Mark and Eva Madras Israel Trip | June 2023

Activities:

• Check-out from your hotel

• Meet your tour guide at lobby and depart north

• Caesarea National Park - On the Mediterranean coast, Caesarea National Park is one of Israel’s most impressive archeological sites. Here, amazing ancient harbor ruins, beautiful beaches, and impressive modern residences sit side-by-side. The city was initially built by King Herod in the 1st century BC, who dreamt of a major seaport to connect the Province of Judea with Rome. For this purpose, the king's men designed an entirely artificial harbor that was in use for about a millennium. Caesarea became a central city in Roman and Byzantine times as can be seen from the massive archeological remains on site. View the spectacular Roman amphitheater, still used today as a performance venue, as well as the hippodrome that held 20,000 spectators for chariot races.

• Wine Tasting and Light Lunch at Amphora Winery - Visit Amphorae Winery which deserves the coveted title of Israel’s most beautiful vineyard and can compete with rural vineyards around the world. At the heart of Makura Farm on Moshav Kerem Maharal in the north, decorated with a stone mosaic and shaded by a red tile roof, is the lovely winery building, with the forested slopes of the Carmel mountain ridge in the background.

• Haifa Lower City - Take time to explore and eat at Israel's latest hipster hangout. Hear about the gentrification that the city is going through, the history, and art that tells the story of the diverse communities in the past and present.

• Continue to hotel - And check-in to hotel

• Dinner on your own - We can make suggestions and reservations

• Akotika Boutique Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - Every morning you'll enjoy a delicious Israeli buffet breakfast.

• Tour Shfar'am - Today an Arab city 8KM from the bay of Haifa, on the west hills of the Galilee. In Roman times – the place of the Sanhedrin. Tour this hidden gem, learn about its history and enjoy an authentic home hospitality for lunch (meal included)

• Bet Shearim-National Park - Beit Shearim was a Hellenistic and Roman city. This ancient city is a famous archaeological site, due to its remarkable necropolis, where a series of catacombs were excavated in the hillside. In the man-made tunnels and caves there are hundreds of coffins dated to the 2nd-5th century. These tombs were of rich Jewish families from many countries around Israel who requested to be buried in the Land of Israel, close to Rabbi Yehuda Hannasi whose tomb is located in one of the tomb clusters. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site

• Tzippori National Park - Tzipori was once the capital of the Galilee, the seat of the Sanhedrin and the place where the Mishna was completed. At Tzippori, view the ruins and ancient mosaic floor to see how native species have been part of the national iconography for centuries.

• Dinner on own - We can make suggestions and reservations

• Akotika Boutique Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Hike Ein Hardalit / Nachal Kziv - Ein Hardalit is one of the springs that feed Nahal Kaziv. The area where the clear water flows has become a real paradise for travelers. It has plane trees that provide wide shade, fig trees that bear fruit, impressive cliffs that rise above, and some wonderful and peaceful wading pools.

• Visit Rosh Hanikra - Travel to Rosh Hanikra ("Head of the Grottos"), with the stunning chalk-white cliffs at Israel’s northernmost coastal border. Enjoy the view of the Mediterranean coastline stretched out before you, then take the cable car down beneath the cliffs to the grottos below and tour the system of underground marine caves eroded by pounding waves over thousands of years.

• Lunch on own en route

• Tour Akko - The ancient city of Akko is situated on the Mediterranean, is one of the oldest ports in the world, and a city shared by Jews and Muslims. Walk narrow streets past towering ramparts, deep moats, green domes, venerable synagogues, slender Muslim minarets, and secret passageways. Discover the subterranean city built in the Middle Ages by the Crusaders beneath Akko. Learn about the city’s ancient history as well as its important role in Israel’s modern history.

• Dinner on your own - We can make suggestions and reservations

• Akotika Boutique Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - And check-out from hotel

• Agamon HaHula - Bikes & Golfcarts - The Hula Valley sits in part of the northern Syrian African Rift Valley which stretches as far south as Mozambique in Africa. Each migration season, over 500 million birds travel through the Hula Lake. This wetland paradise is the perfect stopover for small waterfalls, cormorants, heron, pelicans, raptors, storks, and cranes. Enjoy an early morning ride through the park.

• Lunch on your own en route

• Knaffe Tasting with Farah Raslan - Farah, originally from Lebanon, is one of Israel's up and coming chefs, She is taking the culinary scene by storm after making it to the finals of Israel's Master Chef by preparing authentic Lebanese cuisine

• Hike Tel Dan - Tel Dan National Park combines a lush nature reserve with a biblical archaeological experience and includes a short wheelchair- accessible trail. At the heart of the park is “Tel Dan”- the capital of the ancient northern Israeli biblical kingdom.

• Misgav Am Lookout - Misgav-Am is the northern most Kibbutz in Israel, just meters away from the border. The Kibbutz’s lookout point provides great panoramas of the Hulah valley, the Hermon, even the Mediterranean Sea, and especially of the Lebanese side of the border.

• Druze Cooking workshop and dinner - Together with your hosts in their private home, prepare traditional Druze Galilean dishes and then enjoy the feast you create. Learn about Druze culture and history from your hosts and from the food you eat. (meal included)

• Artists' Colony Inn

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Take a geo-political tour of the Golan with an expert - While traversing the rich landscape, learn about the history, flora, and fauna of the area. Stop for a lookout over the border with Syria from Mt. Bental to get a better understanding of the geography and strategical role this region has for the State of Israel. Your local guide touches on the nuances of living so close to the Syrian border and what that has meant for Israel as it relates to security and humanitarian issues.

• Short hike at Jilaboon Stream - Jilaboun Stream in the Golan is a trail through a world of wild beauty with two incredible waterfalls

• Light Lunch and Wine Tastings Winery - Tel Winery is a woman-owned micro boutique winery, offering intimate tours led by the passionate and knowledgeable Lital. All wines are single varietal, made exclusively from Northern Golan grapes and feature high acidity and fruits flavors which provide for a refreshing sip.

• Ein Keshatot - Ein Keshatot is is one of about 30 Jewish villages that existed in the Golan during the Talmudic Period, which was period of great growth in the area. The synagogue building was constructed in the 6th century CE (approximately 500 years after the destruction of the Second Temple), and was the center of local communal life. It served as a place for prayer, reading of the Torah, and various public activities.

• Dinner on your own or at your hotel - We can make suggestions and reservations

• Artists' Colony Inn

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Hike Nahal Amud-National Park - Nahal Amud has it all - gorgeous scenery, a beautiful trail, water, and history. Hike this trail and take part in the national pastime of Israel!

• Lunch at Havat Rom - A visit to a magical organic farm, located on a mountain with a beautiful view of Meron Mountain. This is an agricultural organic farm, where they use ancient knowledge along with modern tools. Trying to find the balance between humans and nature. Enjoy a light meal from the fresh produce and excellent cheese. (not included)

• Safed - Safed, pronounced Tzfat in Hebrew, sits at a higher altitude than any other city in Israel and has been known since the 16th century as a major center of Kabbala, Jewish mysticism. Safed’s mystical aura adds to its special status as one of Israel’s four holy cities, along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hebron. The old synagogues, narrow alleyways and artists’ studios add to the hilltop city’s unmistakable charm.

• Dinner on your own or at your hotel - We can make suggestions and reservations

• Artists' Colony Inn

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Arbel-National Park - In the Mt. Arbel National Park take in the dramatic cliffs of the mountain and visit the ancient Arbel Synagogue dating back to the Second Temple Period. Learn about Jewish settlement during this period and contemplate why the synagogue has the only ‘ark’ in the world that does not face Jerusalem.

• Visit Nabi Shu'ayb - Nabi Shuʿayb, known in English as Jethro's tomb, is a religious shrine west of Tiberias, in the Lower Galilee, containing the purported tomb of prophet Shuayb, identified with the biblical Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. The complex hosting the tomb is the most important religious site in the Druze religion.

• Lunch on own en route

• Explore Hamat Tiberias National Park - The Tiberias Hot Springs National Park is situated on the Western side of the Sea of Galilee, just south of Tiberias. It displays one of the most spectacular mosaics of ancient synagogues in Israel.

• Visit Magdala - The ancient town of Magdala was established in the Hellenistic Period and grew to a thriving fishing village by the time the Romans invaded the Galilee in 67 AD. Situated at the shores of the Sea of Galilee Magdala was an active city filled with fishermen, shopkeepers and townspeople. A decade ago archaeological discoveries indicate the presence of an observant Jewish community in Magdala, as is evidenced in its First Century Synagogue, one of seven in the world.

• Dinner on your own or at your hotel - We can make suggestions and reservations

• Artists' Colony Inn

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - And check-out from hotel

• Tour Kibbutz Dgania - And learn about the communal life now and then

• Lunch at Rutenberg - Rutenberg restaurant is situated on the banks of the Jordan, next to the old Gesher conservation site. The three bridges over the river and 10,000 years of human history attest to the fertility of the flora and fauna of the Jordan Valley. "We believe in seasonal local cuisine and are constantly in the process of discovering the region." (meal not included)

• Visit Naharayim in Old Gesher - The inspiring story of the Old Gesher and Naharayim historic sites started with a dream, in this case an electrifying one – literally. From 1932 until 1948, engineer Pinchas Rutenberg harnessed two rivers, the Jordan and the Yarmoukh, at their confluence to create the first hydroelectric power plant in the Middle East.

• Travel to Jerusalem

• Farewell! - We hope to host you again in our beautiful country!