Israel at a Pace You Can Afford

Golden Manor and Jewish Federation of San Antonio are excited about their collaboration: San Antonio Israel Experience!

Join other active adults on a trip tailored specifically for you!
A future trip will be available, so stay tuned for details.
The 2013 trip included overnight stays in Jerusalem, Tiberias, and Tel Aviv.

Trip highlights included: Yemenite welcome dinner, a dinner cruise on the Sea of Galilee, visiting religious/historical/political sites, an Ethnic Tasting Tour, guided tour of Yad Vashem, visit Safed, explore a Druze village, swimming in the Dead Sea, the Shabbat of a LIFETIME in Jerusalem and much much more!

Sample of 2013 Itinerary

DAY ONE: Sunday, June 2, 2013

DEPARTURE

• Depart the U.S.A.
• Overnight: Flight

DAY TWO: Monday, June 3, 2013

ARRIVAL

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport
• Welcome by company representative and assistance with arrival formalities
• Enter the city of Tel Aviv, known as the “city that never sleeps” with its centers of culture and recreation and national history such as the Habima Theater, sprawling beaches, Dizengoff Street and Rabin Square
• Check into the hotel
• Enjoy a Middle-Eastern-style Welcome Dinner with a Yemenite touch at Maganda, located in the Yemenite Quarter of Tel Aviv, and which offers a varied selection of salads and grilled meats
• Overnight: Tel Aviv

DAY THREE: Tuesday, June 4, 2013

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit the Ayalon Institute, near Rehovot, for an eye opening tour of a clandestine munitions factory used during the British Mandate
• Visit the Old City of Jaffa and ascend from the ancient port through the renovated alleyways to the Jaffa Overlook for an introduction to Tel Aviv at the place where it all began
• Ethnic Tasting 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
• Visit to Independence Hall, site of David Ben Gurion’s monumental proclamation of the State of Israel in May 1948
• (Can substitute Rabin Museum)
• Visit the Nachalat Binyamin pedestrian mall with its restored buildings and sidewalk artists, and continue onto the colorful Carmel open-air market and then to Shenkin, with its hip street cafes and eclectic shops
• Dinner in Tel Aviv
• Overnight: Tel Aviv

DAY FOUR: Wednesday, June 5 , 2013

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Check out of the hotel and drive north along the coast
• Visit the ancient city of Caesarea, built by Herod the Great in honor of Augustus Caeasar and considered the traditional site of Paul’s imprisonment before his trial in Rome and the home of the first gentile believer, Cornelius and of Philip the evangelist; the theatre, aqueducts and Hippodrome serve as a backdrop for the events chronicled in the Book of Acts
• Lunch/Afternoon Visit P2G Community in AKKO
• Drive to Tiberias
• Check into the hotel
• Dinner Boat on the Sea of Galilee
• Overnight: Tiberias

DAY FIVE: Thursday, June 6, 2013

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Explore Safed, a center of Jewish mysticism for hundreds of years and a contemporary artists’ colony, including the Ari, Caro or Abuhav Synagogues with their great stories and mystical messages
• A stroll through the quaint Art Galleries and shop in the artists’ colony
• Explore a Druze village in the Carmel Mountains for a window into the unique world of the Israeli Druze community, with Home Hospitality for lunch
• Visit the Beit Shean National Park, one of Israel’s largest archaeological sites with its biblical period archaeological mound and on-going excavations exposing the vast Roman-Byzantine City
• Dinner and Wine Tasting at a local Winery
• Overnight: Tiberias

DAY SIX: Friday, June 7 , 2013

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Check out of the hotel
• Visit JDC Site – Senior Program
• Lunch, en route
• Continue southwards along the Jordan Rift Valley and ascend to Jerusalem
• Welcome to Jerusalem: Enter the vibrant and colourful 3,000-year-old city of Jerusalem and experience the convergence of the old and the new
• Stop at Mount Scopus for an overlook of the New and Old Cities of Jerusalem
• Check into the hotel
• Special Sabbath Dinner with members of Shabbat of a Lifetime program to experience a traditional Shabbat dinner with a family in Jerusalem, beginning with a visit to the Western Wall
• Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY SEVEN: Saturday, June 8, 2013

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Descend to the Dead Sea Basin
• Arrive at Masada and ascend this wilderness mountain fortress in a cable car; walk through the remains of the palace, water cisterns and fortifications built by King Herod, and hear about the Zealots who lived here until the bitter end
• Bathe in the relaxing and healthy sulfur springs at a Dead Sea Resort Hotel and float in the Dead Sea, including lunch at the hotel
• Dinner on own
• The Night Spectacular at the Tower of David Museum: The walls of the Citadel serve as a stage for a nighttime show which is a celebration of sight and sound, depicting the story of Jerusalem
• Optional
• Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY EIGHT: Sunday, June 9, 2013

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Walking tour through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, for guided visits to some of the sites excavated over the past 30 years, including:
• The Cardo, a Byzantine street that is now the world’s oldest shopping arcade
• The Hurva Square, the central square of the Jewish Quarter
• The Jerusalem Archaeological Park, including a visit to the Davidson Center and the Southern Wall Excavations
• The Kotel (Western Wall)
• Lunch on own, en route
• Option
• Kenesset
• Supreme Court
• Hadassah Hospital
• Time for Relaxation and shopping
• Dinner
• Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY NINE: Monday, June 10, 2013

MEMORY NEAR AND FAR

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Guided visit through 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
• Plant a Tree in a Jewish National Fund forest
• Lunch
• Afternoon at leisure
• Late check-out from the hotel
• Festive Farewell Dinner.
• Transfer to Ben Gurion International Airport.
• Departure flight to the U.S.A.
• Overnight: Flight