Today is Friday and we leave Dallas this coming Sunday. I'm sure that we are all busy doing laundry and packing and being generally excited for this trip.
I had originally planned on posting each day's itinerary on that day and then actually read through the itinerary and realized that I will be way too exhausted to do that so here is our itinerary while I still have a some energy.
SEGAL PARTY
PRIVATE TRIP TO ISRAEL
JUNE 7-18, 2015
Day One: Sunday, June 7, 2015
DEPARTURE
§ Depart the U.S.A.
Overnight:
Flight
Day Two: Monday, June 8, 2015
ARRIVAL
| no guide
§ 3:15 p.m. Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport with US
Airways, flight #796.
§ VIP Welcome by
our representative and assistance with arrival formalities.
§ Transfer to Tel Aviv, known as the “city that never
sleeps,” with its centers of culture, recreation and national history, great
beaches and fine stores.
§ Check into the
hotel.
§ Dinner at your own expense at a local restaurant (a reservation
can be made).
Overnight: David
Intercontinental, Tel
Aviv
Day Three: Tuesday, June 9, 2015
FOUNDATIONS
OF A CITY AND A STATE
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
§ 9:00 a.m. Meet your tour guide in the hotel lobby and visit
the Jaffa Overlook for an introduction to Tel Aviv at the place where it all
began and then walk
through the famous Jaffa Flea Market – “Shuk Hapishpishim”.
§ LaDa’at Ethnic
Tasting: take a tour through Tel Aviv’s famous
Levinsky Market, where you'll find a combination of foods and sweets
from all over the Mediterranean and hear the unique stories of the individuals
who sell them, with Lunch on own.
§ 2:00 p.m. Drive to the Ayalon Institute near Rehovot
for an eye-opening tour of a clandestine munitions factory used during the
British Mandate. Return
to Tel Aviv.
§ Walk through the Nachalat Binyamin pedestrian mall,
with its bi-weekly crafts fair and eateries; alongside is the colorful Carmel
open-air market and across the way Sheinkin Street, with its hip cafés and
funky chic shopping.
OR
§ Swimming time at hotel beach!
§ Dinner at your own expense at the renovated Old Port of
Tel Aviv, with its wonderful restaurants, cafés and shops, right on the
water’s edge.
Overnight:
David Intercontinental, Tel Aviv
Day Four: Wednesday, June 10, 2015
TO
THE GALILEE
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
§ Check out of the hotel and drive north along the the Trans-Israel Highway for a close-up view of the ‘Security Barrier’
along the seam zone between Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
§ 10:30 a.m. Visit Kibbutz Ein Shemer for a
unique kibbutz experience; go back in time to the early days of the kibbutz to
see – feel – smell and taste the different aspects the kibbutz has and learn
how it changed from the time the kibbutz was established till today.
§ Lunch at your own expense en route.
§ 1:30 p.m. Visit Kfar Kedem in the Galilee for a hands-on family
experience, exploring Jewish life of 2,000 years ago, including donkey rides,
costumes, pita baking and more.
§ 4:00 p.m. Drive to the Upper Galilee
and enjoy rafting or kayaking
down the Jordan River.
§ Check into the hotel.
§ Dinner at the hotel.
Overnight:
Kibbutz Hagoshrim Hotel, Upper Galilee
Day Five: Thursday, June 11, 2015
SERENITY AND SECURITY IN
THE GOLAN
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
§ Walk through the Tel
Dan Nature Reserve, located
on the largest tributary of the Jordan River, and explore the ruins of the
great Biblical city of Dan.
§ 10:30 a.m. Take a Jeep tour off-road up the Golan
Heights in the footsteps of Israeli soldiers and their battles in the
Six-Day War. Enjoy the beautiful natural scenery and gain an insight into the
strategic complexity of the Golan.
§ Visit a Druze
village for a window into the unique world of the Israeli Druze community, with
lunch at your own expense.
§ 2:00 p.m. Enjoy the
culinary delights of a chocolate workshop at the De Karina
Chocolate Factory at Kibbutz Ein Zivan.
§ The panoramic views from Mt.
Bental (overlooking the abandoned Syrian town of Kuneitra) give sharp
insights into Israel’s security situation on the Golan Heights, and the
enormous challenges it faced in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
§ Return to the hotel
and time to enjoy the pool and for the adults, a chance to relax at the hotel
spa.
§ Dinner at the hotel.
Overnight:
Kibbutz Hagoshrim Hotel, Upper Galilee
Day Six: Friday, June 12, 2015
ASCENDING
TO JERUSALEM
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
§ Check out of the hotel and drive to Tsfat, center of Jewish mysticism for hundreds of
years and a contemporary artists’ colony, including:
§ Guided visits to
the Ari, Caro or Abuhav Synagogues with their great
stories and mystical messages.
§ A stroll through
the quaint Artists’ Colony and shop in the galleries and crafts shops.
§ Drive south past Tiberias on the shores of Lake Kinneret and
the Jordan Valley.
§ 12:30 p.m. Hands-on experience in modern-day goat farming at the Az-Iz
Goat Farm, with cheese-tasting.
§ Lunch at your own expense.
§ Upon entering
Jerusalem, stop on Mt. Scopus to recite the traditional “shehechiyanu”
blessing.
§ Check into the
hotel and time to prepare for Shabbat.
§ Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel
(Western Wall).
§ Festive Shabbat dinner at the hotel
Overnight:
Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem
Day Seven: Saturday, June 13, 2015
SHABBAT IN JERUSALEM | no guide
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
§ Optional Shabbat
Services.
§ Free Shabbat in Jerusalem for an opportunity to explore (on own):
§
The Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem, for a
walk through the city’s history – with observation points, an animated film and
visual and audio-visual aids – from the time of Abraham to the end of the
British Mandate over Palestine.
§
Walk through Jerusalem’s famous
Old City Market (shuk).
§
The Biblical Zoo, a beautifully landscaped habitat with a
special focus on preserving Biblical fauna, geared to children of all ages
(2-80).
§ Ben Kodesh Lechol: Havdallah overlooking the Old City.
§ Dinner at your own expense, perhaps on trendy Emek Refaim
Street in the German Colony.
Overnight:
Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem
Day Eight: Sunday, June 14, 2015
THE LAYERS OF JERUSALEM
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
§
Proceed to Old City and begin with an exploration of the excavations at
the City of David, the very core of ancient Jerusalem; view the Gihon
Spring and wade through the 2,700-year-old water tunnel of King Hezekiah
(optional dry exit).
§ Stop at the Kotel (Western Wall) and
experience the special atmosphere of this holy site and then walk through the Western Wall Tunnel, the
underground continuation of the Western Wall alongside the Temple Mount (Western
Wall Tunnel entrance at 1:10 p.m.).
§ Lunch at your own
expense in the Jewish Quarter and continue with a
walking tour to archaeological treasures and other highlights, among them:
§ The Cardo, the main street of Jerusalem in the
6th century.
§ King Hezekiah’s First Temple-period “Broad Wall”.
§ A walk along the Rooftops of the Old City for a
behind-the-scenes look at the various communities in Jerusalem and how they
live alongside each other.
§ Return to the hotel.
§ Dinner at
your own expense, perhaps at the Old Train
Station Plaza, a central neighborhood hub for food, entertainment, culture,
and enrichment.
Overnight:
Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem
Day Nine: Monday, June 15, 2015
INTO
THE DESERT, MASADA AND THE DEAD SEA
§ Early breakfast at the hotel.
§ Drive to the Dead Sea Basin and ascend by cable-car to Masada, Herod’s mountain
palace and the site of the Jewish Zealots’ last stand against the Roman
Legionnaires; discuss Masada’s role as a symbol of Jewish defence and its
current significance in modern Israel.
§ Lunch at your own expense.
§ Short hike to Nahal David, the freshwater spring and
waterfalls in the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, where David hid from King Saul.
§ Experience the weightlessness of the Dead Sea
as you float in its waters.
§ Return to Jerusalem.
§ 4:00 p.m. Stop for a camel ride through the desert in
Biblical-style.
§ Free time in
the Mamilla pedestrian arcade, a very contemporary shopping area with a
whiff of the past, located outside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City; dinner at your own expense.
§ 9:30 p.m. The
Night Spectacular at the Tower of David Museum: The walls of the Citadel serve as a stage for a
nighttime show – a celebration of sight and sound – that depicts the story of
Jerusalem.
Overnight:
Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem
Day Ten: Tuesday, June 16, 2015
MEMORY & RENEWAL
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
Adults:
§ 9:00 a.m. Visit the Yad Vashem complex, the
Jewish National Memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust,
including:
§ The Avenue of the Righteous
§ The new Historical Museum
§ The Children’s Memorial
Kids with Anna and Irwin:
§ The renewed and wonderfully creative Israel Museum,
with its wide-ranging and eclectic collection, from Archaeology and the Dead
Sea Scrolls, to Jewish Life and Art, European art, contemporary Israeli art and
the open-air model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period.
All:
§ Lunch at your own expense.
§ Depart Jerusalem towards Beit Guvrin.
§ 2:00 p.m. Take part in an archaeological
dig at the Beit Guvrin
Caves; prepare to get your hands dirty uncovering pottery from
the Hellenistic period, 2,300 years ago, followed by a crawl through the
Maresha Cave Labyrinth (crawling is optional). Beit
Guvrin-Maresha National Park was
recently recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
§ Return to
Jerusalem.
§ Free Evening in Jerusalem on Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall or on Emek Refaim Street in the German
Colony, with dinner at your own expense.
Overnight:
Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem
Day Eleven: Wednesday, June 17, 2015
A
MOSAIC OF ISRAEL
§ Breakfast at the hotel.
§ Join Friends Bat Mitzvah ceremony at Robinson's Arch.
§ Experience the sights, smells, and tastes of Jerusalem
while walking through the Machaneh Yehuda open-air market, with lunch at your own expense.
§ Engage in a dynamic family experience at the Kol
Ha’Ot Art Gallery. Through the magical power of the arts and the
special atmosphere of the location, grapple with Jewish texts in a
transformative, interactive program that will leave you with a
long-lasting family memory.
§ Free time for last minute shopping and packing.
§ Dinner at
your own expense.
§
Late check-out from
the hotel and transfer to the airport to check in for the departure flight,
with VIP assistance.
§
11:30 p.m. Fly with
US Airways flight #797 to the US.
Overnight:
Flight
Day Twelve: Thursday, June 18, 2015
ARRIVAL
HOME
§ Arrive back in
Dallas.
