Jerusalem • Nazareth • Capernaum • Galilee • Rome • Lanciano • Cascia • Venice
14 Days - Our prices include airfare from your hometown and exclusively 4 or 5 star hotels everywhere
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There are no trip dates scheduled at this time.
Trip Includes
- A Catholic priest will be with the group to celebrate daily Mass.
- Round-trip airfare from your hometown connecting in a major city to fly overseas is included.
- Airport Taxes, Security Fees, and Fuel Surcharges!
- Exclusively 4 or 5 star hotels in downtown areas.
- All breakfasts and all dinners. Wine is included with dinners in Italy only.
- Transportation with luxury bus.
- All entrance fees to all the sites.
- All tips to everyone involved in the tour.
- The tour fees for our guides. Our tour guides are well educated, caring, and professional. Most of them have their PhD's in Church history, archeology, philosophy, languages, or Theology.
- Luggage handling. Please pack light, one piece of luggage and one carry-on.
- Dress casually throughout the whole trip. Shoulders and knees should be covered when visiting Basilicas or churches.
- If you are traveling alone and you allow us to find you a roommate, you don't pay the $900 single supplement. If you wish to have your own room and you are not open to rooming with another passenger, then the single supplement fee is $900.
- Wheelchair can be provided for those passengers who cannot walk, with prior notice at registration for $150. A traveling companion has to push the wheelchair throughout the trip.
- At the time of registration, as a part of the total balance, a non-refundable $500 ($500 hotel and airfare deposit) is due in the form of a check or credit card. For example, if your trip costs $3,700, when you sign up, you pay a $500 deposit, then your balance would be $3,200 and is due 4 months before departure date. If you sign up after the final payment due date or at the last minute, you pay the entire cost of the trip at registration.
Trip Does Not Include
- Lunch
- Insurance ~ The total trip cost is non-refundable, we recommend trip insurance to protect your investment.
Trip Itinerary
February 22: Depart from USA. Arrival next day.
February 23: Arrive in Tel Aviv at Ben Gurion Airport. Meet your fellow pilgrims and tour guides, and transfer to the hotel by deluxe motor coach. We will have a brief orientation meeting, and acclimate to our new surroundings. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias, Galilee.
February 24: We begin this day with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee to visit the ruins of Capernaum. Next we visit the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes and the Chapel of the Primacy at Tabgha. Proceed to visit the Mount of Beatitudes, which commemorates the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5:1-12). After lunch visit Cana in Galilee where Jesus turned water into wine during a wedding feast, and we end our tour for the day at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Dinner and overnight in Tiberias, Galilee.
February 25: After breakfast we shall start our pilgrimage in Jerusalem with a drive to Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection. So, our first visit is the church of the Ascension next the church of Pater Noster commemorating Jesus teaching his disciples the Lord's Prayer. Walk down the 'Palm Sunday road,' and visit the chapel of Dominus Flevit, here Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. Then proceed to the garden of Gethsemane, and see the church of Mary Magdalene, and visit the Church of all Nations. Drive to Mount Zion and visit the upper room where Jesus had his last supper. Next visit the Dormition Abbey where the Virgin Mary assumed into heaven body and soul. Before lunch we visit the church of St. Peter in Galicantu, which built over the site of the house of the high priest Caiaphas and the dungeon where our Lord was imprisoned before his trial. It is also here that Peter denied knowing Jesus thrice. After lunch we will visit Bethlehem starting the Basilica of the Nativity and the Grotto, venerated as the birthplace of Jesus (Luke 2:1-7). We will also visit the church of St Catherine, the Crusaders' Cloister, the Chapel of St Jerome and the Grotto of the Holy Innocents. Finally, we will visit the shepherd's fields before returning to our hotel, for dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
February 26: After breakfast we will drive to St. Steven's Gate where we shall enter the old city and start our morning tour at the Crusader's church of St. Anne and the pool of the Bethesda. Continue to the tower of Antonia where Jesus was tried and the church of the flagellation from where we follow the Stations of the Cross ending inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. After lunch we shall visit the last standing remnant of the ancient Temple at the Western (Wailing) Wall. Next and drive to Ein Karem, home of St. Elizabeth, and mother of John the Baptist to visit of the visitation and the church of St. John the Baptist. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
February 27: After breakfast we drive down through the Jordan Valley to the place of baptism for a visit and for renewal of baptismal vows if desired. Our next stop will be to the oldest city in the world, Jericho, and a view of the Mount of Temptation on which our Lord was tempted 40 days and 40 nights. We shall also view Zacchaeus' tree, then proceed to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. We continue our drive on up through the Judean Wilderness to Jerusalem, and take a first glimpse of the city from the heights of Mt. Scopus before checking into our hotel. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
February 28: Fly to Rome. Check-in at your hotel. Have a leisurely afternoon.
March 1: Start around 9:00am. Visit the Colosseum, the symbol of the city of Rome; a great building that has been standing since 80 A.D. Then visit St. John Lateran, the first Basilica ever to be built in the Roman Empire. In the afternoon, go to the breathtaking Catacombs where 500,000 people were buried. After the Catacombs our private bus will take us to dinner and free time around the area of the hotel. Overnight in Rome.
March 2: Start the day around 9:30 am, by visiting the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, the Pope's Private chapel. Tour of St. Peter's in the Vatican, the largest Basilica in the world. Long pants, capris, or skirts below the knee, shoulders covered. Time to rest before dinner in the area of the hotel. Dinner and overnight in Rome.
March 3: We will have an early start as our private bus leaves around 7:00 am to the Vatican to experience the 10:00 am Audience with the Pope. We will see the Pope very closely; sometimes we even shake his hand. There will be time for lunch in the area of the Vatican. Before we visit the Spanish Steps. This is the place where the Romans hung out. From there we will walk to Trevi Fountain, and have time for shopping. Followed by a walk to the Pantheon, the oldest functional building in the world, and then to the great artistic place of Piazza Navona around 4:30 pm. Dinner at Piazza Navona. Red and white wine included. Casual Dress throughout the day. Overnight in Rome.
March 4: After breakfast, depart from Rome. Our first stop is in Lanciano where we will visit St Francis’ church and the sanctuary of the Eucharistic Miracle. After dinner continue on to San Giovanni Rotondo. Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.
March 5: This morning we will tour San Giovanni Rotondo with visits to the old church, Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Friary of Padre Pio, his tomb, cell, confessional, and we end the morning with the new church, the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church. After lunch we will visit the nearby Shrine of Monte Sant’Angelo, where St. Michael the Archangel appeared in 490, 492, and 1656. Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo.
March 6: After breakfast depart San Giovanni Rotondo. As we head back towards Rome our first stop will be Pietrelcina. This is the birthplace of Padre Pio. After a tour and time for lunch, we will continue on to Monte Cassino where we will visit the Abbey and Monastery, the motherhouse of the Benedictines. Finally, we will continue on to Rome. Dinner and overnight in Rome.
March 7: Our private bus brings us to the airport in Rome to fly back to USA.
We do our best to ensure that all sites listed in this itinerary will be seen. However, due to scheduling conflicts, or other circumstances beyond our control, sites may be visited on a different day than listed. Since we have several different trip configurations touring at the same time, it is possible that different tours will be combined when their itineraries overlap in certain areas.