This tour begins in western Turkey with Ephesus, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira and Pergamum. It then flies to Israel for Jaffa, Masada and the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, Nazareth and Jerusalem, and ends in Rome with the catacombs, St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Colosseum and St. Peter’s Basilica.
Day by day
Day 1
- Arrival at Istanbul airport and flight to Izmir
- Our representative meets you in Izmir and transfers you to your hotel for check-in by noon
- Rest of the day at leisure
- Dinner and overnight at Blanca Hotel (standard room) or similar
Day 2
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Travel to Selcuk to begin your Seven Churches of Revelation tour at ancient Ephesus
- Visit the Basilica of St. John, built by Justinian I in the 6th century over the believed burial site of John the Apostle and modeled on the lost Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople
- Visit the House of the Virgin Mary, a shrine set in greenery where Mary may have spent her last days
- In the afternoon, continue to Laodicea, a crossroads of the ancient world
- Overnight at Richmond Thermal Hotel or similar
Day 3
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Visit Hierapolis, home of St. Philip the Evangelist: an ancient Greek city on hot springs in Phrygia, with the Tomb of Philip the Apostle and an archaeological museum
- Visit Pamukkale, known for its mineral-rich thermal waters flowing down white travertine terraces; the ruins include a well-preserved theater, a 2 km necropolis with sarcophagi, and the Antique Pool with its submerged Roman columns, toppled by an earthquake
- Drive to Philadelphia
- Lunch on the way, then continue to ancient Sardis and the Temple of Artemis, later converted into a church
- Drive to Pergamum via the church of Thyatira
- Overnight at Galenos Hotel (standard room), Bergama
Day 4
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Explore the Acropolis of Pergamum, called 'the throne of Satan'
- Visit the Red Basilica (Red Hall), a monumental Roman temple probably built under Hadrian, one of the largest Roman structures surviving in the ancient Greek world, thought to have been used for the worship of Egyptian gods such as Isis and Serapis
- Lunch in Bergama
- In the afternoon, continue to Izmir to visit ancient Smyrna
- Transfer to Izmir Airport for your flight to Tel Aviv
- Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport and transfer to your hotel in Tel Aviv
Day 5
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Meet your guide and drive to Jaffa, the biblical Joppa, considered the world's oldest port, where the prophet Jonah set sail for Tarshish and which is associated with the deeds of Peter
- Drive to your hotel at the Dead Sea
- Dinner and overnight at the Isrotel Noga hotel
Day 6
- After breakfast, drive along the Dead Sea shore to Masada and ascend by cable car
- Masada is the scene of the most dramatic act in Jewish history: explore the excavations of Herod's palaces, the bathhouse, the storerooms, the ramp and the oldest synagogue in the world
- Continue to Ein Gedi, an oasis on the Dead Sea shore; near the 200-meter-high waterfall is the cave where David had his famous meeting with King Saul (1 Samuel 24:1-23)
- Visit Qumran, where the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls were found
- Continue through the Jordan Valley past Jericho, believed to be the world's oldest walled city and the first city taken by Joshua, whose walls fell after the Hebrews returned from Egypt
- Drive north
- Dinner and overnight at the Sofia Hotel, Sea of Galilee
Day 7
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Visit Capernaum, the town Jesus made his home after leaving Nazareth and where he called his first disciples (Matthew 4:13; Luke 4:31-37; Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 8:5-13; Mark 5:21-43; Matthew 11:23-24)
- Visit the excavations of the ancient synagogue and the House of St. Peter
- See the ancient boat, and the place where Jesus is believed to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12)
- Lunch on your own, with a chance to try St. Peter's fish
- Visit the newly excavated site of Bethsaida, which some identify as the site of the feeding of the 5,000
- Continue to Kursi, the site of the miracle of the swine
- End the day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee
- Dinner and overnight at the Sofia Hotel (premium room) or similar
Day 8
- After breakfast, visit Cana of Galilee, where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine (John 2:1-11)
- Drive to Nazareth to visit Nazareth Village and the Church of the Annunciation
- Visit Megiddo, the fortress city of King Solomon later rebuilt by King Ahab, where the books of Daniel and Revelation come alive as you study the final Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:14-19)
- Continue to Mount Carmel and the Muhraqa, where Elijah challenged and defeated the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20)
- Visit Caesarea, seat of the Roman procurator of Judea in the time of Christ and the place where Peter converted the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:24); explore the Roman theater and the aqueduct and see ruins from the Roman, Byzantine and Crusader periods
- Drive to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight at the Inbal Hotel
Day 9
- After breakfast, drive to Mt Moriah (Luke 2:46-48; John 8:1-11; Mark 13:1-2; Matthew 27:51) and walk up to the Temple Mount to view the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque
- Continue to the Western Wall, one of the last remnants of the Second Temple
- Visit the Rabbinical Tunnel, St. Anne's Church, a fine example of Crusader architecture, and the Pools of Bethesda
- Visit the City of David and the Pool of Siloam
- Continue to the Room of the Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-25) and King David's Tomb
- End the day at the House of the High Priest Caiaphas and the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (Matthew 26:31-35), where Peter denied the Lord three times
- Dinner and overnight at the Inbal Hotel (standard room) or similar
Day 10
- After breakfast, ascend the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3; Luke 21:37) for a panoramic view of the Old City of Jerusalem
- Walk the Palm Sunday road to the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46; Luke 22:39-45; Mark 14:32-42), where Jesus spent his last night before his arrest
- Visit the Church of All Nations
- Enter the Old City and visit the Jewish Quarter, the Herodian Mansion, the Burnt House and the Temple Institute
- Visit the Garden Tomb
- Drive to the western side of the city to see the Knesset Menorah and the Israel Museum: the Shrine of the Book (with some of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bar Kokhba letters) and the Holy Land Model
- Transfer to the airport for your flight to Rome
- Transfer to your hotel in Rome
- Dinner and overnight at Hotel Palatino (classic room) or similar
Day 11
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Join your guide for a tour of the catacombs of the early church, where early Christians were buried, through their narrow underground passages
- Visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, where the Apostle Paul was buried
- Enjoy the neighborhood of your hotel, then join us for pizza at a festive restaurant
- Dinner and overnight at Hotel Palatino (classic room) or similar
Day 12
- After breakfast, a local guide takes you to the Colosseum, the largest ancient amphitheater ever built and one of Rome's most famous monuments
- Brief tour of the Roman Forum, with remains of temples, basilicas and other monuments; for many years the center of trade and politics
- Capitoline Hill, one of Rome's seven hills, an important stronghold in antiquity and still the seat of the city council
- Michelangelo's staircase, La Cordonata
- Piazza Venezia and the white marble Vittorio Emanuele II Monument, built to commemorate the unification of Italy, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its eternal flame, where visiting heads of state lay wreaths
- Lunch
- Visit St. Peter's Basilica, named after the Apostle Peter, whose tomb is in the church: see Michelangelo's Pietà, Bernini's canopy over the high altar beneath the dome, and the tomb of Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005 and was canonized in 2014
- Free evening to explore on your own
- Farewell dinner at a restaurant near the hotel and overnight at Hotel Palatino (classic room) or similar
Day 13
- Transfer from the hotel to the airport for your flight home
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