Planning for Rome to Jerusalem

[BobM]

Next year I want to walk from Rome to Bari (or maybe Brindisi), travel by sea to Akko (Acre) in Israel, then walk to Jerusalem.

I am looking for practical planning information, mainly on the Israel leg. I can probably find what I need for the Italian leg with the help of pilgrim associations like the AIVF.

I have scanned most of the topics here and also assorted blogs, but nothing I have found so far has what I am looking for (mainly routes daily stages and distances).

Can anyone give me a few leads on Israel, please?

Bob

 

[lovingkindness]

hi, Bob. The Israeli National Trail and the trails arround Galillee are superb. In Italy, after hiking from Assisi to Rome along Il Camino di San Francesco, I backtracked and picked up the trail from Pogio Bustone to Mont Sant Angelo, 500 kms through the mountains. Whilst there is a guide book from Rieti to Mont St A. the accommodation suggestions were out of date and signing at times confused or non existant. From Mont Sant Angelo I walked the beach and coastal roads to Bari. It was isolated and beautiful. Walking the beach was not recommended by locals.

http://www.israeltrail.net/
http://jesustrail.com/

 

[BobM]

hi, Bob. The Israeli National Trail and the trails arround Galillee are superb. In Italy, after hiking from Assisi to Rome along Il Camino di San Francesco, I backtracked and picked up the trail from Pogio Bustone to Mont Sant Angelo, 500 kms through the mountains. Whilst there is a guide book from Rieti to Mont St A. the accommodation suggestions were out of date and signing at times confused or non existant. From Mont Sant Angelo I walked the beach and coastal roads to Bari. It was isolated and beautiful but not recommended by locals.

Thanks for the info. I am hoping to start in Rome in August. I have found this site with info on stages to Bari and Brindisi:
http://www.viefrancigenedelsud.it/it/resource/statictrack/category/francigena-del-sud/ It looks Ok for planning purposes, but ideally I would like to find a guidebook. Italian would be OK. I asked the AIVF, they are helpful but their focus is on the VF. I would really welcome any leads you can give me.

Israel looks quite Ok from a planning point of view. Jacob Saar's guidebook is highly recommended. I have found a good site on the INT. There is also a discussion forum that I have joined but have not posted any questions yet.

My initial idea was to get a ship from Greece or Cyprus to Haifa, but that seems difficult or impossible at the moment. The one scheduled service from Cyprus has been discontinued apparently. So my thinking now is to take a ship Bari - Pireaus, then fly to Ben Gurion and travel by train/bus to join the INT near Haifa. That's a real time-wasting pain. Maybe Lebanon is a possible start point, but all the current dramas in Syria etc may make the crossing into Israel difficult.

Have you walked in Israel? I assume so based on your comments. How did you join the INT?

Bob M

 

[giorgio]

Hallo Bob , here you have a thread in the italian pilgrim's forum Pellegrini per sempre (pilgrims forevere) where a fellow is showing his walk from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca (the tip of the heel of the italian boot).....
Hope it helps....let me know if you need help
http://www.pellegrinipersempre.it/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=9977
Ciao

 

[lovingkindness]

...
My initial idea was to get a ship from Greece or Cyprus to Haifa, but that seems difficult or impossible at the moment....Have you walked in Israel? I assume so based on your comments. How did you join the INT?

Bob M

Hi, Bob. Yes, I hiked from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem along the INT for 5 days then for three weeks I followed trails arround Gallilee. I wanted to hike the entire country and other places, too. If you want to hike for a few months in Israel you,ll need a credit card and/or lots of cash. I had neither which is why Customs allowed me just 4 weeks....

From Bari I took a ferry to Patras and hiked the E4 trail from Aigio to Gythio. By the time I reached Crete it was snowing in the high mountains. I walked from village to village along mountain roads mirroring the E4 descending to the beach and coastal roads after a blizzard. I flew from Chania via Athens to Tel Aviv.

Maps: Anavasi Editions (Peleponese) & (Crete)

http://e4-peloponnese.gr/en/e4-book

 

[BobM]

................. walk from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca (the tip of the heel of the italian boot).....
Hope it helps....let me know if you need helphttp://www.pellegrinipersempre.it/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=9977
Ciao

Thanks Giorgio. Much appreciated. BTW, I hope you had an enjoyable summer of walking.

I would really like to find a guidebook (or an accommodation list) for Rome - Bari. English, French, Spanish, Italian would all work for me. Well.... sort of.

Walking to Jerusalem will be quite a different challenge. I assume there will be very few pilgrims walking from Rome to Bari, unlike the wonderful walk from Vercelli to Rome - a very special experience for me.

I am still undecided how to get from Bari to Israel. I don't have time (a convenient excuse!) to walk across Greece and Turkey, so I may go by ship from Bari to Piraeus and fly to Tel Aviv.

The Israel National Trail (INT) has a lot of support, so I am quite happy with that sector.

I am following Dominique's walk to Jerusalem and I hope I will get some more information when she confronts getting to Israel from Turkey in a couple of months.
http://domigee.blog.co.uk/

Regards

Bob M

 

[BobM]

Hi, Bob. Yes, I hiked from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem along the INT for 5 days then for three weeks I followed trails arround Gallilee. .......From Bari I took a ferry to Patras and hiked the E4 trail from Aigio to Gythio. By the time I reached Crete it was snowing in the high mountains. I walked from village to village along mountain roads mirroring the E4 descending to the beach and coastal roads after a blizzard. I flew from Chania via Athens to Tel Aviv.http://e4-peloponnese.gr/en/e4-book

Thx. I will check out your routes on a map. My mental maps of this part of the world are pretty sketchy.

I am soaking up all information at the moment. Hopefully inspiration will strike.

Regards

Bob M

 

[giorgio]

Hallo Bob , hope everything is all right on the other side of the world...
Guess this could help you out on the italian leg to Brindisi. Have a look
http://libri.terre.it/libri/collana/0/libro/320/La-Via-Francigena-del-Sud

 

[domigee]

Thanks Giorgio. Much appreciated. BTW, I hope you had an enjoyable summer of walking.

I would really like to find a guidebook (or an accommodation list) for Rome - Bari. English, French, Spanish, Italian would all work for me. Well.... sort of.

Walking to Jerusalem will be quite a different challenge. I assume there will be very few pilgrims walking from Rome to Bari, unlike the wonderful walk from Vercelli to Rome - a very special experience for me.

I am still undecided how to get from Bari to Israel. I don't have time (a convenient excuse!) to walk across Greece and Turkey, so I may go by ship from Bari to Piraeus and fly to Tel Aviv.

The Israel National Trail (INT) has a lot of support, so I am quite happy with that sector.

I am following Dominique's walk to Jerusalem and I hope I will get some more information when she confronts getting to Israel from Turkey in a couple of months.
http://domigee.blog.co.uk/

Regards

Bob M

Hi Bob!
Not doing too well walking in Turkey!
I feel such a wuss but...
Couldn't find a way to do it
The guy I'm walking with is younger and fitter but there 's still no way he could have done it. Besides, neither of us see this as an endurance test. So there we are. Took a bus from Edirne to Istanbul and next is a train journey Istanbul/Ankara. Not quite what we had planned but hey...
Will keep you informed.
Dominique

 

[BobM]

Hi Bob!
Not doing too well walking in Turkey! . Took a bus from Edirne to Istanbul and next is a train journey Istanbul/Ankara. Will keep you informed.
Dominique

Hi Dominique. I admire so much what you are doing. You are certainly not a wuss.
Good luck getting to Israel.

Bob M

 

[BobM]

I have just read "Hike the Land of Israel" by Jacob Saar & Yagil Henkin. It will be my bible for the Israel leg of my walk to Jerusalem starting in March 2015.
The book covers both the Israel National Trail and the Jerusalem Trail. It has navigation instructions, a very good accommodation guide and 1:50,000 Survey of Israel maps.
Pilgrims have a wonderful choice of longer and shorter walks in the book.

Are there any decent guides for pilgrimage routes in Greece and Turkey?

Bob M

 

[Kiwi-family]

http://www.trekkinginturkey.com/shop/books/

 

[domigee]

Hi Bob,
We were going to follow the same itinerary as Brandon Wilson
https://www.facebook.com/TemplarTrail

Oh another thing Bob, do you know this forum ?https://www.facebook.com/groups/ConfraternityOfPilgrimstoJerusalem/
Apologies if you do already.

 

[BobM]

Hi Bob,
We were going to follow the same itinerary as Brandon Wilson
https://www.facebook.com/TemplarTrail

Oh another thing Bob, do you know this forum ?https://www.facebook.com/groups/ConfraternityOfPilgrimstoJerusalem/
Apologies if you do already.

Sorry for the late reply. For some reason I have not been getting email notifications of new posts in this thread.

Anyway, don't fall off your chair, but I think I am the only person on the planet who does not have a Facebook page (I do have a TV and phone - and a car, so I am not totally anti-tech) so I can't view those weblinks.

But I need some advice re Israel. How long did it take you to walk from Tel Aviv/Ben Gurion airport to Jerusalem?

I have changed my ideas, and timings are tight now. My plan (if you can call random thoughts plans) is to walk Rome-Bari (23 days); take an overnight ferry to Patras; walk Patras-Athens (about 9 days according to Google Maps); fly Athens-Ben Gurion airport; walk to Jerusalem. So the last leg is the critical bit to suit my flight home.

Xmas Wishes

Bob M

 

[domigee]

Hi Bob!
We arrived at Ben-Gurion airport late evening so we took a train to the centre of Tel-Aviv, it's about 20 km. If you don't want to stay in Tel-Aviv and need to save time, you could start walking from the airport, depending on the time of your arrival and your degree of tiredness? Or spend the night in a hotel at the airport.
Anyway, we then had to walk back from Tel-Aviv to Assaf Harofe ( about 18 km). It's a big shopping complexe in the middle of nowhere, but has a hotel.
Next stop was Neve Shalom, 28 km. that day we joined up with the Israel National Trail, it's nice walking.
Then 23 km to Tzuba Kibbutz, a big kibbutz and nothing around but again, which provided a hotel.
Finally 14.5 km walk to Jerusalem.
So it took us 4 days because we took it easy. If you skip Tel-Aviv, it could take 3 days. And of course less if you're prepared to walk longer distances. We were pretty tired by then and felt the need to 'wind' down, I think.

Also be prepared, the prices in Israel are on a par with London prices, btw!

Ask away if I haven't answered everything and happy planning! (I'm quite envious and a bit sorry it is already all behind me. )

Dominique

 

[BobM]

Thanks, Dominique. Four days in Israel will work well. I have found a guidebook for the Via Francigena del Sud (Rome - Bari). So now I am now looking at stages and accommodation for Patras - Athens.

BTW. I fired up Google Maps and asked for walking directions from Patras to Athens. The directions (turn by turn, very detailed) are all on roads, not so nice, but it gives a good idea of distances and towns. You can see detailed maps as well. It is 209km and Google says you can walk it in 43 hours!

Google is quite useful to get a rough idea for a long walk before doing all the detailed planning.

The urge to do these long walks never goes away. I am not sure what you do next after Canterbury - Jerusalem. There are some nice pilgrim walks in Ireland. I think you can walk from an old monastery south of Dublin (I forget the name) all the way to Croagh Patrick in the northwest, finishing with a climb of the mountain. Then there is the famous 88 Temple walk in Japan.

Best wishes

Bob M

 

[John R McLean]

Hi Bob, just stumbled on this thread. Forgive me if its been posted but did you end up completing the Pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem? Very curious as I'm in the midst of planning my retirement Pilgrimage from Iona in Scotland to Rome and looking at options that will require Schengen compliance from Rome. I have on my list of options Jerusalem. Very intriguing!

 

[BobM]

Hi Bob, just stumbled on this thread. Forgive me if its been posted but did you end up completing the Pilgrimage from Rome to Jerusalem? . . . . . . Very curious as I'm in the midst of planning my retirement Pilgrimage from Iona in Scotland to Rome intriguing!

Hi John

I have not done the final leg in Israel yet, but I hope to walk from Ashdod to Jerusalem in September this year.

Here is the background.

In 2016 I walked the Via Francigena nel Sud from Rome to Bari, hoping to continue to Albania and pick up the Via Egnatia to Istanbul. But I had to stop in Bari because I was finding it difficult and my progress was to slow.

If you search for 'bobm' on the forum you should find a day by day account of that walk. Let me know if you can't find it and I will ferret the link out for you.

But Jerusalem still nags at me and I have to do that final leg from Italy - I don't have the time to plod all the way to Istanbul and then figure out how to get to Israel. I am no longer a beardless youth of 21, alas!

Last year I walked for a week on the Jakobsweg in Austria and left an account in the forum. That was a wonderful walk and rekindled my desire to get to Jerusalem if I can do it with a minimum load. Some people walk the Via Francigena from the UK to Besancon in France and then pick up Jakobsweg to Hungary(?) and then the Sultans Way (I think) from Hungary through the Balkans (?) to Istanbul. A poster in this forum (domigee) walked that route with a friend a couple of years ago. If she happens to see this post she might be able to give you more information on her walk (actually a very impressive epic hike).

Anyway, that is probably enough for the moment, except to say how impressed I am with your idea to walk from Iona to Rome.

It's probably best for me to respond to any questions you have.

Very best wishes

Bob M

 

[John R McLean]

Thanks so much for the info. At this point with the Schengen restrictions, I know I can get to Rome from Calais easily within the 90 days so one option would be to fly from Rome to Tel Aviv then do the INT. I have however mapped out Rome to Turkey to do the Lycian Way but getting to Jerusalem on this route seems a bit impossible in the current political climate and unrest in Syria etc.
Cheers!
John

 

[BobM]

. . . I know I can get to Rome from Calais easily within the 90 days so one option would be to fly from Rome to Tel Aviv then do the INT. . . the Lycian Way but getting to Jerusalem on this route seems a bit impossible . . .

Last year I looked at joining the INT near Tel Aviv and crossing onto the Jerusalem Trail for the final couple of stages into Jerusalem. It's quite doable and Jacob Saar's guidebook and maps to the INT is invaluable. One problem is finding accommodation close to your route and preferred stage distances (20-25km max for me) and also taking into account Shabat restrictions for Friday/Saturdays. There is a good user forum for the INT that you could find by googling.

If you get to southern Turkey, it is basically impossible to go overland to Lebanon and into Israel. You can go across to Cyprus, walk across the Island and try to pick up a freighter/cruise ship going to Israel, but others who have looked into that say it is rarely possible.

Actually, later this year I plan to take a regular weekly freighter from Monfalcone in north Italy to Asdod in Israel, then walking, basically along the main roads to Jerusalem. Too much hassle to go from Ashdod to Tel Aviv to join the INT. There are no convenient freighters from Bari or Brindisi to Israel. There are ferries that go to Patras and buses from there to Piraeus, where you might be able to join the freighter from Monfalcone (it calls at Piraeus) to get to Ashdod.

I am not an expert on Shengen restrictions, so I can't help there.

Hope this helps.

Bob M

 

[John R McLean]

Last year I looked at joining the INT near Tel Aviv and crossing onto the Jerusalem Trail for the final couple of stages into Jerusalem. It's quite doable and Jacob Saar's guidebook and maps to the INT is invaluable. One problem is finding accommodation close to your route and preferred stage distances (20-25km max for me) and also taking into account Shabat restrictions for Friday/Saturdays. There is a good user forum for the INT that you could find by googling.

If you get to southern Turkey, it is basically impossible to go overland to Lebanon and into Israel. You can go across to Cyprus, walk across the Island and try to pick up a freighter/cruise ship going to Israel, but others who have looked into that say it is rarely possible.

Actually, later this year I plan to take a regular weekly freighter from Monfalcone in north Italy to Asdod in Israel, then walking, basically along the main roads to Jerusalem. Too much hassle to go from Ashdod to Tel Aviv to join the INT. There are no convenient freighters from Bari or Brindisi to Israel. There are ferries that go to Patras and buses from there to Piraeus, where you might be able to join the freighter from Monfalcone (it calls at Piraeus) to get to Ashdod.

I am not an expert on Shengen restrictions, so I can't help there.

Hope this helps.

Bob M

Excellent! I'll be looking forward to your posts to see how you make out.

 

[domigee]

But Jerusalem still nags at me and I have to do that final leg from Italy - I don't have the time to plod all the way to Istanbul and then figure out how to get to Israel.



Bob M

Hi Bob! Brilliant news you're walking to Jerusalem! Sometimes you just have to do....what you have to do And this year, too. Not long to wait.

I walked in 2014 without problems but by 2015 unfortunately the route we walked would have been very difficult (if not impossible) to do. After Besançon, Jacobsweg to Wien, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and on to Edirne and Istanbul.
I don't know what it is like now but I'm not sure I would risk it.
From Southern Turkey, a ferry to Northern Cyprus then walk to Limassol.
The problem, as you mention, was finding a way from Cyprus to Israel. We were accepted on cargo ships (and from memory the price asked was rather high!) but once we'd filled in the forms, the answer was NO. No explanation. I gather it was because we had come through the 'wrong' part of the Island...
So the only way in the end was a flight from Larnaka to Tel-Aviv.

Happy planning Bob and @John R McLean ... Very exciting!

Dominique