There is proof of this in all the archaeological excavations, which have
been made since the 6 days war in 1967. Archaeologists have found
homes, walls, water cisterns and streets from those early days.
Christian churches and mosques surround the Jews of the Jewish
Quarter. Looking at Jerusalem from above ground one would think
that only Christians and Moslems lived there, yet the archaeological
discoveries have shown that Jews have always been the majority of the
population of the Old City. No matter how loudly the bells ring out or
how loudly the muezzin calls nothing can change this fact.

When Jews didn’t live in Jerusalem, nobody lived here. Believe it or
not!!! Jerusalem lay deserted for hundreds of years before Suleiman the
magnificent; Sultan of Turkey built a wall around Jerusalem, which made
Jews feel that it was safe to live here. In about 3 years after he built the
wall, from 1538 the population of the city tripled. Everyone wanted to
live here because the Jews had chosen to live here.

Most of these Jews came from Spain, after the expulsion of the Jews and
from Istanbul. This was not the first time the Jewish Quarter grew very
swiftly. It had grown very much in the 13th century when Rabbi Moshe
ben Nachman came here, also from Spain, in 1265. That was after the
Mongol invasion had destroyed the city and the Mamaluk Arabs began
to rebuild it and encouraged Jews to live here.

That was the time when the Jewish cemetery on the Mt. of Olives
was consecrated and is still used today by the Jewish community of
Jerusalem.

One could say we never left the city. The Romans killed Jews. The
Christians and the |Moslems built on top of the Jewish buildings and
tried to convince themselves and everybody else that the Jews had
never lived here, but they weren’t successful. Today everything is
revealed. The Jewish quarter of today stands on the site of Jerusalem of
2000 years ago.

The reason why Christians saw Jerusalem as their holy city wasn’t
because it was the city where Jesus lived, but rather, being destroyed it
was proof to them that Jesus was the Messiah, because the prophecy
He had made that Jerusalem would be destroyed had been fulfilled.
The fact that Jerusalem lay in ruins was proof that the prophecy that
Jerusalem would be destroyed, which He had made on the Mt. of Olives
and to the women of Jerusalem had been fulfilled (Matthew 23:36-39,
Luke 23:28).

The site of the original city from the time of the 2nd temple is at Mt.
Zion, where David’s Tomb is and where the City of David is and where
the Jewish Quarter stands today.

The part of Jerusalem where the Christian Quarter stands today is the
site of a city built by Hadrian in 132 CE and known as Aelia Capitolina, a
Pagan city built to commemorate the victory of Jupiter over the Jewish
God.

The fact that Aelia Capitolina stood in all its glory and Jerusalem lay
in ruins was considered by the Pagan Roman, the Christians and later
the Moslem as proof that God had rejected the Jewish People and had
chosen another nation instead of them.

The Roman emperor Constantine the Great built the church of the Holy
Sepulchre, and it forms the center of the Christian Quarter. Originally this
was a beautiful Roman temple dedicated to Aphrodite, a very popular
Roman god.

Aphrodite was the goddess of love. The Romans must have thought the
Jews very strange because they hated Aphrodite.
Naturally they didn’t hate Aphrodite because she wasn’t appealing
or attractive but she simply contravened the first 3 of the 10
commandments (to worship only God, not to have any other gods and
not to make any graven images).

Constantine built a church of Jesus in place of Aphrodite’s temple in the
hope that the Jews would prefer to worship Jesus rather than Aphrodite.
After all according to them he was Jewish.

Rachael E., UK

I’ll recommend you to anyone that wants to see Israel that way. You made our first impression a lasting one. You and your fellow countrymen are the nicest on the planet and we will never forget your hospitality.

Sylvia & Roger B., Canada

Sally and Clayton Frost, UK

We found Private Tours In Israel on the internet and were extremely impressed with the format and content of the website. What really impressed us was the speed and personal response to our initial query in relation to our holiday. We found the price of the holiday to be extremely competitive and had no second thoughts about booking with them. In the run up to our holiday, we felt that Private Tours really valued our business and cared about our holiday in Israel.

John and Joan R., Texas

Thanks to Private Tours in Israel (and Adriana), for giving us the kind of personal service we couldn’t have hoped to find with any other company. You made our Israel holiday experience a delightful and memorable one. We’ll be back soon to tour the Middle East!

Bernard W. , New York

I am writing to express my appreciation for your service during this weekend, [our driver] was unfailingly helpful, courteous, considerate and conscientious throughout the weekend and his friendly and efficient service was most appreciated.  We will consider your service again when visiting Israel.

George K., Canada

When you visit Jerusalem, the capital of Israel you will find an amazing city with thousands years history.

Here we give you a glimpse of the best of the sites Jerusalem has to offer.

Please contact us at info@privatetoursinisrael.com if you have any questions, we can build your tour plan in every city in Israel according to your needs.

• The Gates in the Old City: Damascus Gate, The New Gate, The Jaffa Gate, The Zion Gate, The Dung Gate, The Golden Gate, The Lion´s Gate and Herod´s Gate.
• The Western Wall, one of the walls left from the Second Temple.
• The Jewish Quarter where you can find the Cardo and the Burnt House which contains relics of one of the priestly families from the Second Temple.
• The Temple Mount where now lies the Dome of the Rock, the place where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.
• The Pool of Silwan, outside the Old City, the place was picked by David to establish his residence and the capital of Israel.
• The El Aqsa Mosque build 709-715 A.D. and the Solomon’s Stables.
• Markets or Bazaars in the Old City (also called Shuk) with an incredible array of spices, sweetmeats, fruits and vegetables all remind the tourist the Middle East.
• The Via Dolorosa: The way of the cross which commemorates the path which Jesus walked bearing the cross.
• The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
• Mount of Olives where lies the Church of all Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane and the very old Jewish Cemetery.
• The Kidron Valley from where the Jewish tradition says the Messiah will come from the east.
• Mount Zion overlooking the Sultan´s Pool.
• Ammunition Hill the main memorial site commemorating the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem after the Six Day War.
• City Hall the magnificent complex of the City Hall in Safra Square.
• Machane Yehuda Market or the Shuk as it is called by the Israelis, the most visited market in Jerusalem on the Jaffa Road. A unique experience.
• Mea Shearim inhabited mostly buy ultra-orthodox Jews.
• The Knesset the Israeli Parliament where you can see three magnificent tapestries buy Mark Chagal and in the reception hall and he also designed the floor and wall mosaics.
• The Israel Museum where you can find the Shrine of the Book that contains the priceless biblical manuscripts found in 1947 in caves at Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea.
• The Bible Lands Museum where you can find superb collection of artifacts from ancient times.
• The Hebrew University Campus on the Mt. Scopus.
• Yad Vashem the museum and monument to six million European Jews who were murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War.
• The Chagall Windows on the synagogue of the Hadassah Hebrew University medical Centre in Ein Karem.
• Model of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple.
• The Jerusalem Mall. Called also the Malha Shopping on the southern part of the city.
• The Zoological Garden beside the Jerusalem Mall
• Ein Karem a little village with minarets, spires and winding paths that make this one of the most picturesque of spots.

We can also offer tours to Bethlehem and Rachel´s Tomb.

Beit Sh’an lies at a strategic point at the entrance to the Jezreel Valley – the natural passageway from Tranjordan to the Mediterranean Sea – and close to the major highway known as the Sea Road, which ran from south to north. The city is first mentioned in Egyptian documents 3,900 years ago. Until the thirteenth century BCE the city was called Scythopolis, in honor of the Scythian cavalrymen who served in the Ptolemaic army, and this name was preserved in the ensuing eras. Under Roman rule, Beit She’an became an independent city, part of an alliance of ten cities (the Decapolis).

View of the main street (cardo) of Beit She’an as it was in the 4th century CE. The columned road linked the theater to the foot of the mound where the first city was raised.
Revolt against Rome in 66CE, Jewish zealots attacked the city, but its Jewish inhabitants preferred to fight them alongside the gentiles. However, the non –Jewish citizens did not trust their neighbors, and cruelly slaughtered the Jews.

Beit She’an reached the heights of its development during the Byzantine period (fourth-seventh centuries CE) and most of the remains we see today are from this time.
The city extended over a large area on both sides of the Harod River, and when Christianity became the state religion (fourth century) Beit She’an turned into an administrative and religious center. In opposing the Muslim conquest in the seventh century.

The Cardo (main street) seen in the picture led from the Roman theater to the central streets of Beit She’an. It was some 180 meters long, and was called the Palladius street, because of the inscription found there stating that the street’s portico was built by the bishop Palladius, apparently in the fourth century CE.

The portico underwent a thorough renovations in the sixth century. The street is over 7 meters wide, with a deep drainage channel in its center. The vault above the channel is characterized by its unique paving pattern.

The installations, such as shops, on each side of the street were raised very high – up to 280 cm – and were covered with mosaic. This installations where separated from the street by the portico, which supported the roof that stretched along the entire length of the street and protected the facades of the shops.

In the sixth century changes were made in the street; some of the shops were knocked down to make room for the construction of a semicircular patio, surrounded by rooms with mosaic floors.

In one of the rooms, a mosaic was found describing Tyche, the goddess of the city. In the Muslim period, water cisterns and various structures were installed above the street. Only ten shops have been excavated so far. There has been widespread pillage of stones in the area, and few remnants are to be found along the street.

Main Airport Location

The airport of Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv is situated nine miles (14km) southeast of Tel Aviv, 30 miles (50km) west of Jerusalem.

There are of course other airports used most of them to air traffic between Israeli cities except Eilat Airport that also receives flights from other countries, most from Europe.

Time

GMT +2 (GMT +3 from April to September).

Airport Facilities

The facilities in the Airport include banks and currency exchange, ATMs, a post office, public telephones, restaurants, duty-free shops, left-luggage services, a children’s nursery, information counters, facilities for disabled passengers and conference and business services.

Weather

Israeli climate “ranges from temperate to tropical, with plenty of sunshine. Two distinct seasons predominate: a rainy winter period from November to May; and a dry summer season which extends through the next six months.”

“Rainfall is relatively heavy in the north and center of the country, with much less in the northern Negev and almost negligible amounts in the southern areas. Regional conditions vary considerably, with humid summers and mild winters on the coast; dry summers and moderately cold winters in the hill regions, hot dry summers and pleasant winters in the Jordan Valley; and year-round semi-desert conditions in the Negev.”

“Weather extremes range from occasional winter snowfall at higher elevations to periodic oppressively hot dry winds which send temperatures soaring, particularly in spring and autumn.”

Money

The money used in Israel is the New Shekel but tourist can change easy euros or dollars to the local money.

New Shekel (ILS; symbol ?) = 100 agorot (singular, agora). Notes are in denominations of ?200, 100, 50, and 20. Coins are in denominations of ?10, 5 and 2, 1, and 50 and 10 agorot.

Few words in hebrew that will be useful in Israel

GOOD MORNING = BOKER TOV

THANK YOU = TODA

YES,NO = KEN, LO

PLEASE = BEVAKASHA

HELLO (AND ALSO) GOOD BYE = SHALOM

——————————————–
(part of the info taken from MFA site)

We are specialized in cruise ships. Our representative is always on pier when the ship arrives and our vehicles have special permit from the port authorities to park opposite the gangway.

We provide guiding services to the ports of Haifa and Ashdod.

Our Rates are much more attractive than what you may buy on the ship.

Please contact us for any question you may have! 

At Private Tours In Israel we also encourage you to explore Israel with your family in mind, focusing on the interests of you and your children.

Is one of your kids especially interested in wild animals? Does your family share common interests, like nature or archeology? Has your family been talking about an extended family vacation, taking the grandparents along too? Do you have a toddler and a pre-teenager? Are you concerned about traveling abroad with kids for the first time? Depending on what your family is like and what you want to do on your trip, you may want to consider a private tour.

Israel is a great and special place to visit with the family.

Private Tours In Israel will design an itinerary that is comfortable, safe, and fun for everyone in the family where we can arrange a trip, customized to your kids’ ages and interests.

For kids and parents alike, you’ll have time to relax and discover the joys of travel.

Some historic facts about the Cardo in Jerusalem

In the year 129 CE, the Roman emperor Hadrian, who came to power 50 years after the destruction of the temple, toured the eastern region of his empire and traveled to Jericho, Jerusalem and Gaza. He announced that he would build a new military city on the ruins of Jerusalem to be called Aelia Capitolina, mainly for legion soldiers. This shocked the Jews who had nourished hopes that this moderate emperor would allow them to fully restore Jewish life, and fueled the Bar Kochba Revolt, which broke out three years later. Far from restoring Jewish life, the failure of the uprising in the 135 ended Jewish settlement in Jerusalem for hundreds of years.

Hadrian decided to build a Cardo in Jerusalem, as in other former cities and camps, a wide main street into the heart of the settlement or city, the world came from the Greek for heart.

The Roman builders of Aelia Capitolina began work on the Cardo in 135, starting at what was then the magnificent Damascus Gate and heading south to the city center to intersect an east-west street.

In the sixth century, the Byzantine emperor Justinian extended the Cardo southward to keep up with expansion of the city, He also built a new church in the south of the city – actually named the New Church (Nea)- and the road extension allowed for processions between it and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. When finished, the Cardo starched from Damascus Gate to Zion Gate, which was east of the present Zion Gate.

The Cardo was 23 meters wide and had a central road for pedestrian and wagon traffic and two avenues of columns, one on each side. The Cardo usually had shops on each side but in Jerusalem there were shops on the eastern side only in certain parts of the Jewish quarter. Rain channels were built on both side of the road to carry water to cisterns built under the Nea Church. The Jerusalem Cardo is clearly marked on the sixth century Madaba map.

Noticias de Israel 

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Es-Israel.org

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