Jewish tour to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia

Make your way to Krakow hotel 

The program will commence in the late afternoon with the session with your local guide and tour director for the Polish part. He will give an introduction, and the hotel will serve the welcome dinner.

Tour of Old Krakow will begin from the statue of Grunwald Battle and continue through Barbacan and the St. Florian gate to Florianska street – this is the way used by Polish Kings to cross the city on special events. Shortly we will approach  “Rynek Glowny” – the Central Market with a beautiful St. Mary Basilica and Sukenicy – trading rows.

Next, we will turn to one of the side narrow streets to see one of the oldest universities in Europe, among its famous students, were M. Kopernicus and K. Wojtyla.  

Visit the Residence of the Kings of Poland – the renaissance Royal Castle at Wawel Hill.

Visit Kazimierz – former Jewish district, starting from Sheroka street and square and the famous Rema Synagogue and the old Jewish cemetery containing graves from 15th hundreds. The Old Synagogue built just next to the old Kazimierz city walls. The High Synagogue and the study house next to it. The new market square and Ester Street. The Temple Synagogue and JCC building.

Morning drive to Auschwitz (Oswiecim). Visit of Auschwitz concentration camp museum, which became a symbol of the Holocaust and Genocide due to its geographical location and the scale of the tragedy. Continue to Birkenau extermination camp; nazis built it as an extension of the Auschwitz camp. We will finish the visit to the memorial next to the ruins of crematoriums.

Drive to Warsaw.

Walk along the Royal Route, restored after the destruction during WWII. “Stare Miasto” (Old Town), market Square, Barbacan, Royal Castle, Cathedral Basilica of the Martyrdom of St. John Baptist, and the Little Insurgent Monument.

Continue the tour by visiting the New Town starting from the Church of the Holy Spirit, New Market Square, Warsaw Uprising monument. 

Visit the sites of Jewish interest, including the former Warsaw Ghetto wall fragments, the Way of the Heroes –  walking from the Umschlagplatz Monument to the Rappaport Monument in the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Square. 

Drive to famous Lazienki Park, walk by Belvedere Palace up to F. Chopin Memorial, and The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Pilsudski Square. Visit the newly built Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Departure for Lithuania. Bialystok, the homeland of Dr. Zammenhof, the creator of Esperanto language. Next stop at the town Augustow famous for its lakes and artificial channels. Sightseeing and history of Bialystok. Late arrival to Vilnius.

We will commence our tour of Vilnius from its cradle – Gediminas Castle Hill and the remnants of the upper castle. Then we will whisk out through the narrow street to another square to observe the Presidential Palace and the Old Vilnius University, founded in 1579. Will walk along medieval Castle street in the heart of the Old City.

Visit Vilnius Synagogue. Jewish architect built it in 1903 in Moorish- Romanesque style. We will visit the Jewish State museum – called the Tolerance Centre.

Next, we will walk in the medieval Jewish Quarter of Vilnius, called Lithuanian Jerusalem. Music school where Jasha Heifetz did his first steps in the music career. The story and the building of the famous ORT school. The premise of the famous Tarbut Gimnazia and nowadays the Jewish community center. Yiddish theatre was in one of the buildings from 1925, for about ten years. The Rabbis’ Council is famous for the meeting place of Theodor Herzl with local jews.

Next is a Benedictine convent, to tell us the story of saving 12 Jewish souls by Lithuanian Righteous Among the Nations. Continue to Vilnius Ghetto streets and Vilna Gaon’s house. Learn about the complexity of the Great Synagogue.

The Big Ghetto and the story of suffering, resistance, and partisans. Judenrat’s office and the story of “choiceless choices.” Recreated hiding place in the cellar, where Jews were hiding after the liquidation of the Ghetto. Ghetto theatre as the center of Spiritual resistance.

Drive to Ponar forest and Holocaust memorial – the sight of the extermination of 100 thousand people among which 70 thousand were Jews.

A tour of Trakai – the land of lakes and forests. The ancient capital and the residence of Grand Dukes of Lithuania with its 14th-century insular castle – today the museum of Lithuanian history. Karaite museum represents the story of this small ethnic group, brought from Crimea 600 years ago. Visit unique Karaite cemetery.

Drive to Kaunas, the second-largest city in the country.

We will tour the Old Town of Kaunas with its Catholic churches, narrow streets and cobbled squares, cozy cafes, and art galleries. Continue walking along the main pedestrian street, Laisves Aleja, with its 2-3 flour buildings just as they looked before the war. The Art Gallery of M. K. Ciurlionis, the outstanding Lithuanian painter and composer.

Drive through Slobodka – Jewish neighborhood since 1500′. The building of the famous Slobodka Yeshiva. The History Museum and the Memorial in the Ninth Fort – the place where Nazis and their collaborators killed over 50 thousand people, most of them were Jews.

En route stop in Kedainiai – a citadel of Radzivil family, one of the most powerful nobility in the late middle ages in Lithuania and also a town where the Vilna Gaon lived and worked and where three synagogues have remained.

Morning drive to Nida – the little town on the Curonian Spit. En route stop at Juodkrante for a walk on the Hill of Witches, a vivid example of Lithuanian folk wooden sculptures. A visit to Nida, a lovely place with its 60 meter-high dunes, Thomas Mann summerhouse, and the Amber Gallery.

In Klaipeda, we will visit the Old Town of Klaipeda, former Memel. It is distinguished for its German-influenced medieval architecture, the Theatre square, the statue of Annke von Thoreau, and more.

We will finish the day at the small Jewish community center on Synagogue Street.

Drive to Palanga – a popular resort on the Baltic Sea, famous for its kilometer-long beaches and the beautiful Botanic Park with the most significant Amber Museum in the Baltic States.

Visit the homeland of the famous rabbi from Salant. The next stop would be at Telz. The famous Yeshiva building is still standing there, as well as the Synagogue and numerous Jewish houses.

If time permits, we will stop at another famous shtetl of Kelm.

In Siauliai, we will visit the tannery complex, which once belonged to Chaim Frenkel’s family. He used to be the wealthiest Jew in Lithuania.

En route stop at the Hill of Crosses in Siauliai, a symbol of Lithuanians’ resistance against foreign rule with over 100.000 crosses.

Another stop at the beautiful Baroque Rundale Palace, built by the famous Italian architect B. Rastrelli. Arrival to the capital of Latvia – Riga.

A city tour of Riga, including the Old Town, the Dome Cathedral built in 1211 and its extraordinary organ with 6781 pipes. The Great and Small Guilds houses and the economic history of the city, the Swedish Gate and the Beer-brewers street, Cat’s house and the superstitious legend, the “Three Brothers” – architectural development example, the House of the “Blackheads” – single merchants guild, St. Peter church and its tower. The outstanding collection of Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) architecture in the streets of Riga.

Visit the biggest Central market in the Baltics located in 5 huge hangers; continue to “Maskavas forstadt,” a former suburb of Riga developed by foreign merchants coming to trade on the Market. This area became a house for the first Jewish settlement in Riga. Memorial ruins of the Great Synagogue. 

The Wall of Righteous among the Nations. Enlightenment followers established this Jewish School in the 19th century. Ghetto territory – the Small Ghetto and Reich’s Juden Ghetto. Synagogue on Moscow street, Hospital Bikur Holim, Old Jewish Cemetery. Visit Rumbula Memorial, where Nazis murdered thousands of Jews from Latvia, Germany, and Czechoslovakia.

Visit Sigulda – the “Switzerland of Latvia” on the riverside of the Gauja river. Romantic ruins of Sigulda Castle, Gutmana caves – full of spring water and old legends; Turaida Castle museum and beautiful stone art park.

Continue driving in the Latvian countryside to visit even more rural places like Araisi. Here you will enjoy the unique ethnographical spot – Lake dwelling archeological park.

Continue the tour in the town of Cesis. It is a small town famous for its medieval history of wars and fortresses. Today this charming and peaceful settlement attracts more and more visitors. 

Late afternoon arrival at Tartu.

Today we will have a walking tour in the old city of Tartu. We will see an impressive park and the ruins of the Cathedral. Walk around the Tartu University complex.

The main highlight of the city is its new National Museum. After a visit there, we will hit the road to Lahemaa National Park.

Estonia is proud to have a lot of beautiful nature sights. We will stop there to see the cute little manor and an estate. Another stop would be in the woods. Here we will walk on a bog trail.

A city tour of Tallinn, including the Old Town with its Town Hall built in 1402, Town fortifications with 27 towers and a lot of survived parts, the Toompea Castle – the seat of the government, Tallinn Protestant Cathedral, beautiful spots of a panoramic view of the old city, Alexander Nevski – beautiful Russian orthodox Cathedral, Kiek in de Kok defensive tower.

Will go down to the lower city, which was populated by merchants and artisans. Walk by  Dominican Monastery, St. Olav and Kanut guilds, the house of the Blackheads, “Fat Margareta” tower, and the sea gate, the monument in honor of the “Estonia” ferry and other sights.

Visit the Synagogue and the Jewish Community center and a museum.

Visit the Kadriorg Park and Palace built by famous architect F.B. Rastrelli. Rusalka Monument and Pirita Olympic village.

Morning transfer to the airport for return flight or continue on an extension to St. Petersburg or to Helsinki or Stockholm by ferry.