Israel Trip with Calvary Chapel

In January 2019, Janice and I had a wonderful trip with a group from Calvary Chapel led by Pastor Sam and Pastor Tony. This blog has some brief descriptions and a few pictures from the trip. The trip was nicknamed The Echinacea and Chaos Tour because a large number of people got sick at one time or another and not a single day went entirely as scheduled. What was nice with all the last minute changes was that everyone was flexible and in the end it added to the fun of the trip.

Please click here to see all the posted photos from the trip on my Google Albums site. (The ones posted are not full resolution. If anyone wants any of the pictures at hi-res, let me know and I can email you a full size original).

I've also posted several videos that are hosted on a You Tube site. Click here to access the videos.

Our journey began in San Francisco. Using United Miles we were able to travel in Business Class and after a brief layover in Zurich arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel 22 hours later.

Since we took a separate flight from the rest of the group we arrived in Israel a day earlier and had a chance to relax and explore the city of Netanya. Our hotel, the Seasons Hotel, had some great view of the Mediterranean Sea. There was also a World Surf Tour event taking place which was viewable from our room. The building on the cliff in a couple of the long shots over the water is the Seasons Hotel. One of the first things we noticed about Israel is how good and fresh all the food is. We also checked out the local market with lots of colorful displays. Oh, and the cats, they are everywhere.

The next day after the rest of the group arrived, we met our tour guide Guy (and our bus driver ElI) and traveled toward the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was at Caesarea, where we visited the ruins of a fortified harbor city build by King Herod the Great. Our next stop was Mt. Carmel, where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal. We also overlooked the Jezreel Valley where the final Battle of Armageddon is set to take place.

After leaving Netanya, we traveled to the Sea of Galilee. We spend five nights at the Gai Beach Hotel in Tiberias and used that as our base for lots of amazing adventures in the Galilee region. These photos show the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount; the 4000-year-old Abraham's Gate in Tel Dan; the Grotto of Pan in Caesarea Philippi; and the result of a very wet hike to the Banyas Waterfall that only a few of us took.

One of the highlights in Galilee was our visit to Kfar Kedem, an area that has been reconstructed to show what live was like in Galilee 2000 years ago. Our host, Menachem, demonstrated several things. We got to grind our own wheat and make pita bread, ride a donkey and enjoyed a nice lunch. When we left our host gave us a homing pigeon. We attached a note to its leg with the Bible verse Zephaniah 3:17. After we reached Nazareth, we released the pigeon and a short time later Menachem emailed Tony that he had received the message.

We got baptized in the Jordan River at Yardenit. I did a run in each city we stayed in and the day I ran in Tiberias was after a downpour. The streets were flooded and I was running in ankle deep water. There was a nice indoor swimming pool at our hotel. From our hotel I captured early morning fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. On the way to the Dead Sea we visited the ancient city of Beth Shean.

As we went to the Dead Sea we ran into a sandstorm of epic proportions. Unfortunately it prevented us from going to Ein Gedi and Massada. You can see in the above side by side comparison the next day was much better.

We were going to go back to see the places we missed, however we soon found out a mudslide had covered much of the road and it was closed. We did enjoy a nice float in the Dead Sea water which had been pumped into our hotel pool (it had been heated as well!). It's a great experience, especially for someone who can't normally float. Very relaxing.

Because of the road closure we had to take a southern route from the Dead Sea so we made an unplanned stop at the ancient city of Arad. As we reached the outskirts of Jerusalem we were greeted by snow (oh yeah, the weather on this trip was cold most of the time). In Jerusalem we got to take part in The Temple Mount sifting project.

We were fortunate enough to be able to visit Bethlehem and enjoy a talk (albeit a cold one) overlooking a Shepherd's Field. The thorns of the Acacia Tree may have been what Jesus's Crown of Thorns was made from. We visited The Garden Tomb, possible site of the tomb of Jesus. One of my favorite memories from the entire trip was at the Garden Tomb. We found a small enclosed area and were singing worship songs, when some girls from other countries were drawn in by the sound of worship and joined in. It struck me how when Christians are worshiping we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

Mount of Olives overlooking the walled city; Tony giving an informative talk in the Garden of Gethsemane; partaking in the Western Wall. We are able to visit the Temple Mount, however, the Muslims do not allow anyone to say the word "temple" while on the mount. So while Tony was giving a talk, he would point to his own temple every time he wanted to use that word.

The food in Israel was incredible, and talk about fresh. When you want honey you scrape it directly out of the honeycomb. Can't get any fresher than that.

Since we had flown separately, when the rest of the US group went to the airport we had a couple of more days in Tel Aviv. Tony's group from London also had one more day. That night the Rams/Saints NFC championship game was on in the middle of the night, but Tony and I were able to find a place that was broadcasting it. (It was a little different that the week before when the Rams were playing in the divisional round. There was no place in Tiberias to go and watch the game, so Hayden (a huge Rams fan) used his laptop to connect with his family in California. They pointed their laptop at the TV and we watched the game that way (again, in the middle of the night)). The next morning we all walked down to old town Joppa. That afternoon I rented a bike and checked out this coastal city. The view from our hotel room of the Mediterranean Sea was fantastic.

On the way home from Israel we had an overnight stay in Zurich, Switzerland. We got a hotel room in Old Town Zurich which is a quick train ride from the airport.

Our hotel was right next door to the Polybahn, a funicular railway that travels up the hill to the ETHZ, one of the top universities in the world. It afforded great views of the city of Zurich. We then made a stop at the National Museum which was conveniently located directly across the street from the train station. We then hopped back on the train to catch our flight home to California.

To see all the posted photos click here. To see the posted videos click here.