Mt. Tabor, Tsipori, Beit She’arim Private Tour

On this private tour, you’ll be picked up at your hotel and begin driving north towards Mount Tabor. Traveling through Wadi Ara, you pass Megiddo, a place mentioned in the Book of Revelations as the site of Armageddon. The tour visits Mount Tabor, the site of the transfiguration of Jesus and the Biblical battle between the Israelites and Canaanites.

On Mount Tabor visit the Roman Catholic Church of the Transfiguration, designed by Antonio Barluzzi in 1924, and see the Greek Orthodox Church. From this elevated position, you can look down across a patchwork of farmlands in the Jezreel Valley. It is possible to hike to the summit where the views are even more spectacular, especially in the spring when the hillside is covered with wildflowers.

Next experience a unique encounter with the local Bedouin people in a traditional Bedouin tent in Kfar al-Shivli and learn about their rich culture. The tour continues to Tzipporah (Sephhoris, Tsipori, or Zippora) where you can visit excavated sites including the restored ancient Roman amphitheater, Roman bathhouses, and colonnaded streets. See the beautiful floor mosaic in a Byzantine-era synagogue. In a 3rd century Roman villa see mosaics featuring the face of the “Mona Lisa of the Galilee.”

The next stop is at Beit Shearim National Park which encompasses extensive burial caves. It was here that Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi worked on the Mishnah and where he was buried. On the hill overlooking Beit She’arim is the statue of Alexander Zeid who guarded over early Jewish settlements before being killed in an ambush in 1936.  Alongside the statue is a two-domed shrine or sanctuary that dates back to the 18th century Sheikh Abreik village that once stood here.
 

Additional Options in the Area:

1. Kfar Tabor Colony Museum or the Farmers’ Courtyard Museum in Tabor Village

2. Tabor Winery

3. Marzipan Museum

4. The Archaeological Museum of Kibbutz Ein Dor

5. The Kadoori Agricultural School

6. Sigiriya Agricultural Farm