rozards outburst: Holy Land 2012 - Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv etc

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Holy Land 2012 - Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv etc

I am very much grateful to the Lord for having this opportunity to travel to His Place. After a stop over in Amman for one day, we went to Israel via Mt. Nebo. The road going to Holy land was very scenic and super zigzag. Anyway, I already told in my previous post about what happened in the Border. So after successfully done with all the formalities in Israel border, we rode a bus and we went for lunch on the road. Then later we started heading to a place where Jordan River or I mean the Baptism of Jesus took place. The place was so green and lots of gardens. Here, I bought the Holy Water but the funny part here my co-traveller went straight to the river and fetched lots of water. Then later on our guide told them to throw away the water because it is not hygienic or dirty.

Then next stop, we went to Kinneret or Sea of Galilee. First we stop to the Museum and then later we went to the sea of galilee lake where we will go for boating as well as the reenactment of what Jesus way of fishing. It was really a humbling experience. And the bonus experience here is seeing rainbow over the lake it is really nice view. Then after another stop to go which is the Mount of Beatitudes. Mount of Beatitude's according to the tradition, is the place where Jesus gave his important sermon on the mountain. Here where we hiked up the hill and then went to church which is govern by sisters. And then later we went to St. Peters Place and its church and then later we went to Capernaum where jesus also preached . The best thing here was we had a special mass for our group and its really a moving and touching experience actually. Then it was getting dark and so we headed for a night going to Bethlehem. At 7pm we arrived safely in Bethlehem and took our dinner and because its really so tiring we slept right away and then the next morning we visited all the important places or sites in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a place where Christian, Catholics and Muslim or Jews were harmoniously living.

Then the very next day , we went straight to Tel Aviv and rode a bus for almost 2 to three hours drive. I love Tel Aviv. An old city but very clean, scenic and vibrant one. Sad to say, we just stay there for a couple of hours and then we went to Jerusalem and Nazareth. Nazareth is in Palestine and thats reality. We went to the place where Jesus spent his childhood and then another mass for our group was celebrated and for me it was very special having a mass especially during this tour.

After visited Nazareth, we spent the night in Jerusalem for 2 nights. Jerusalem is the capital city in Israel and the Holiest city of Judaism. In Jerusalem, theres a lot of Holy Sites to visit. On the first day, We Hiked going to the garden of Gethsemane and various lots of Sites. Our Last day in jerusalem, we went to this souk or called as Syrian Wall where the 14 station of the cross was held and we ended up visited the Wailing Wall of Judaism and the Mosque as well. We finished at 9pm and then went home to our hotel eat and slept.

The next day, again another holy site to visit - and that was Bethany which is in Palestine again and after mass, we went to Dead Sea for a little swimming, floating and then at lunch time we went to Jericho the old city in the world. After lunch we went straight to Eliat the border place between Egypt and Israel. We travelled the Place for almost 6 hours by Bus. At 7pm finally we arrived in Taba, Egypt and stayed in one of the finest hotel there. And that ends my Holy Land Trip. Next story Egypt!