11 Day - Israel - A Cultural Experience - Featuring the Israel Festival for Art, Culture and Theater | Tours to Israel
 Sunday. Depart USA, New York to Israel arriving Tel Aviv the next day. Your international flight will include meals, drinks, and in-flight entertainment for your journey. FLIGHT
Monday. Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport. Welcome by our representative and assistance with arrival formalities. Transfer to Tel Aviv. Drive through Tel Aviv, known as the "city that never sleeps" and pass by centers of culture and recreation such as the Habima Theater, sprawling beaches, Dizengoff Street and Rabin Square. Check into the hotel. Festive welcome dinner and orientation. (D) TEL AVIV
Tuesday. Breakfast at the hotel. Culture in Israel: Creativity and Tradition: Program introduction with a leading Israeli Cultural Critic. LaDa'at: Israeli Arts & Culture. Guided exploration through the world of Israeli arts and culture, including visits to artists in their galleries and writers, as well as a journey along the border of imagination and reality. Guided walk with a leading Tel Aviv architect through Tel Aviv's magnificent Bauhaus architectural area, known as the 'White City' and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visit the Nachalat Binyamin pedestrian mall, with its restored buildings and sidewalk artists. Continue onto the colorful Carmel Market and then to Shenkin, one of Israel's most avant-garde streets. LaDa'at: Israeli Fashion - A special window into the world of Israeli fashion, while visiting design houses and designers in Tel Aviv's leading fashion districts: North Dizengoff, Neve Zedek and Kikar Hachashmal, including meetings with leading Israeli designers. Walking tour through colorful, re-gentrified Neve Zedek, one of Tel Aviv's cultural centers with many small boutiques and galleries as well as the Suzanne Delal Dance and Theater Center. Dinner on your own. Mifgash - The Israeli Reform Movement at the Cutting Edge of Israeli Culture: An evening at the Beit Daniel Congregation with leading members of the Israeli artistic community, hosted by Rabbi Meir Azari. (B) TEL AVIV
Wednesday. Breakfast at the hotel. Check out of the hotel and depart for Northern Israel. Drive along the Trans-Israel Highway for a close up view of the 'Security Barrier' along the seam zone between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Guided visit to Caesarea, one of the Land of Israel's most important cities during the Roman Period. Visit the Herodian Theater and new excavations along the Mediterranean shore concluding with a visit to the 900-year-old crusader city and the new portside galleries. Visit the Ein Hod artist village with its numerous art galleries, including The Artist Gallery, which hosts one of the world's largest collections of Israeli art. Drive to the Upper Galilee. Safed Thorugh the Eyes of an Artist: Explore Safed, a center of Jewish mysticism for hundreds of years, and a contemporary artist colony, including: Guided visits to the Ari, Caro and Abuhav Synagogues with their great stories and mystical messages. Dialogue with an artist inspired by Kabbalistic messages. A weaving workshop using Safed's spiritual and physical inspiration. Special program with Ethiopian immigrant artists. Drive to Kibbutz Kfar Blum. Check into the Pastoral Hotel. Dinner at the kibbutz hotel. Evening at leisure. (B,D) GALILEE
Thursday. Breakfast at the kibbutz hotel. Walk through the Tel Dan Nature Reserve, located on the largest tributary of the Jordan River and the Biblical settlement of Dan. Explore Israel's security situation in the Golan Heights, while overlooking the Hula Valley from former Syrian fortifications. Cross the Golan Plateau to the border with Syria and observe the abandoned city of Kuneitra and the United Nations outpost located nearby. LaDa'at: Kinneret Cemetery. Enter the world of the early Zionist pioneers, their hopes and dreams, their trials and tribulations and the vision of their ultimate success through visits to the graves of great Zionist personalities such as Rachel the Poet, Ber Borochov and Noami Shemer. Drive through the Jordan Valley to Jerusalem. Welcome to Jerusalem. Enter the vibrant and colorful 3,000 year old city of Jerusalem and experience the convergence of the old and the new. Stop at Mount Scopus to say the traditional "shehechiyanu" blessing, recited upon entering Jerusalem. Check into the hotel. Dinner on your own and free time in Jerusalem. (B) JERUSALEM
Friday. Breakfast at the hotel. Guided walk through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, for visits to some of the sites excavated over the past 30 years, which include: The Cardo, a Byzantine street that is now the oldest shopping arcade in the world. Guided visit through the 2,000-year old Herodian Mansions in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. Guided visit to the Davidson Archaeological Park with a special visit to the Davidson Center, to view the new three-dimensional computer generated presentation of "Life During the Time of the Temple," followed by a guided visit to the Southern Wall Excavations. The Kotel (Western Wall). Visit the Western Wall Tunnel, the underground continuation of the Western Wall along the Temple Mount. Lunch on own. Israel Festival Performance I. Free time to prepare for Shabbat. Kabbalat Shabbat at a Reform synagogue in Jerusalem. Festive Shabbat dinner at the hotel. (B, D) JERUSALEM
Saturday. Breakfast at the hotel. Optional Shabbat Services. Free Shabbat in Jerusalem with optional visits to: The Museum of the History of Jerusalem at David's Citadel - walk through the history of Jerusalem from the time of Abraham 4,000 years ago to the end of the British Mandate over Palestine. The Israel Museum - one of the most creative and innovative museums in the world with a wide and eclectic collection, ranging from Judaica and archaeology to Renaissance and contemporary Israeli art, concluding with a visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Shrine of the Book and the newly restored Second Temple Period Model of Jerusalem. The Old City Ramparts - walk along the ancient walls of the city. Ben Kodesh Lechol Havdallah overlooking the Old City. Israel Festival Performance II. Following the performance, meet one the directors of the Israeli Festival backstage. (B) JERUSALEM
Sunday. Breakfast at the hotel. Guided visit through the newly renovated Yad Vashem complex, the Jewish National Memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, which includes: The Avenue of the Righteous, the new Historical Museum, the Children's Memorial, the Holocaust Toy Exhibit, the Art Museum, the Exhibitions Pavilion, and a concluding Memorial Service. How Israel Remembers: Art and Culture and the Fabric of Memory - Dialogue with Holocaust scholar, Dr. Rachel Korazim. Behind the Scenes of the Israel Festival: Half day program exploring new directions in Israel's arts and culture scene. Early dinner with one of the festival guests. Israel Festival Performance III. Dinner on your own. (B) JERUSALEM
Monday. Breakfast at the hotel. LaDa'at - The Geopolitics of Jerusalem. Travel through the city of Jerusalem, exploring some of the political and diplomatic complexities of recent years, including Har Homa, Gilo and the new 'Security Fence' in the Jerusalem area with an in - depth study seminar on the ramifications of current developments. Arts and Culture as a Cultural Bridge: Interactive program with Israeli and Palestinian Artists. LaDa'at - Israeli literature: An inside look at Israeli society and culture through the writings of premier writers, including Amos Oz, David Grossman, Batya Goor, Yehuda Amichai, Shai Agnon, Alef Bet Yehoshua, Dalya Rabikovitch and Zelda, including readings, music and guided walks in the footsteps of the writers. Early dinner on your own. Israel Festival Performance IV. (B) JERUSALEM
Tuesday. Breakfast at the hotel. Walk through the picturesque neighborhood of Ein Karem, nestled on the slopes of the Jerusalem forest. Explore the art galleries, coffee shops and hidden corners of beauty. Visit the Israel Museum, one of the most creative and innovative museums in the world, including a visit to the Israeli art section with a curator. Free afternoon to explore Jerusalem on your own. Early festive farewell dinner. Israel Festival Performance V. (B, D) JERUSALEM
Wednesday. Breakfast at the hotel.
Check out of the hotel.
Transfer to Ben Gurion International Airport.
Departure flight to the USA, arriving the same day.
Your international flight will include meals, drinks, and in-flight entertainment for your journey. (B) FLIGHT
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