimage through the Holy Land of Jesus’s life and ministry, which I hope inspires you and serves as a useful guide for you….
They were here together for Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan River. I will talk about this more tomorrow as I move my pilgrimage into the West Bank and visit Jericho,…
On the second full day of my pilgrimage through the Holy Land I basically visited sites of the Old Testament. I hope you will follow me throughout my world trip…
On my first night in Israel I spend the night in Old Jaffa, one of the oldest ports in the world. You can read about the significance in the blog…
I hope you enjoyed reading about my time in Istanbul, Turkey the last two weeks. Today I am going to start a two-week series of blogs and pictures from Israel…
Here it is in the morning and I still have things to do. Do I have a deadline to get them done by? You bet I do since I I…