St Andrew’s Church, Oxshott
St Andrew’s - Your Church
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
On 14 February 2009 a group of intrepid travellers from St Andrew's set out for Israel.
You can follow our itinerary, which included many of the major biblical sites. We posted some news each day of our journey here, so you can follow our adventures...
Day 1 began with a visit to the port built by Herod the Great, who died in about 4BC after famously ordering the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem. The blue sky and warm sun was tempered by a strong cool breeze off the sea.
Herod made Caesarea a monument to his 
Roman paymasters and the gateway for produce and trade from all over the known world. We visited the harbour, the newly-discovered hippodrome (where horse and chariot races could easily be imagined) and the reconstructed Roman theatre. We saw a replica of the stone found in the last couple of years proving that Pontius Pilate was indeed governor during the reign of Emperor Tiberius.
We then headed north to Mount Carmel, where we stood on the spot of the altar as we read 1 Kings about Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal and being rewarded by God showing his presence in the most amazing way. We read the bible and imagined the events going on around us.
After lunch we visited the fort of Megiddo which looks down over the great plain of Armageddon and from which we could see the hills of Israel where so many of the Old Testament events took place. What a view!
Then to our rooms in Kibbutz Ein Gev on the shore of the Sea of Galilee looking across at the town of Tiberias to watch the sun set. We played on the beach and then met after dinner to break bread and remember Christ.
So far, so extraordinary!
DAY 2 - Beatitudes and Capernaum and much more:
After a good night’s sleep by the Sea of Galilee we were up early to see the preserved 1st century boat and hear the amazing story of how it was recovered and preserved. We then embarked on a voyage across the Sea of Galilee – after the captain of our boat had raised the Union Jack and played ‘God Save the Queen‘. As we looked across all the well-known locations around the lake, we were struck by how close together so many Old and New Testament stories unfolded over hundreds of years.
At
Mid-afternoon Yehuda’s prayers for rain to fill up the
After another packed day we headed back to the shores of Galilee via
Day 3: Jesus’ journey south along the
We had a wonderful BC lunch with Abraham in his tent having taken a short camel ride back 3,800 years!
We were out of Ein Gev promptly to drive south along the River Jordan taking the same general route that Jesus and his disciples walked when finally leaving his ministry in Galilee to go dowm through the desert to enter 
on a clear morning as we made our first stop in Beit Shean. The town has been occupied since 5000 BC and was heavily fortified. Under the Greeks it was known as Scythopolis and under
Then we entered the Palestinian West Bank and journeyed on the increasingly rocky road towards the Judean desert on the way to the 
Abraham. This turned out to be our lunch at Genesis 
Land and as the camels took us down the dusty road we saw a recreation of Abraham’s tent with lunch on low tables and cushions laid out for us all. Abraham greeted us with water to wash our hands and explained about life in Old Testament times. The meal of breads, herbs, vegetables, chicken, rice, meatballs and dried fruit was as delicious as it was authentic. We had a fabulous time and were sorry to take our camel ride back to the future.
The bus then took us to one of 
and we looked down over the Mount of Olives and the
Link to Jerusalem and the South
For more of our adventures, click the link above!
Office Address:
Oakshade Road
Oxshott
Surrey
KT22 0LE