The riverside promenade, landscaped with indigenous flora, offers spots for small gatherings and contemplation, while to complement the experience, the on-site Manna Restaurant, located on the Jordan River, serves a traditional meal featuring St. Peter’s Fish. Located in Tiberias, the “Galilee Experience” is one more modern attraction of possible interest to the Christian pilgrim. A multimedia presentation, it offers a good overview of the history of the Galilee, including much of interest to Christian pilgrims and visitors. Commentary is in several languages.
so similar. In fact, they are no more than suggestions, and every itinerary, every day, every site should be looked upon as no more than a thread - an individual piece of a fabric that in the final analysis will make up a unified spiritual weave that will be your unique trip. Some itineraries in this manual refer to sites in terms of chapter and verse; there are those that hint at a more experiential approach; in others, places are listed more dryly, outlines, as it were, to serve as a basis for development or expostulation by the tour leader or religious guide. Mix and match what best serves your group and your temperament. In the final analysis, there are many ways to structure a pilgrimage itinerary and none is necessarily “right” or “wrong.” Let your pilgrims be pilgrims. Give them an opportunity to traverse the topography, feel it and breathe it. Jesus often used the topography of the Holy Land as a metaphor in His teachings, and pilgrimage organizers can recreate this meaningful methodology today. Just as Christianity talks about moving from the catacombs to the high cathedrals, encourage your pilgrims to hike and climb. Let them walk, walk, walk. Singing hymns and/or other sacramental or devotional songs while hiking is an excellent way to strengthen group bonding; media with music or other content relevant to the area is also a good idea as they advance by foot from Capernaum to Tabgha, for example, and descend to the fields from the Mount of the Beatitudes. In short, allow your program participants to undergo and experience transformation. Encourage recommitment and reaffirmation through authentic encounters with people and place. Thrust your pilgrims into challenge, both intellectual and physical, by opening your itinerary up to the resources of the people of the land and the people who know the land.
Building an Effective Pilgrimage Itinerary
Except for the programs of pilgrimage groups with specialized interests, or those comprised of those that have visited Israel many times, almost all Holy Land itineraries will include the same basic components: Jerusalem and the Galilee; the Via Dolorosa and the Sea of Galilee; Bethlehem and Nazareth. True, the emphases are certain to change from group to group, depending on denomination, country of origin, the preferences of the spiritual leader, the length of the trip and the like, but still, to the degree that a pilgrimage is based on the text of the Holy Scriptures and its participants follow in the footsteps of Jesus or have another biblical or Christian focus, just about every pilgrim will have visited Capernaum, the Mt. of the Beatitudes, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and/or the Garden Tomb, to name but a few pilgrimage “highlights.” For this obvious reason, some of the itineraries here sound
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