Israel 2009 Pilgrimage

We toured Israel in 1998 amidst Saddam's threats from Iraq, and this time, the Gaza strip was under attack by Israeli soldiers. We felt that we would be safe, far from the violence, and looked forward to an interesting trip with our new Pastor, Bohdan Vadis of Tierrasanta Lutheran Church. Since we had already been to many of the most important sites, we were happy that this itinerary included a lot of new places to see. This tour included the pastor's wife, 10 other members from Tierrasanta, one member's mother and aunt, and three couples from the pastors previous congregation in Sacramento. The tour bus was not full, and most of the sites we visited were also not very crowded, although somewhat busier than our last trip. The weather was perfect, with mild days and no rain. We left San Diego on Monday morning to fly to Washington, D.C., continued to Vienna, and then arrived at Tel Aviv in the afternoon on Tuesday. We returned along the same route the following Wednesday, where the Washington airport was packed with visitors heading home from Obama's inaguration the day before.

Click here for Northern Israel - Sea of Galilee, Nazerath, Capernaum, and the Golan Heights.

Click here for Central Israel - Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Click here for Southern Israel - Jericho, Masada, and the Dead Sea

Click here for photos of our meals - hotel meals, lunches on the road, and a single slice of pizza.