What can I do at each shrine?

NOTE: Due to the varying mandates and responses from the COVID-19 pandemic, Masses, services, public prayer, access to relics, etc may be limited or unavailable. Please verify with the particular shrine before you go! Websites and contact info provided below.

In general, shrines offer a place and times of prayer. And shrines typically have a relic or image of a particular saint and are designated as the particular place for public devotion related to that saint. Some shrines are normal parish churches or some are set up specifically to handle many pilgrims. Yet even some others are part of a religious community such as part of a convent or monastery. 

Typically at shrines, you should be able to:

• Attend Mass
• Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)
• Participate in particular devotions like novenas related to the saint the shrine is named after
• Pray
• See and venerate a saint’s relics

Some shrines offer more such as ministries or services specific to visitors and pilgrims. For more specialized offerings, check out each shrine listed below!

How this Guide to Catholic Shrines in Pennsylvania Works

Listed below is a list of shrines available in Pennsylvania. Addresses are listed with a link to Google Maps. Phone numbers and websites are provided, if available, if you wish to contact the shrine directly or find out more detailed information. Following the basic info are a brief history and summary of the shrine.

If there are particular things of interest for each shrine, those are highlighted as well!

Want to learn more about how to go on more pilgrimages for less time and money? Subscribe to the email list!

Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Ann

Address: 1233 St. Ann Street, Scranton, PA 18504

Phone: 570-347-5691 (Shrine), 570-342-5166 (Rectory)

Websites:

• Parish: http://stannbasilica.org/
• Monastery and Shrine Basilica: https://www.stannsmonasterybasilica.org/

Started by Passionists fathers at the turn of the 20th century, St. Ann’s is the home of one of their monasteries and the popular novena devotion to St. Ann. In its early years, the monastery was damaged by rock slides resulting from work in the local coal mines of Scranton. In the early 1920’s, a few lay faithful started requesting the rector to hold a weekly novena to honor St. Ann, and the devotion greatly grew resulting in a church being built to accommodate the faithful (“St. Ann’s History, n.d.). To this day, the St. Ann Novena continues and many pilgrims flock to the shrine, especially during the month July when the Feast of St. Ann occurs and a solemn version of the novena is prayed. Through the years, many miracles were attributed to this devotion of the St. Ann Novena. Pope St. John Paul II declared St. Ann’s to be a Minor Basilica on October 27, 1997.

The Basilica features:

• Public devotion: St. Ann Novena and Solemn Novena
• Masses
• Confessions
• Gift shop, especially St. Ann’s oil

Central Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Address: 500 E Chelten Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144

Phone: 215-848-1010 or Toll Free 1-800-523-3674

Website: https://miraculousmedal.org/

In the mid-1800’s, some Vincentians from the Congregation of the Mission established a seminary chapel to foster vocations. After some years, they planned to build a chapel for their own congregation, but the then-Bishop of Philadelphia asked them to make the chapel public. This chapel became the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. In the early 1900’s, national devotion to the Miraculous Medal blossomed prompting the director of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal, Fr. Skelly, to build a shrine in the Chapel to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (“A Home for Mary, the Miraculous Medal Shrine”, 2020). From completing the shrine, a “Monday Novena” was started by Fr. Skelly as tribute to the Blessed Mother–a devotion that continues today with pilgrims flocking to the Shrine every Monday. 

For more information about the Miraculous Medal, check this out!

This shrine features:

• Public devotion: Perpetual Novena (“Monday Novena”)
• Masses
• Adoration, Confessions
• Group pilgrimages and tours
• Art museum
• Gift shop

National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Also known as the parish of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Address: 501 Ridge Ave, Allentown, PA 18102

Phone: 610-433-4404 (Rectory)

Website: http://immaculateconceptionallentown.org/index.html

Dedicated on October 25, 1857 by St. John Neumann, then-bishop of Philadelphia, Immaculate Conception parish in Allentown has served the faithful for over 160 years. In the 1970’s, the US Conference of Bishops desired to establish a National Shrine in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the then-pastor of the time, Monsignor Thompson, petitioned the Conference for Immaculate Conception parish to host the shrine. And they agreed. The church became a National Shrine in December of 1974 (“History of Our Church”, n.d.). Inside the church, the faithful and pilgrims can find a portrait of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe over a side altar.

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe features:

• Special Mass on December 12, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
• Masses

National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa

Address: 654 Ferry Road, Doylestown, PA 18901

Phone: 215-345-0600

Website: https://czestochowa.us/

Our Lady of Czestochowa is a famous icon of the Blessed Mother and the child Jesus in Czestochowa, Poland. It currently resides in the Jasna Gora monastery and shrine for pilgrims to view and venerate. Many miracles have been attributed to Our Lady of Czestochowa. To read more about the original icon, check out this page!

In the early 1950’s, Fr. Michael Zembruzki from the Pauline Fathers came to the United States with the desire to establish a similar shrine to Jasna Gora. A few years later, a barn chapel was built and dedicated to Our Lady of Czestochowa (The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, n.d.). Soon pilgrims frequented the chapel to the point that the barn chapel was no longer adequate to host the many pilgrims from America and Poland. The current building and grounds were dedicated in 1966 and designated as a National Shrine in 2009. 

At the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, you can:

• Attend Mass
• Go to Confession
• Group tours and pilgrimages
• Take a virtual tour!
• Join a retreat or stay at the retreat house
• Enjoy Polish food at the deli and cafeteria

National Shrine of St. John Neumann

Address: 1019 N 5th St., Philadelphia, PA 19123

Phone: 215-627-3080

Website: https://stjohnneumann.org/

This shrine is dedicated to St. John Neumann, a Redemptorist priest and former bishop of Philadelphia. St. John Neumann is known for helping out European immigrants, building many churches, hospitals, and orphanages (About St. John Neumann, n.d.). In particular, he loved being with the sick and poor. Visitors and pilgrims to this National Shrine can visit and venerate St. John Neumann’s relics. The museum opened in April 2019 and allows visitors to learn St. John Neumann’s story.

At this National Shrine, you can:

• Be blessed with St. John Neumann’s relic
• Attend Mass
• Go to Confession
• Participate in devotions: Rosary, Novenas, Adoration
• Go on retreats
• Visit the museum
• Do tours and pilgrimages
• Visit the gift shop

National Shrine of Saint Rita of Cascia

Address: 1166 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146

Phone: 215-546-8333

Website: https://www.saintritashrine.org/

Because of the needs of many immigrant families residing in the area in the early 1900’s, with the help of one generous donor and the zeal of the Augustinian Friars and the then-Bishop Patrick Ryan, they established the parish of St. Rita’s. The church nearly closed in the early 1990’s, but the local community pulled together to revitalize it. In the year 2000, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops declared it as the National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia (History, The National Shrine of St. Rita Cascia, n.d.). Since then, the shrine has undergone renovations and more buildings added to further outreach to the local community. Many pilgrims and devoted faithful return to the shrine each year on St. Rita’s feast day on May 22 for the Solemn Novena.

To learn more about St. Rita, check this out!

At the National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia, you can:

• Participate in the Solemn Novena and feast day for St. Rita
• Go on tours and pilgrimages
• Attend a Healing Mass
• Attend normal Masses
• Go to Confession and Adoration
• Visit the Cascia Center for various ministries

Saint Jude Church and Shrine

Address: 321 Butler Ave., Chalfont, PA 18914

Phone: 215-822-0179

Website: https://stjudechalfont.org/

This parish church was established in 1962 on farm land by Archbishop John Krol. The first pastor, Fr. Robert Gregg, desired that the parish be named after St. Jude the Apostle, and also be the regional shrine for St. Jude (St. Jude Church and Shrine, n.d.). Since then, a school was built and the numbers continued to grow. Unfortunately, a fire burned the church to the ground in October of 1982, but members of the community came together to rebuild the church and shrine, which was dedicated on September 23, 1984. Visitors and pilgrims can participate in the usual worship and devotions, novenas, and veneration of St. Jude’s relic offered throughout the week.

Here at St. Jude’s, you can:

• Venerate a relic of St. Jude
• Pray the Solemn Novena or weekly Novena prayers
• Attend Mass
• Go to Confession and Adoration

Saint Katharine Drexel Shrine

As of 2018, the shrine is now part of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, but St. Katharine Drexel’s community can still be found at their house (and former shrine) in Bensalem, PA.

Address: 18th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Phone: 215-561-1313

Website: https://www.saintkatharinedrexelshrine.com/

St. Katharine Drexel is the second American-born saint, and she is known for starting the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. She was asked by Pope Leo XIII in Rome to become a missionary (Saint Katharine Drexel Shrine, n.d.). And in her missionary efforts, she particularly served the African American and Native American communities across the United States opening up schools and colleges. Visitors and pilgrims can visit the Tomb of Saint Katharine Drexel located inside the Cathedral Basilica.

At the Saint Katharine Drexel Shrine, pilgrims can:

• Go on tours and pilgrimages to the shrine (and cathedral)
• Visit the Cathedral Shop
• Submit prayer intentions and requests
• Participate in the Solemn Novena (starts February 22, ends March 2)
• Participate in weekly Novena prayers on Thursdays
• Go to her Feast Day Mass (March 3)

Saint Anthony’s Chapel (Shrine of Many Relics)

Address: 1704 Harpster Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Phone: 412-999-4401

Website: https://pghshrines.org/about-st-anthony-chapel

Probably one of those most unique shrines on this guide, St. Anthony’s Chapel is famous for having a collection of over 5000 relics! The only other place in the world with more relics is the Vatican (Shrines of Pittsburgh, n.d.). Fr. Mollinger started construction on the chapel in 1880 as a place to house his collection of relics, which included a first-class relic of St. Anthony of Padua for whom the shrine is named after. In addition to the many relics and reliquaries, the chapel features many decorations imported from Europe evoking beauty and excellent craftsmanship. 

The St. Anthony Chapel features:

• Guided tours and pilgrimages
• Mass
• Confession, Adoration, Novenas, and Stations of the Cross
• Museum and Chapel Shop across the street

Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Found inside of the Mount Saint Macrina House of Prayer.

Address: 500 West Main Street, Uniontown, PA 15401

Phone: 724-438-7149

Website: https://sistersofstbasil.org/ (community website of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great)

Representing the Byzantine expression of the Catholic faith, the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great has a community and house in Uniontown. The main house used to be the J.V. Thompson mansion, and has been converted to useful spaces for visitors and pilgrims to visit (Sisters of St. Basil, 2012). Within the House of Prayer is the Our Lady of Perpetual Help shrine, a beautiful shrine featuring the icon. Each year, the Sisters host a pilgrimage on Labor Day weekend with many activities and spiritual opportunities and is known as the oldest and largest Byzantine Catholic pilgrimage in the USA.

Mount Saint Macrina offers: 

• Virtual tour!
• Pilgrimages
• Gift shop
• Overnight accommodations
• Pilgrimage camping

Other Catholic Churches in Pennsylvania to Visit!

Besides the awesome Catholic shrines in Pennsylvania listed in this guide, you can also visit amazing churches that are worth checking out! See if you can swing by any of these churches listed below on your next pilgrimage to Pennsylvania!

• Basilica of Saints Cyril and Methodius
  • Religious sisters
  • Adoration Chapel
  • Library
  • Museum
  • 70 acres of grounds
• Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel
  • Masses
  • Adoration
  • Confession
  • Devotions to Our Lady of Loretto
• Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
  • Masses
  • Perpetual Adoration Chapel
  • Confessions
• National Centre for Padre Pio
  • Group tours and pilgrimages
  • Museum
  • Authentic objects and replicas from St. Padre Pio’s life
  • Outdoor prayer spaces
  • Gift shop
  • Cafe
• St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral
  • Masses (Divine Liturgy)
  • Confessions
• St. Vincent Archabbey Basilica
  • Part of a greater complex/grounds belonging to the Bendictine Monks of St. Vincent which includes the monastery, basilica, seminary, and college

Want to learn more about popular pilgrimages around the world? Be sure to check out the Most Popular Christian Pilgrimages!

Don’t have the money to go on a pilgrimage just yet or still uncomfortable with traveling? Take a virtual one, instead!

Which Pennsylvania shrine are you looking forward to visiting and why? Comment below!

References

A Home for Mary, The Miraculous Medal Shrine. (2020). Retrieved September 22, 2020, from https://miraculousmedal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ShrineStory.pdf

About St. John Neumann. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2020, from https://stjohnneumann.org/our-st-john-neumann/about-st-john-neumann/

History of Our Church. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2020, from http://immaculateconceptionallentown.org/history.html

History, The National Shrine of St. Rita Cascia. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2020, from https://www.saintritashrine.org/history

Pew Research Center. (2014). June 4-September 30, 2014 — Religious Landscape Study [Data summary]. https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/state/pennsylvania/

Saint Katharine Drexel Shrine. (n.d.). Interactive timeline. Retrieved September 27, 2020, from https://www.saintkatharinedrexelshrine.com/interactive-timeline/

Shrines of Pittsburgh. (n.d.). The Chapel. Retrieved September 27, 2020, from https://pghshrines.org/the-chapel

Sisters of St. Basil. (2012, July 31). House of Prayer. Retrieved October 02, 2020, from https://sistersofstbasil.org/ministries/house-of-prayer-2/

Smith, W.G. (1911). Pennsylvania. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved September 19, 2020 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11638c.htm

St. Ann’s History. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.stannsmonasterybasilica.org/st-anns-history.html

St. Jude Church and Shrine. (n.d.). Parish Directory [PDF]. Retrieved September 27, 2020, from https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/622/documents/2020/1/Parish%20Directory%2001-2020%20FINAL%20PDF.pdf

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. (n.d.). The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa Timeline History. Retrieved September 26, 2020, from https://czestochowa.us/about-us/history/

Featured image by Leepaxton / Wikipedia

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No problem–you can take a virtual pilgrimage!

What is a virtual pilgrimage?

Because of the Internet, we have access to so much information about our world. With the technology and media available to us, we can “visit” and “see” many of the world’s famous pilgrimage sites without leaving the comfort of home. 

A virtual pilgrimage, then, is an online or electronic trip using technology and media available on the Internet that seeks to simulate the experience of a real pilgrimage.

How can I go on a virtual pilgrimage?

In order to go on a virtual pilgrimage, there are few things required.

Internet Connection

With an Internet connection, you’ll have access to the necessary resources. 

Resources

Using your Internet connection, you can find information and media related to the virtual pilgrimage you would like to take. Hopefully the information touches on good historical info as well as good explanations on why the site has sacred significance through its relics, miracles, or art. Look for the answers to “what happened here?” and “what is this thing I’m looking at?”)

Proper Interior Disposition

One temptation when going on a real pilgrimage that requires travel is to treat it more like a vacation. With a virtual pilgrimage, vacationing is a little less tempting.

Remember that a pilgrimage is an act of devotion to encounter God in real places of sacred significance. Encountering God is the goal, even if done virtually. 

Where can I go on a virtual pilgrimage?

While the list can go on and on for places to go on an actual pilgrimage in “real life”, a few virtual pilgrimages will be featured here below. The reality is that not every pilgrimage site is set up to allow the faithful, curious, and adventurous to visit there virtually.

There are a few ways to go on a virtual pilgrimage in order to see these places.

Interactive

If you want to click around, much like Streetview in Google Maps, then you can enjoy the following:

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

This is the largest Catholic church in the western hemisphere, and it is adjacent to the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC., USA. On their website, you can take 360 degree virtual tours to see the major sections of the church. You can view the many chapels and oratories found within its Upper and Crypt levels.

Take a virtual tour of the Basilica of the National Shrine here.

Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land

As a fun fact: many of the Christian pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land are maintained and run by the Franciscans. The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, DC., USA is a monastery that tries to capture the feel of the Holy Land while not actually being in the Holy Land. Their main church replicates the general locations found within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and their Bethlehem Shrine simulates the actual shrine in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.

To tour the different areas of the monastery, go here.

Video Tour

Some places offer video tours that you can watch. Or sometimes tour or pilgrimage companies put out virtual video tours so that viewers can get a feel of the location. Some content found online are also more like documentaries. If you would like to sample some, here are a few:

Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey

In northeast Oklahoma, in the middle of nowhere, is a huge Benedictine monastery. Over 40 monks live here, and they live out their Benedictine rules with prayer and working on their church of 1000 acre grounds. Their monastery is rather impressive and has been a slow work in progress as they add to it.

You can learn more and see their monastery with the various videos they have on their website.

St. Peter’s Basilica

Located in Vatican City, this church is the largest in the world and is built over the site of St. Peter the Apostle’s grave where he was martyred. These days, the Pope gives public addresses to the faithful and pilgrims in the square a few times a week. Inside are many chapels including one featuring Michaelangelo’s Pieta and Pope St. John Paul II’s tomb. In the crypt level of the Basilica are the tombs of many past popes as well as the bones of St. Peter. Fun fact: when you first walk in, the central aisle down the middle of the church marks the size of other large churches in comparison to St. Peter’s (yes, you can see the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception marked out!).

There’s much to say about the Basilica, but you can view this informative walking tour to get a good general feel of what it’s like to be inside.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

If the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, DC is a replica, then the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the real deal. Housed within this Church in Jerusalem are the sites of Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection. These are marked with chapels and monuments. Different parts of the Church are owned by different classic denominations of Christianity like the Catholics, Orthodox, Coptics, and Armenians.

This video tour from the Jerusalem Experience is a great, short and informative tour of the Church.

A shout out

If you’d like to see videos of lesser-known churches, shrines, and sites, especially in the United States, check out Light & Heavy, a YouTube channel done in vlogger style featuring various sites. Give him a subscribe and tell him I sent you!

More resources will be added later or as requested!

How do I make a virtual pilgrimage more spiritual?

Just as some pilgrimage sites make their resources available online, so do religious communities. A religious community would something like a group of monks in a monastery or religious sisters in a convent. As part of their vows, they commit to times of prayer and worship.

Thankfully, some religious communities make these times of prayer and worship available to us, even online.

A personal favorite here at Pilgrim for Less is the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan USA. In the past several years, they have released several CD’s of heavenly-sounding music. In fact, one of their Christmas albums made the top of Billboard’s charts a few years ago! 

Because of COVID-19 in 2020, the Dominican Sisters of Mary have also started live-streaming and recording their hours of prayer and Masses on YouTube. 

Check out their video schedule here.

You can also stream some of their albums on Spotify.

…or sample some tracks here:

With all that said, you can make a virtual pilgrimage more spiritual by incorporating sacred music or times of prayer with a religious community.

Another great way is to pray for others! Using your contact list or social media, ask how you can pray for others on your virtual pilgrimage. This is what I do before every pilgrimage.

Other Resources

Before the age of YouTube, taking an online virtual pilgrimage was limited to interactive websites that use sounds, pictures, and text to share the experience. One such site is Good News Ministries’ Virtual Pilgrimage through the Homeland of Jesus. Check it out to follow along with a pilgrimage group in 1998.

Another type of virtual pilgrimage are ministries/apostolates that you can ask to bring the virtual experience in-person to you. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality does just that in order to recreate the Lourdes pilgrimage experience without you ever leaving home. Check them out to learn more.

Bottom Line

With the realization that normal pilgrimages often take lots of time and money, a virtual pilgrimage can be a great way to still experience a pilgrimage site without spending a lot.

And as this article was written amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual pilgrimages are a great activity and solution to still have a pilgrimage experience without leaving the house as most of these places are probably closed in real life to help prevent the virus from spreading.

For parents with young kids at home, a virtual pilgrimage can be a great way to show the beauty of the Christian faith from the comfort of home.

Don’t delay–go on a virtual pilgrimage today!

Where do you want to go on a virtual pilgrimage? Comment below!

For more tips on how to go on more pilgrimages for less time and less money, subscribe to my email list, below!

Featured Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels

The post Can’t leave the house? Take a Virtual Pilgrimage! appeared first on Pilgrim for Less.

There’s really not much to today other than enjoying the fact that I flew business class back home from London.

Now, it was part of the original plan to fly business class on the way home as I talked about in this post.

But…before enjoying any of the associated benefits, I had to endure sleeping at the airport.

Wakey wakey, get out of the gatey

Again, from yesterday’s post, I didn’t really do much at the gate other than blog a little, play Pokemon Go some, and attempted at napping. The first time I attempted at going to the bathroom, I got stopped by custodial staff . Apparently they thought I was gonna go back into the main terminal area, which is a no-no past when it closes for the night.

After that, they set up a rope barrier right outside of the gate, but still with access to the restrooms right next to it.

Geez.

I shared Gate 7A with probably like 8 other people, but everyone had their own corner or row of seats. No problem.

At about 4:15AM, they made an announcement that the terminal was open again, and that we were free to leave the gate. I was already kind of awake by then so I gathered my stuff, and headed out.

The lounge I wanted to go visit didn’t open til 5:30AM, so I had about an hour to kill in the terminal.

I went to the main departure lobby for Terminal 3. By then, there were a good handful of people walking around. Most stores and food places weren’t open yet.

I just played around on my phone the entire hour. Yes, more Pokemon Go.

When it was almost 5:30AM…I started walking to the lounge.

Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge

Because I flew business class this day, I had complimentary access to most of the airline lounges that are partnered with American Airlines in the oneworld alliance. I had British Airways, Qantas, and American Airlines as strong contenders for lounge time, but I opted for Cathay Pacific because they had the best reviews, and previous Cathay Pacific lounge experiences have been spectacular. And I could have lounge-hopped, but being tired, I just wanted to stay in one place.

As a fun fact, Cathay Pacific is a Hong Kong-based airline owned by Swire, which is a conglomerate also based in London.

After checking into the lounge, I had breakfast from their buffet. I kept it simple with an omelette, sausage, and coffee. After eating, my next most pressing need was to shower.

By this point, it was probably about 24 hours since I last showered and I had lots of travel in that time. Most premium airline lounges have showers, and I like using them to refresh before a flight. Or to take a real shower on a long layover.

After showering, I still felt a little hungry. Cathay Pacific lounges typically have a Noodle Bar serving up Asian classics. I decided to have some dim sum and wonton soup.

After that…I set up camp on a chair looking out towards the tarmac. I utilized the fact that there was an actual bar while enjoying the views, blogging, and reading. At some point I tried taking a nap too.

From 5:30AM to 11:00AM, I was in the lounge! After lounging around that whole time, I headed to my gate to board my flight.

American Airlines #57 London-Heathrow to Miami, Business Class

For this 8-hour flight, I had an enjoyable time sitting in business class. The food was great, the flight attendants were attentive and friendly, and I got to watch a handful of movies and shows.

When you book business class with American Airlines, especially with international flights, you can pre-select your meal up to 30 days before the flight. I opted for the beef top steak with mashed potatoes, veggies, and gravy. Tasty.

For the pre-landing meal, I chose the mini-pies (meat, because British). Also tasty.

For movies, I watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters and The Secret Life of Pets 2. And to finish out my flight, I watched the available episodes of Fixer Upper and Big Bang Theory.

At some point, I did engage the seat’s lie-flat mode and attempted at taking an hour nap. I tried keeping in mind the actual time in Texas so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t sleep for most of this flight to get my body clock back on track.

All in all, a good flight. Then we landed in Miami…

Miami International Airport and Flight Home

When I arrived at Miami International Airport, I had a little bit of an issue with going through Customs. I had trouble with the kiosk. It wouldn’t complete the process and print my slip that I needed to hand to the officer. I explained this to the officer when I got to the desk, and I was told to go see another officer who could scan passports manually to complete this part of the process. That was no problem.

But then…I got stopped on my way out of Customs. I got pulled in for questioning. I guess since I had originally come from Israel, they flagged me for further security procedures. It was really no problem. The Customs and Border Control officer asked what I did in Israel and handchecked my bags.

After passing through all of that, I bee lined for the main Admiral’s Club lounge. I wanted to test out an access policy that states that if you arrive from an international flight in business class with a connecting domestic flight the same day, you get complimentary access to the Admiral’s Club lounge.

Turns out–it works!

I didn’t much time to enjoy the lounge. I grabbed a few snacks and a glass of red. It was pretty crowded too. After downing my wine and finishing my snack, I headed off to the gate.

The entire flight boarded the plane. But we never pushed back from the gate. The pilot came on after a while and said that some computer had fried on the flight deck and that we had to deplane and switch aircraft/gates.

I wasn’t too concerned with it because I half-expect delays most of the time, and I had flexibility.

We had a two-hour delay. And the new gate was across the terminal.

So…I looked up an airport map and saw that there was another Admiral’s Club lounge close to the new gate so I headed there. I think most other passenger’s had the same idea, but went to the main one I was in earlier.

I chilled here and enjoyed another glass of wine and some more snacks. But it was more relaxed, and less crowded.

It came time to head to the gate.

We boarded. Then departed. Then landed at DFW. I didn’t do much on the flight home as I kind of slept and kind of did some reading. I was exhausted.

I finally arrived home at about midnight-thirty. And I immediately went to bed.

This officially concludes my Israel pilgrimage!

Stats

Total Cost of Pilgrimage = $562.88

• No further costs incurred / food and drink taken care of with lounges and flights

Total Travel Time = ~40 hours

• LHR Terminal 3 +8 hours, including 6 hours in lounge
• Flight from LHR to MIA +8 hours
• MIA +4 hours
• Flight from MIA to DFW +2.5 hours

Ending Weight = 162.2 lbs

• I weight myself on Day 0. Only gained 1.4 lbs–not bad for all the eating I did these past 9 days!

Would you rather pay more money for shorter travel time? Or would you pay less money for longer travel time?

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
• Day 4: Up In the North
• Day 5: A Day At the Beach
• Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
• Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
• Prev> Day 8: One Last Time Before Leaving

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Today marked my last day in Israel. Because the weather was still great, I went to the beach one last time before wrapping things up and going to the airport.

Again, a reminder that “TJ” refers to both or either of my hosts, whose initials are both “TJ”. And for context, they are dear friends of mine from my church back home in Texas.

Beach

In the morning, I had coffee with TJ before he went off to work. Afterwards, I headed out the door to visit the same beach again from the other day. I mean, the weather was still pretty nice and TJ’s house is only a few blocks away so why not?

I realized I didn’t take pictures during this time…but I basically laid around, splashed around, then took a long walk. Lots of people-watching.

Since I didn’t want to begin a 36-hour trip home with wet clothes, I walked around the beach for about an hour to air dry. I made it as far north as Apollonia. But, on the beach level as Apollonia sits atop the cliff.

I managed to find a few pieces of sea glass to, which I didn’t expect. I took ’em. Not enough to do anything cool though. A great way to enjoy my last trip to this beach!

After air drying, I walked back to TJ’s house where I finished packing.

Work Lunch

TJ drove me to TJ’s work where we agreed to meet for lunch. He gave me a brief tour of his office area, which was cool. But I was a little weirded out because I almost had a work trip this week to those very same offices! :-X

TJ had us eat at a gas station fast food joint for some delicious schwarma pitas. One last time before leaving. Mmm.

And then both TJ and TJ took me to the airport.

Airport

Now…prior to this trip…I was mentally prepared for extra security measures. Especially since missiles were a thang just the other day. But…nope. No questioning at the gate. No bomb detector scans. Pretty easy.

They dropped me off at Departures at Ben Gurion airport, and we said our goodbyes. Knowing that they’re coming home to Texas soon and that they’ll be staying in Israel an extra year, I knew that this goodbye was only temporary.

Once inside, I realized I couldn’t check in. My next flight was British Airways, and the counter apparently doesn’t open until 3 hours before departure. I got there 4 hours before. Whoops. I stood around and sat around watching people. Perhaps the most interesting thing was seeing soooo many tour/pilgrimage groups pass through the departure lobby. Also, there was a camera crew focused on a small group of people. I think they were probably TV stars or something.

Now…my concern for security measures had me prepared for more intense stuff than I’ve experienced before.

Before checking in at the counter, I was questioned about my trip to Israel including where I stayed and where I went. No problems. The security line took a little while because they manually hand check each bag before sending them through the scanner. No problems there either.

Because of one of my credit cards granting me access to Priority Pass lounges, I utilized that benefit at one of the DAN Lounges. I ate some snacks and had an espresso. My goal was to stay up for the remainder of the day to make it easier to sleep in London later.

The lounge filled up by the time I left to go to my gate.

I had a normal 4.5 hour flight to London. I watched X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Toy Story 4. Food was decent. The Spanish woman in front of me kept pushing her pillow back towards me, falling into my lap. Had to return it to her multiple times, lol.

My only complaint is that…I didn’t select an aisle seat (or rather, the system assigned me a window seat). And neither of the gentlemen in my row really got up. Needless to say, when I arrived in London, it was a relief. Hah.

London Heathrow

Let me preface this section by saying…in an effort to save money, I did not book a hotel room for tonight despite having a 16-hour layover. Therefore, I knew I would be spending a night at the airport.

From my previous experience at Heathrow, I know that transferring between terminals can be a struggle especially with a tight connection. However, I had 16 hours to work with!

I landed at Terminal 5, and I had to transfer to Terminal 3. I took the bus, and that was a short 10-15 minute ride.

In passing through security at Terminal 3, I was reminded again how strict Heathrow is about keeping only one bag of liquids. I had to throw away my second bag with a handful of extra toiletries. Luckily, I sort of anticipated this, and I made sure I hung onto the necessary toiletries I needed.

Once through security, I beelined to Club Aspire, which is another Priority Pass lounge.

When I checked in, I must have activated the supervisor’s Filipino radar because, afterwards, she asked me if I was Filipino. I said yes, and she offered me arroz caldo, a Filipino rice and chicken porridge. Of course I said yes to that too!

I come to find out that Club Aspire is the designated Philippine Airlines lounge prior to the departure of that flight. Apparently they had leftovers of that food. Score!

In the lounge, I ate and drank and blogged.

I pretty much closed the lounge down at 10PM as the employees started vacuuming, and I was the last passenger to leave. The supervisor invited me to have breakfast in the morning…but I had other plans…

Once I left Club Aspire, I knew I would have to find a place to camp out overnight. Long story short…they consolidate any passengers still in Terminal 3 to Gate 7 and pretty much quarantine everyone there until the airport reopens at 4AM.

Overnight, I blogged and played Pokemon Go on my phone (the gate had a Pokestop! lol). I also attempted 2 or 3 times to take a nap. I’m not sure that I actually fell asleep much.

All in all…I survived it. And I knew it would all be worth it because I planned on a much more luxe lounge experience in the morning.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $562.88 (+$14)

• ~$14 for lunch back in Israel
• No further costs incurred! Food/drink taken care of by lounges and flight

Total Travel Time For Return So Far = 17 hours

• 4 hours at TLV (waiting, check-in, security, lounge)
• 4.5 hour British Airways flight (TLV -> LHR)
• 8.5 hours at LHR (7:30PM landing, transfer, security, lounge, gate, and 4:00AM waking)

What would you do on an overnight layover?

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
• Day 4: Up In the North
• Day 5: A Day At the Beach
• Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
• Prev> Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
• Next> Day 9: A Fly Way To End It

The post Israel 2019 – Day 8, One Last Time Before Leaving appeared first on Pilgrim for Less.

Apparently yesterday’s missiles ended at some point, and a cease fire occurred overnight. But the jihadists started firing some more in the morning.

We intended to go down to Masada and the Dead Sea today. But because of having to drive around the West Bank, the route would have put us uncomfortably close to where they were shooting missiles from in the Gaza Strip. 

Yeah…so…the backup plan was to head back up north to avoid any missiles.

Caesarea

The city of Caesarea lies about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa. TJ have been here multiple times before, and they figured it would be cool to show me.

As I learned from visiting the onsite museum, Caesarea was a major port city built by King Herod to impress the Romans. At the height of his reign, Caesarea featured a hippodrome, a Roman temple, his palace, amphitheater, and a cutting-edge-for-its time harbor.

But over the years, Caesarea fell under the rule of the Byzantines, Crusaders and Muslims. You can still experience all of their influences on the site.

These days, you can walk the ruins of old Caesarea. There are shops, restaurants, and even diving opportunities in the old harbor. TJ and I spent a while here because the grounds are rather big.

We finished off our visit with lunch at one of the restaurants on site. It was delicious, and it overlooked into the old harbor.

Bird Mosaic Mansion and Aqueduct

On our way out, TJ wanted to show me the main Roman aqueduct near the ruins of old Caesarea. We missed a turn, but saw signs for a “bird mosaic”.

When we climbed up a small hill to see what this “bird mosaic” was, it turned out to be the ruins of an old mansion with a largely preserved floor full of bird mosaic images. Pretty cool.

Once we read about it on the sign and took some pictures, we went over to the aqueduct.

Of course, everyone knows that the ancient Roman empire was good at making aqueducts to transport water. And I found it to be cool that even here in Israel, they have done the same.

I joked to myself, “why travel alllll the way to Italy to experience Roman aqueducts when you can go to Israel???” Haha.

We didn’t stick around at the aqueduct for too long. I did make a mental note that this particular aqueduct ends at a pretty nice beach so I think a future road/beach trip is necessary in Caesarea.

Stella Maris Monastery

After visiting Caesarea, we headed further north to Haifa. The goal was to go visit the Stella Maris Monastery.

Now, Haifa is in the vicinity of the foot of Mt. Carmel. And Mt. Carmel is famous for St. Simon Stock, the Carmelite religious order, and the brown scapular.

Stella Maris Monastery belongs to a Discalced Carmelite order, and is considered as the focal point for Carmelite spirituality throughout the world. It is located on a tall hill in Haifa.

We parked and visited the monastery mid-afternoon. A Spanish tour group arrived at about the same time we did, and they occupied the church when we went in. We spent some time praying in the church.

I haven’t confirmed this completely, but inside the church is a cave-looking area underneath the altar. In the Old Testament, Elijah is said to have taken shelter in a cave, and supposedly this is that cave.

After visiting the church, we walked around on the outside to the different overlooks looking over Haifa and the Mediterranean Sea. Beautiful scenes, and we were there around sunset. I wish I had taken more pictures!

When the sun set, we headed back home.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $548.60 (+$36)

• Lunch was about $29 at Hazalbanim restaurant at Caesarea
• Bought a few things at Caesarea gift shop for about $7

Thoughts

Going through some of the museum and video presentations at Caesarea really illustrated how the Holy Land has a complicated history because of all the different empires and peoples that have settled here. I know initial thoughts of the Holy Land usually connotes the Jewish and Christian heritage it has. So, it was cool seeing how the different empires affect the same place in Caesarea.

Does history or religious significance interest you more for pilgrimages?

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
• Day 4: Up In the North
• Day 5: A Day At the Beach
• Prev> Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
• Next> Day 8: One Last Time Before Leaving
• Day 9: A Fly Way To End It

The post Israel 2019 – Day 7, Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today appeared first on Pilgrim for Less.

This is the day that Islamic Jihadists fired missiles at Israel from the Gaza Strip. That changed some plans for today.

To start off the day, I had coffee with TJ before he went off to work. My game plan was to go for a run and run to Apollonia, which is an old Crusader fort and Phoenician town about 1.5 miles away from TJ’s house. 

Around 7:30AM, TJ calls home from work and told us to put on the news.

The long story short is… Israel killed a major Jihadist leader early in the morning with a precision air strike. This caused the Jihadists to retaliate by firing a barrage of missiles targeting different areas of southern Israel throughout the morning. Thankfully, Israel’s missile defense system, the “Iron Dome”, proved pretty effective at stopping incoming missiles from actually hitting their targets.

Our original game plan was for TJ to show me Tel Aviv and Jaffa, especially some of the markets and churches she frequents. But since missiles were targeting those areas, we opted not to go.

I still wanted to go to Apollonia, and hence I still went for a run. Because we were trying to stay on top of the missile news for a little bit, I ended up leaving later in the morning. This made for a rather warm run.

Apollonia

Back in the day, Apollonia was a small, decent-sized town at a cliff edge by the sea. It had a bit of a rough history as inhabitants exchanged a few times depending on who ruled at the time. The last major thing that happened to Apollonia was during the Crusades when Crusaders fortified the town. The Muslims laid siege to the city for 40 days before it fell.

These days, you can see the dry moat and remnants of the fort and fortified city. It’s not that big of a place, so I only spent about an hour here. 

To get back to TJ’s house, I opted to go walk the beach. Awkwardly, I missed the stairs to go down towards the beach, and ended up in a mosque’s cemetery. Whoops!

When I returned, TJ and I went to grab a quick bite at the nearby strip mall and one of the cafes.

Bomb Shelter Prep

TJ has a shelter in their rental house. They’ve been primarily using it as storage both for themselves and for the landlord. Because of all the missile threats, TJ thought it would be a good idea to at least begin to prep the shelter to make it habitable if necessary.

I helped TJ clear some of it out to wipe it down, dust it, and vacuum it. And that took the better part of the late morning and early afternoon.

TJ came home early from work. They were released early because of the missile threat and to avoid traffic.

Being Social Despite Being Sheltered

At about mid-afternoon, we went next door so that TJ could introduce me to their Filipina neighbor. We sat and chatted for a little while. It was cool hearing other perspectives on what it’s like living in Israel.

In the evening, we ventured out to grab dinner at a local favorite cafe. And after dinner, we had game night! I learned how to play Farkle and King’s Corner for the first time ^_^

During the games, we talked about possibly going to Masada/Dead Sea tomorrow depending on the missile situation. And TJ was planning on taking off work.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $527.24

Again, splitting the cost of lunch and dinner at ~$7 and ~$20 respectively.

Lessons Learned

Israel has some hostile neighbors (or rather…neighbors who host hostiles). No wonder the country’s security measures seem pretty extreme. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has a mobile app that I downloaded in order to receive warnings and notifications of missiles so that people have a chance to take cover. For us in north Tel Aviv, the average time between sirens going off and impact is about 1.5 minutes.Thankfully, I didn’t receive anything, but the news continued to report more missile firings. While missile threats are perhaps constant, it is good to know when to actually care. And where to go.

The app is called “Home Front Command” and is available in both the Google Play store and App Store.

What would you do when there are missiles flying overhead?

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
• Day 4: Up In the North
• Prev> Day 5: A Day At the Beach
• Next> Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
• Day 8: One Last Time Before Leaving
• Day 9: A Fly Way To End It

The post Israel 2019 – Day 6, Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia appeared first on Pilgrim for Less.

The past two days were CRAZY because we hit up a bunch of sites. For today, I figured some time for rest and recovery would be good.

Today illustrates a concept about how pilgrimages can be both spiritually edifying and travel-ly edifying too. Out there in the wild, when you search for pilgrimage packages, oftentimes these pilgrimages include touristy aspects (not just holy places).

An example would be visiting Rome and Vatican City as a pilgrim hitting up the major churches and basilicas. And then going into tourist or vacation mode checking out the Trevi Fountain and Colosseum out as well as doing what the Romans do.

For me? That’s basically what I planned on.

TJ lives north of Tel Aviv, and this part of Israel is known for its beaches.

As a reminder, “TJ” refers to my hosts, whereby both husband and wife’s initials are TJ. Confusing, but whatever.

I didn’t catch TJ going off to work, but I had breakfast and coffee with TJ. Their backyard was mighty inviting, so we hung out there.

After breakfast in the morning, TJ showed me around the neighborhood. She showed me a strip mall just a few blocks away that has a grocery store, butcher, produce market, some cafes, and she even introduced me to her hairdresser.

When we got to the beach, she basically dropped me off as she had some errands to take care of.

To start off, I walked up and down the beach to explore.

After doing that for a while, I decided to set up camp in a section of the beach that had less people.

Nothing really exciting here. I swam a little, laid out a little, read a little, prayed a little, Pokémon Go’d a little, journaled a little, and people-watched. I did this for several hours.

Closer to mid-afternoon, I decided I had enough and went to grab food at a local restaurant that serves breakfast all day. I wanted something light and ordered a delicious Greek salad that came with a basket of breads. And this marked the first time I grabbed food on my own in Israel.

I walked back to TJ’s house attempting not to get run over whilst playing Pokémon Go. When I arrived, I happenchanced upon arriving at the same time as some of the other expat wives. They were all running errands during the day, and TJ’s house was the next stop.

We sat and chatted a bit. One of the expat wives had just arrived in Israel not too long ago and is in transition for moving into their house. And that’s a whole ordeal. It was interesting hearing their adventures with getting that all straightened out and taken care of.

After they left, I showered and chilled until TJ came home from work. While we were waiting, TJ taught me about sea glass.

Apparently, a local glass factory got destroyed right by the sea and spilled a bunch of glass into the water. Over time, these glass shards effectively went through a tumbling process due to the waves and sand/rocks. This results in a hardened and smooth piece of glass. It’s a cool hobby and pastime for people to collect this sea glass. TJ was telling me and showing me the different ways you can display them.

TJ proposed that we go out to dinner then go see a movie. And that’s what we ended up doing.

We saw MIDWAY, a movie that shows how the Battle of Midway in World War II was won. I thought it was really cool because I’m rather intrigued by World War II events and stories.The only downside is that I couldn’t really read any of the English subtitles during the Japanese dialogue parts of the movie due to the Hebrew subtitle overlay. -shrugs- Guess I’ll have to watch it again!

The moviegoing experience in Israel is not that much different than the US. I will say though that McDonald’s has some hilarious and ridiculous commercials that they showed before the movie started.

After that, we sat around and talked a bit at home. Then bed time!

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $489.45

• Breakfast costed about $20
• Dinner costed about $20
• Movie ticket costed about $10

What do you like to do at the beach?

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
• Prev> Day 4: Up In the North
• Next> Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
• Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
• Day 8: One Last Time Before Leaving
• Day 9: A Fly Way To End It

The post Israel 2019 – Day 5, A Day At The Beach appeared first on Pilgrim for Less.

The goal for today’s adventures included going to the northern part of Israel to visit Mt. Tabor, Nazareth, and Capernaum.

The morning started off easy with prayer, shower, breakfast, and heading out the door at 9AM.

Unlike the day before, today was slower-paced.

Summarizing the entire road trip, we made some wrong turns and drove through some dusty Arab and Muslim towns. With it being Sunday, a normal workday for most in Israel, traffic and such was not an issue.

Mt. Tabor

From the Gospels, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up Mt. Tabor and revealed Himself in a glorious way in the Transfiguration. The Church of the Transfiguration atop Mt. Tabor now commemorates that particular moment.

Since we road trip’d here, we could drive our car up Mt. Tabor. It’s a bit of a scary drive because there’s a section of the mountain with many switchbacks on a steeper side of the mountain, and sometimes it looks like you’re going to easily fall off the edge. We had no problems though.

Once atop the Mt. Tabor, we slowly made our way to the front of the church. Lots of picturesque things to look at. We even checked out the lookout off to the side for a really great view.

Inside the church, we stopped and prayed for a little while. Some group was having a Spanish Mass in the main part of the church.

Off to either side of the main church are two little chapels dedicated to Elisha and Moses, who were also present at the Transfiguration.

On our way out from Mt. Tabor, we stopped at the on-site gift shop. I wasn’t intrigued by their offerings, but the gift shop also sells coffee.

After Mt. Tabor, we headed on our way to…

Nazareth

We arrived in Nazareth around lunch time. Therefore the first priority was to go grab some lunch. TJ recommended getting some sort of shawarma, and we settled on going to a place just down the street from the Church of the Annunciation.

Church of the Annunciation

After lunch, we made our way to the Church of the Annunciation. This is the church built over the place where the archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she will conceive Jesus, and she gave her fiat or “yes”. The current structure of the church is actually built over the ruins of the old church.

Our timing must’ve been quite right because when we entered the church, hardly anyone else was in the main space. Besides TJ and me, there must have been 2-3 others. In other words—no tour groups or pilgrim groups!

The result of not having people in the church is having a sense of peace and quiet—a stark contrast to yesterday’s visit to Bethlehem’s and Jerusalem’s holy sites.

Perhaps largely due to this time of peace and quiet, I really felt the profoundness of the site and what transpired here.

On the altar in the grotto (deep in the background of above pic) that marks the exact spot are words in Latin that say “The Word was made flesh here”. I contemplated this, and wow…I’m still shook by how awesome that is!

After praying in the main space, we went upstairs where there’s another space set up as a church, and a Korean Mass was going on.

We spent a little bit of time up here because Mass was going on, and to appreciate some of the paintings or mosaics of Mary on the walls.

The other cool aspect about the Church of the Annunciation are all the icons, paintings, and mosaics of Mary donated by different countries all over the complex. It’s really cool to see Mary depicted in different cultural expressions.

Church of St. Joseph

Next door to the Church of the Annunciation is St. Joseph’s church. This is where his house was, and likely where Jesus grew up in His formative years not talked about in the Bible. Underneath the church are ruins of what would have been St. Joseph’s workshop.

TJ and I did hang around for a moment in the church because there was an English Mass going on for a tour group. The priest was giving his homily, and we wanted to listen for a bit.

After visiting this church, we headed back to our car with a pit stop to grab some Arabic sweets and coffee.

Then we jetted off to…

Capernaum / Sea of Galilee

Not too far from Nazareth is the Sea of Galilee. The goal was to get to Capernaum before it closed and perhaps even catch the sunset.

Capernaum is known as the town of Jesus because of how much time He spent there. In the Gospels, it is mentioned how He often preached at the synagogue there.

The town is also where St. Peter is from! The main church in Capernaum is built right over St. Peter’s house.

When we first arrived, we pretty much headed straight towards the seafront because the sunset was quite lovely. We spent a while here taking pictures and enjoying the sunset.

On our way back to the car (it was near closing time), we spent some time looking at the ruins of St. Peter’s house and the synagogue.

Once finished, we made a last minute decision to try and see the nearby waterfall because TJ wanted to show it to me. Because it was getting dark, we didn’t actually go down to the level where you could see the waterfall, but rather at the top where you can only hear it, not see it, due to vegetation covering the area.

After the waterfall, we made another last minute decision to try and visit the Church of the Primacy of Peter, which was basically “next door” to the waterfall. Unfortunately, we arrived within a few minutes of it closing, and the Franciscan friars were already pushing everyone towards the gate.

Ah well.

Ending the Day

We drive the 2 hours back to TJ’s house. We stopped by a local pharmacy so that I could pick up some contact lens solution since I forgot to pack mine…

Then we grabbed dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant, and it was delicious.

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $443.93

We shared costs for lunch and dinner with my contributions at ~$7 and ~$34 respectively.

The contact lens solution cost me $10. For a 100 mL bottle??? Crazy! But…necessary…because I’m not usually a daily eyeglass wearer.

Lessons Learned

We used the Waze app to navigate to all these places. I guess Waze is pretty good at evading traffic if you set it prioritize avoiding traffic. However, there were a few times where we second guessed the directions Waze was giving us resulting in some wrong turns.

These holy sites do have hours, and it’s important to double check the times at which they close. Most seem to close around 5PM or so.

Same goes with Mass times. We had talked about maybe going to Mass this day, being Sunday, but thankfully we had gone yesterday to a Vigil Mass in Jerusalem. The nice thing about holy sites, especially ones that see a lot of tour groups…someone is bound to have a priest who says Mass for their group.

I don’t sweat forgetting to pack general toiletries—these are usually easy to pick up wherever I’m traveling to.

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Prev> Day 3: The Fastest and the Slowest
• Next> Day 5: A Day At the Beach
• Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
• Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
• Day 8: One Last Time Before Leaving
• Day 9: A Fly Way To End It

The post Israel 2019 – Day 4, Up In The North appeared first on Pilgrim for Less.

As you may know, I write down collected prayer intentions in a little blue notebook when I go on pilgrimages. It’s nice to have something tangible other than my iPhone when at different sites praying for others. You can read more here.

For this Israel 2019 pilgrimage, here’s where I’ve prayed with these prayer intentions so far, in chronological order.

Madrid

Catedral de Almudena

It was a struggle getting to this cathedral due to my subway adventures. Read more here.

Bethlehem

Church of the Nativity

The Church of the Nativity contains the spot where Jesus was born. I prayed right at that spot, pictured, and even touched the notebook to it.

And just a few steps away is the location of the manger. I prayed there too.

The circumstances getting here were crazy, resulting in fast tracking our way to the bottom level for the spot and manger locations.

Milk Grotto

Near the Church of the Nativity is the chapel of the Milk Grotto.

Supposedly this is a spot where the Virgin Mary nursed Jesus and a few drops of her milk fell to the ground.

This place has a lot of associated miracles for infertile couples who visit here. And while I did pray for everyone here, I most especially did so for my friends who I know struggle with infertility.

More info about the trip to Bethlehem here.

Jerusalem

Birth Place of the Virgin Mary

When we entered Old Jerusalem through the Lion Gate and Muslim Quarter, we saw off the main pathway this building labeled as the Virgin Mary’s birth place. I guess this is where St. Anne and St. Joachim, her parents, lived.

I said a quick prayer here since we were pressed for time.

Via Dolorosa

The pathway connecting the different events of Jesus’ Passion is known as the Via Dolorosa. Catholic devotees know this as the Stations of the Cross (or Way of the Cross).

In Jerusalem, the different stations are marked by Roman numerals and now also bronze depictions.

We started at Station I and kept going as went on our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This was hectic and crowded, making it hard to pray. But I tried doing some reflection at each station and praying for the intentions I carried with me.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

This is an insane church because it is literally a church that encompasses where Jesus was executed and buried.

I prayed at multiple places.

Chapel of the Apparition

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains a lot of chapels owned by different Christian groups. The Chapel of the Apparition is a Roman Catholic chapel honoring a tradition that Jesus appeared to His mother after the resurrection.

I prayed here while waiting for Mass. Also, the column in the niche on the right of the altar is said to be part of the column Jesus was tied to during His scourging.

The Holy Sepulchre

This is Jesus’ tomb. I wasn’t able to go inside because of long lines, and it almost being closing time.

But I still took a moment to pray for these intentions in front of the Sepulchre.

Anointing Slab

In Jewish custom, the body is prepared and anointed before burial. The slab that Jesus’ body was on for anointing is easily accessible for pilgrims, and I prayed here too. I even touched my notebook to the slab.

Golgotha

The hilltop where the three crosses were is also within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At the time I went, a Greek Orthodox group of men started evening prayers in the chapel.

While I couldn’t get too close to the monument and altar where the crosses stood, I at least was able to pray in the back.

Wailing Wall

The Wailing Wall is one of the last remaining walls of the Jewish Temple, and many Jews make a pilgrimage here to pray.

I did the same… but moreso for the prayer intentions I carried with me.

Yes, I did go up and touched the actual wall. Couldn’t take pictures there though out of respect.

I visited Jerusalem after visiting Bethlehem, and it made for a crazy day. Read more here.

Mount Tabor

At the top of Mt. Tabor is the Church of the Transfiguration, which commemorates the Transfiguration of Christ where He led Peter, James, and John up Mt. Tabor to reveal Himself in this way. And Moses and Elijah too.

Prayed here, too.

Nazareth

In Nazareth, pilgrims can visit the Church of the Annunciation, which is built on the location of where the archangel, Gabriel, announced that Mary will conceive Jesus.

So far, this was the most moving site for me. I think it is largely because at the time that I was in this church, my hosts and I were one of the only few people inside this space at the time. It created a conducive environment to really reflect on the fact that Jesus became flesh and blood here in this spot. I spent a longer time praying here, especially for your intentions.

Capernaum

Billed as the town of Jesus, Capernaum is where Jesus spent a lot of time. It is located at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, and it is also the hometown of St. Peter.

Sea of Galilee

Capernaum has a nice view of the Sea. And we arrived there with the sun going down. A really peaceful and beautiful time to pray, especially for the intentions I carried with me.

The Synagogue of Capernaum

Almost right next to St. Peter’s house, the synagogue where Jesus did a lot of preaching still stands as ruins. One of my fav ones is the Bread of Life discourse in John 6.

Knowing that made this brief time of prayer extra special.

Today’s adventures in the northern part of Israel can be read about here.

Haifa

Stella Maris Monastery

With the jihadists firing multiple salvos of missiles in southern Israel, some plans to visit southern areas of Israel were obviously not carried out. Instead, we headed up north. After spending some time in Caesarea, we finished out the day in Haifa at the Stella Maris Monastery.

This monastery is built on top of the cave where Elijah hid while out in the wilderness. I recently read that there’s another cave on Mt. Carmel nearby that’s also purportedly the cave.

Either way…I prayed in the church in monastery for the prayer intentions I carried with me.

Read more about today’s adventures here.

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The post Israel 2019 – Where I’ve Prayed appeared first on Pilgrim for Less.

This was a really cool, but really kind of insane day. Bethlehem and Jerusalem were on the agenda.

To Jerusalem! …Kind of

I was pretty tired from the night before having arrived late at night and then staying up a little more. We had breakfast at 8AM and headed out the door at 9AM.

In previous trips to Jerusalem, TJ likes to park at Mamila Mall near the Jaffa Gate of Old Jerusalem. Lots of paid parking available. We parked there, then walked over to the bus station at the Damascus Gate.

I let TJ know that it hasn’t quite hit me that I’m here in Jerusalem. And that it would probably hit me later.

Once at the bus station, we found Bus #231, which directly goes to Bethlehem. Tickets are only 7 shekels. At about 10:30AM, we departed.

To Bethlehem, actually!

On the bus ride, we talked and struck up a conversation with a German man standing near us on the bus. He was doing a solo pilgrimage, which was impressive since he looked to be older.

The entire bus ride took about 30-40 minutes, and we arrived in Bethlehem. TJ has a contact from Bethlehem that the other expatriates they know use named Nabil. He owns the Christmas House souvenir shop off Manger Square in Bethlehem. After leaving the bus, he met with us, and we hop into his car to drive over to Manger Square.

During the car ride, he was yelling at other drivers for foolish maneuvers and decisions. And he was also being a tour guide of sorts giving us fun facts like… no new roads or bridges can be made in Bethlehem. Even though it kind of needs it badly in some places in order alleviate traffic.

In Which Nabil Is Exceedingly Clutch

So…Nabil seems to know everyone including guards and tour operators and guides. When we neared Manger Square, he got the guards to open up blocked areas so we could pass through. And another guard to let us park in a blocked area just in front of the Church of the Nativity. Turns out he’s buddies with these guards. Even had one of them for a drink at his house just the other night. Go figure.

Nabil hooked us up with a particular tour guide…and this tour guide, OH MY GOSH, somehow did the impossible.

Church of the Nativity

The Church of the Nativity is a church dedicated to the spot where Jesus was born. It is a large church built over the cave where Mary and Joseph stopped at when they couldn’t find room at the inn.

Our tour guide, named Issa (which apparently is “Jesus” in another language), got us through the front door. He pointed out that there have been three front doors built over the centuries that progressively got smaller.

Once inside…after some few minutes of talking and negotiating with the attendants inside the church…we literally cut in front of thousands of people waiting in line to go to the crypt level of the Church where the place of Jesus’ birth is.

WOW. It was crowded in there.

Because Issa brought us through the exit, I was able to sneak in-between some of the other pilgrims and touch the spot where Jesus was born and pray for the intentions I carried with me (where everyone is focusing on in the picture, but it’s on the ground).

Across the way, off to the right in the picture, is where the manger was. They have a little alcove/side room dedicated to it. I think the actual manger is in St. Mary Major in Rome currently.

Anyway—this all happened really fast and just as fast as we got in, we were out of there, too. Back on the main level, we went out the normal exit passing by a church full of pilgrims.

I felt kind of bad because we basically cut all these people in line. Umm…oh well.

Another fun fact is…you see those pictures on the wall on the right side under the windows? These are frescoes from old church that have been uncovered. We were told that they recently uncovered them and this is the first time they have been on display. That’s pretty cool.

After the Church of Nativity, we headed to Nabil’s shop across the street. Basically.

Christmas House

So Nabil’s family has owned the Christmas House specializing in handmade olive wood goods especially related to the Nativity…for multiple generations. It’s right of Manger Square, and it has a wide and varied selection of religious gifts and items. And Dead Sea beauty products, because of course.

After window shopping here, Nabil brought us over to the workshop where they make most of the olive wood carvings. It was neat to see how manual of a process it is, and to have the process briefly summarized for us.

We didn’t stick around for too long because we headed to…

Milk Grotto

The Milk Grotto is a grotto and chapel dedicated to a spot where the Virgin Mary supposedly had dropped some milk while nursing the infant Jesus.

Many miracles for infertile couples are associated with the grotto. I wanted to stop and pray here as a goal for this pilgrimage because I have friends that suffer with infertility.

Because it’s not as widely known, we didn’t encounter many tour groups inside.

A convent next door has a perpetual Adoration chapel attached to the grotto, and we spent a few moments praying there.

Once done at the Milk Grotto…we returned to the Christmas House workshop.

Actual Shopping

TJ and I picked up a few things at the workshop. And Nabil’s brother runs the workshop so he hooked us up with some cold drinks and the ability to bag up what we wanted here to be rung up at the main Christmas House.

We walked back there…and did more shopping. Then paid for our goods.

Nabil drove us back to the bus station, and we took #231 back to Jerusalem.

I caught this picture of a Popeyes that recently opened in Bethlehem, and Nabil mentioned that he likes it way better than the KFC in town. I’m just surprised that a Louisiana-based fried chicken chain has made it to Bethlehem!

To Jerusalem! …but for real!

We returned back to the Damascus Gate. Ate lunch. Walked down to the Lion Gate to see the Kidron Valley and Garden of Gethsemane across the way. We then entered the Old City through the Muslim Quarter in order to pick up the start of the Via Dolorosa or Stations of the Cross/Way of the Cross.

The goal was to participate in the Franciscan procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 4PM. We got started with the Via Dolorsa at about 2:30PM.

Using a map, and entering in some churches along the way, we followed the Via Dolorosa.

TJ told me that they seemed to have added new bronze sculptures depicting each of the stations, which weren’t there a few months ago. Previously, only Roman numerals denoted the location of the stations.

Getting closer to 4PM, we started encountering crowds trying to get to the Holy Sepulchre.

Today’s Major Struggle

We finally make it to the square in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but it was filled with pilgrims and tour groups. They actually didn’t let us in because some minutes before 4PM, the Greek Orthodox patriarch or some other bishop walks out.

I was standing shoulder to shoulder with …everyone. But finally they opened up the inside allowing us to start heading inside.

I literally got squeezed through a bunch of people!

Once inside…TJ was quite anxious because they know that 4PM is usually when the procession starts, and we were nowhere near the meeting point because many people blocked the way. We tried going around a back way, but were stopped because…

An Armenian procession was under way, and they were blocking areas to let that procession pass.

Long story short, the procession we were trying to get to happened in the morning, and we didn’t know. So we missed it.

We decided to hang around in the Holy Sepulchre to catch a Mass, and we caught wind of a pilgrim group having an English Mass at the Chapel of the Apparition (a Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to the tradition of when Jesus appeared to His mother after the Resurrection).

Because Mass didn’t start for 45 minutes or so…we had some time to sit in the chapel.

However, at 5PM no Mass started in the Chapel!

We figured out at 5:05PM that the group was actually having Mass at the altar just outside of the Chapel! We headed out there to join them.

It was really hard to hear with the huge crowds in the background.

The part that really stood out to me about this Mass was the fact that…we’re having Mass JUST STEPS AWAY FROM JESUS’ TOMB!!! (You can see the structure of the Sepulchre in the background behind the columns). That’s freakin’ wild.

Mass ended, and we then headed over to…the other chapels in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

So…in case you didn’t know, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church built over where Jesus was jailed, executed, and buried. And they have chapels dedicated to these particular scenes (or for you Catholic devotees—the different stations, but ACTUAL).

I got to see the slab that Jesus was anointed on in preparation for burial, and we also stopped in front of the Sepulchre to pray a little bit. We tried visiting the spot where Jesus was hung on a cross, but they closed down that chapel for some Greek Orthodox to come in and do evening prayers.

After all this, we headed out towards the…

The Wailing Wall

I claim much ignorance, but I don’t know much about the Wall other than it’s the remaining part of the Jewish Temple that they have access to.

TJ and I went on the men’s side to go up to the wall, and it was really cool to see many of the Jewish men dressed traditionally and praying constantly. We had some moments of silent prayer at the wall.

And…I’m sure it looks pretty cool during the day, but I thought it looked pretty cool at night when we went.

Whew…after Wailing Wall, we started heading back to our car.

But before going home, we ate dinner and dessert!

Near the Jaffa Gate is Mamila Mall, and TJ wanted us to eat here before heading back home. For dinner, we ate at Cafe Rimon where I had a garlic calzone, salad, and beer.

For dessert, we stopped at Rondalia for cake and coffee.

All very delicious, and good way to end the day.

Then…we drove home.

A Few Thoughts

So Bethlehem was fast and furious. And Jerusalem was super slow with all the waiting around.

Honestly, as freakin’ amazing it is to be at these places and sites related to Jesus…it was hard to take a moment and reflect on what I just experienced. I’m hoping that I’ll get to contemplate that more in the coming days, after the fact.

I’m also really grateful that we caught that Mass. And just typing about it just now made me realize that…we would NOT have caught that Mass had everything leading up to it had not happened with all its fast and slow happenings. Wow, crazy. Well played, God, well played. I guess You really wanted us at that Mass!

Current Stats

Total Cost So Far = $393.96 (+$160)

• $57 on gifts at Christmas House
• ~$103 for dinner for all three of us

Lessons Learned

TJ kept saying, and even the priests and brothers at the Holy Sepulchre, that today was the busiest they have ever seen it. And I have no baseline to compare…so…sure, it seemed really busy. But I think the lesson learned here is that Saturdays may not be a good day to go. A brother mentioned to us that Mondays are pretty good.

The Franciscan procession we attempted at going at has been happening daily for hundreds of years. But we didn’t know they changed it to the morning. The lesson learned here is to find a way to verify and check the time for it before attempting to participate.

Which do you prefer—see many things in a short amount of time or see a few things for a longer amount of time?

Navigate to other days:

• Day 0: Preparations and Initial Thoughts
• Day 1: Going MAD
• Prev> Day 2: Subway Struggling in Madrid
• Next> Day 4: Up In the North
• Day 5: A Day At the Beach
• Day 6: Avoiding Missiles and Apollonia
• Day 7: Let’s Avoid More Missiles Today
• Day 8: One Last Time Before Leaving
• Day 9: A Fly Way To End It

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