By the number of spiritual shrines there is no on earth of another such place as Israel. Even there are special tours: "By holy places." Excursions are multi-day and multi-format. Going at the footsteps of Christ's Earth's Life, you can see almost all of Israel, including the closed areas of the Palestinian Authority. And since the concentration of shrines of various religions and historical monuments here is simply incredible, then in parallel you can visit quite a few biblical places and explore the history of the land promised.
Tours organize local Israeli firms. And since the pilgrims on the holy land always arrives a lot, this is already debugged to the smallest things. The programs differ: for believers of churches, which is important to comply with all church rules and holidays, is the program one, for secular tourists - the program is adjusted. Also programs for Orthodox, Catholics, Muslims and Jews differ. After all, each denomination has its own special places that tourists would like to see. First of all, these are temples that visit groups. It is necessary to say that in the same place that is associated with the Gospel, as a rule, the Orthodox and Catholic temples are facing. But the differences are in detail. And the basis is one. This is how the averaged program "by holy places" looks like approximately.
1st day - meeting group and resettlement in the hotel. Active excursions start from the second day.
The 2nd day is dedicated to Jerusalem. Or rather, his Christian shrines. Tourists visit the oil hydraulic mountain, where the Garden Garden is located - the place of the secret evening and the last prayer of Christ near Oliva, the Church of the Passion of the Lord, the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady. On the Eleon Mountain will definitely be shown the place of Ascension of Christ, the so-called. "Stack" of Jesus: a trail from the foot of the Son of God, who he left on the ground after the Ascension. And, of course, in Jerusalem, in the old town, tourists will spend along the crossed path running along Via Doloros, to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Golgotha and Kuvuklia are located - the grave of Christ, where he was put after removing from the crucifixion. In the afternoon you will be taken to the territory of Palestinian autonomy, in the city of Bethlehem - in the church of the Nativity of Christ. After all, it is here, according to the Gospel, the Savior appeared.
On the 3rd day you are waiting for an excursion to Galilee and Nazareth. In the city of Nazareth, as you know, the earth's parents of Jesus - Maria and Joseph, here the Most Having Valves received the news from the Archangel Gabriel, that she will become the Mother of the Messiah, here Jesus spent his childhood and his youth, here he began his sermons. And students - the future apostles - Jesus gained from local Galilean fishermen. Here - in Galilee - the Jordan River and the Jesus Brewells. And Mount Favor, where the mystery of the Transfiguration of the Lord occurred. On the same day, visit Capernaum, where the evangelical healing occurred, and Cannes Galilee. You will see the Tiberiating Lake, according to which the Savior's Savior walked Aki and on the shores of which he read his Nagorny Sermon.
In the 4th day, a tour of Tel Aviv is waiting for you, where the Orthodox Church is not only located, the Palestinian Palestine, which meets the Big Mountains, but also the famous Jaffa, where Noah with the sons built his ark and from where he went to the spontaneous swimming caused by the World Flood .
On the other days you will find a very secular program with a visit to the Dead Sea, spa procedures and additional excursions at your request.
Such is conditionally your route in Israel. Now let's stop in more detail at its main points.
Jerusalem
With Jerusalem, the last days of Christ's earthly life are connected. In the Garden of Oliva in the Garden of Three Girth - centuries-old. Guides assure that one of them, the oldest, two thousand years, and held his last night in the circle of students Jesus. A little bit - the grotto where the apostles fell asleep, while Judas led the guard to arrest Christ ... In Israel, you experience strange sensations: all that you read or heard about biblical and gospel events, perceiving it as a fairy tale or myth, suddenly come to life In place and acquires quite real features. "Look to the left - here is the stone threshold of the house, where Jesus revived Lazari, but at this place there were apostles Peter, Jacob and John, who became eyewitnesses of the Transfiguration of the Lord:" And the face of him, like the sun, was made by white, like the light " ... The same in Jerusalem. When the guide, showing a gray rock under the glass in the temple of the Holy Sepulcher, explains that this is the biblical Calvary, at first treat it skeptical: well, as a century later, you can determine what kind of hill castened Christ? But after a small excursion, everything falls into his place. The mother of the Roman emperor Konstantin Elena, who in the IV century with the diligence of the archaeologist was looking for places in the destroyed Jerusalem associated with the life of Christ, took care of the work with a scientific approach. Calvary was determined ... by shurts. The hills around Jerusalem a lot, but executions passed only on one of them. And the crimisers of the Romans cited on the cross. The hills are stone here, and to stick in it the heavy base of the cross, it was necessary to drill deep shurs. Elena ordered to look for a hill with holes on top. So the cliff was discovered, on the top of which there were exactly three holes. A deep crack, which went from the top to almost the very foundation, confirmed the hypothesis that this is the place of execution of Christ. After all, it is known from the gospel that immediately after the death of Jesus Golgotha split.
The old town of Jerusalem resembles a large and noisy oriental bazaar. That neither street, then trading series. And only at one of them - Via Doloros - you can see people who have a lot of interest to the product of numerous shops, but diligently studying the stones of the bridge and wall. These pilgrims are looking for a label of five stops of Christ, here he fell on his knee, here it was leaning his hand on the wall ... But the famous "needle usho", not favorable to camels, can be seen, just going to the territory of the Russian Orthodox Mission. It is there that is part of the former urban wall of Jerusalem. And the "needle ear" was called a narrow gate for livestock in this wall. The wicket was arranged so that the lambs or goats could go through it only one: to make it more convenient to consider them on their heads. In the evening, the drivers together with all their scharbas, fearing warlike Bedouins, tried to hide behind the city wall. Dentally dragged and camels so that they were not stolen. So imagine how these massive "desert ships" in a narrow LAZ shovel. So in Jerusalem, there is no familiar image of his visual incarnation.
Bethlehem
To get to the place of birth of Christ, you need to enter the territory of Palestinian autonomy. The wall with a barbed wire on top and machine gunners on the checkpoint tourist buses will be afraid without problems. Israeli border guards come to the salon, a chain look asses the situation and, as a rule, they pass without unnecessary issues. The "Other World" begins behind the wall - the Arabic flavor is felt in everything. Golongogenic children who ask for a penny, reed traders and homemade beads, an overwhelming bus ... pilgrims are respected here, because they keep the fragile well-being of the local population. The central square of the city is an amazing symbiosis of religions. On the one hand, the temple of the Nativity of the IV century, as well as all the early Christian buildings, not having a clear architecture. And opposite the mosque rushes. And when temple bells begin to call to dinner, with a minaret, a supreme cry of Muedezina is distributed. In the middle of the square, there is a completely modern building of the administration, on the roof of which plastic Santa Claus plastic - full eclectic.
Pilgrims come to the temple to touch the Bethlehem star, which is located at the entrance to the grotto of Christmas - the very cave-chleev, in which the Savior appeared. In the temple there is the only icon in the world with a smiling Madonna: everyone is used to that the icon-painting virgin Mary is a sorrowful face, the Viofleemian's Vihlevaya is glad. Another wonderful place in the temple is a column with five holes located crosswise. According to belief - this is a trace of the Holy Virgin. And if you insert your fingers into these holes and pray, your words will be heard and executed.
And behind the wall of the temple is a sorrowful place: the cave of innocent babies, where the bodies of the most Bethlehem children destroyed by ordering Tsar Herod.
Nazareth and Galilee
It is only in the ancient state Israel believed that there could be nothing good in Galilee. In fact, the Galilean Earth is the most fertile part of Israel. Green hills, fertile fields, forests, which are rare in the country. And the pearl of Galilee - the Tivsel Lake, or the Galilee Sea. On the way to Nazareth, you will definitely show the Emerald Mount Favor, an absolutely right form on which the Transfiguration of the Lord occurred. At the top of the mountain, two temples are one Orthodox Greek, the second - Catholic. And everyone assures that it is exactly on the place where the events have occurred for Christianity. Not far from the Mount-shrine, there are those whose fields of Armageddon, on which, according to the "Revelations" of John the Cologovo, will be the final battle of good with evil. The blooming valley does not look like an ominous. Furious chernozems peacefully green crops and reflect the sun by the windows of artificial reservoirs. The end of times is not yet foreshadowed ...
Nazareth has its additional day off - the citizens do not work, although the rest of Israel works in good condition. All because the good news of Virgo Mary received at Nazareth Spring. Now there is a temple of the Annunciation. And again, when the question arises, why the Romans decided that Archangel Gabriel visited Maria exactly here - the answer is immediately. In Nazaret, there is only one spring. But the white pigeons are complete here. They sit on the windows of vintage houses flying over the central square. Whether it is the descendants of the very pigeon-messenger, whether the inhabitants are specifically diluted.
But the true decoration of Galilee is the Tiber Lake, on the shores of which the main evangelical events took place. Here Jesus called on the main students, here he walked on the water, here in the village of Magdala lived sisters Maria and Martha, who later became the faithful supporters of Christ. Here Christ raised Lazarus and healed a lot of patients, there was a miracle of multiplication of breads. And here, on the mountain of bliss, he uttered his famous Nagorny sermon.
In general, Israel is a history country, a shrine country. Seven or eight days of the tour will fly here so unnoticed that it will be necessary not yet one visit to cover all the interesting places. And next time you can choose a tour of biblical shrines.