Jewish Heritage Tour

TRAVEL PROGRAM

Day 1 - Sat. Bucharest

Arrival in Bucharest, capital of Romania. Transfer from airport to the Athenee Palace Hilton hotel 5*, where you will stay for the next two nights. Relax with a welcoming drink - get to know one another and discuss the travel program. In the afternoon, you may decide to explore the city or relax in the hotel's spa and in the evening to dine in the renowned Caru cu Bere Restaurant, Bucharest's oldest beer hall, dating from 1875, with Romanian folk music and dances.

Day 2 - Sun. Bucharest

We explore the main sites of Jewish interest in Bucharest, who once had a large and important Jewish Community. Today, it numbers about 4000. Meet a representative of the Bucharest Jewish Community. Visit to the Choral Temple, the Great Synagogue and the Jewish Museum housed in the former Akhdut Kodesh (Holy Union) Synagogue. Visit to the Jewish State Theatre, with a tradition of 125 years, still opened and performing. Our tour of Bucharest also includes entrance to the Palace of Parliament (the largest building in Europe and second largest in the world, after the building of the US Pentagon) and a walk in the Historic Centre. Afternoon at leisure to enjoy the excellent shopping and dining opportunities. (B)

Day 3 - Mon. Bucharest - Piatra Neamt - Iasi

Our agenda today takes us into Moldova, a bucolic paradise of remote villages. We drive through the Bicaz Gorges, on one of Romania's most staggering and spectacular road. The gorge twists and turns steeply uphill, cutting through sheer, 300m-high limestone rocks on its journey through the mountains. We stop to enjoy the breathtaking scenery in the Red Lake resort.

Continue to Piatra Neamt, beautifully situated in the forested foothills of the Carpathians. Visit the Ba'al Shem Tov Synagogue (Cathedral Synagogue), one of the most fascinating and precious synagogues in Romania. It was built of wood in 1766. The Leipziger Synagogue next door was originally built in 1839 and reconstructed after a fire in 1904.  

Departure to Iasi, the capital of Moldavia from 1565 to 1862. Today is a lively cultural, university and commercial centre in the northeast corner of Romania. In the 1920s, the nearly 45.000 Jews made up more than half the local population and more than 110 synagogues were in operation. Stay one night at the Traian Grand Hotel 4* in Iasi. (B, D)

Day 4 - Thu. Iasi - Siret - Gura Humorului

After breakfast we enjoy a tour of the city, including a visit to the city's one remaining functioning synagogue, the Great Synagogue. Built in 1671, it is the oldest surviving synagogue in Romania.

Departure to Siret, a pleasant little town on the Ukranian border. We visit the town's synagogue and the Jewish cemetery, recognized as a historic monument and protected by the Ministry of Culture. The Old Jewish Cemetery dates from the 18th century and is one of the oldest in Moldovia, with richly carved tombstones. 

You have the opportunity to visit a few of the regions painted monasteries, among the greatest artistic monuments in Europe and UNESCO World Heritages Sites. The painted exterior walls, decorated with 15th and 16th-century frescoes, are considered masterpieces of Byzantine art. Spend one night at the Best Western Bucovina hotel 4* in Gura Humorului. (B, D)

Day 5 - Wed. Maramures

We cross the remote Prislop Pass - the highest in Romania and reach Maramures. The last peasant culture in Europe is thriving here, with hand-built ancient wooden churches, traditional music, colorful costumes and ancient festivals.

We stop in Sighetu Marmatiei, birthplace of the author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Born in 1928, Wiesel has written movingly of his childhood in Sighet, eloquently describing the warm, familial Jewish life in the town. We visit the synagogue, erected in 1885 and Wiesel's childhood home, now a museum that pays homage to the Jewish way of life. We stroll in Sighet's open-air Village Museum, a collection of traditional wooden houses and other buildings brought from around Maramures, which includes two houses once owned and lived in by Jews. 

Continue to the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta. With exuberantly colored and beautifully crafted wooden headstones, is one of Romania's most unusual attraction. Spend the night in a tourist pension in Maramures, a wonderful rural retreat with relaxing accommodation and great home-cooked food. (B, L, D)

Day 6 - Thu. Satu Mare - Oradea

Transfer to Satu Mare, which in the 19th and early 20th centuries was the seat of the Teitelbaum and Gruenwald Hasidic dynasties and gave its name to the Satmar Hasidic group, most of whose members now live in Brooklyn. To this day, pilgrims come to pay their respects at the tombs of rabbis. We visit the two synagogues that remain standing, the Great Synagogue, built in the 1890s and the Saar Ha Torah Synagogue, built in the 1920s. Overnight at the Black Eagle hotel 4*. The building in which the hotel is located is part of the cultural heritage of the city of Oradea. It dates back to the beginnings of the XX-th century and was designed by Jewish architects. (B)

Day 7 - Fri. Oradea - Timisoara

Oradea has one of the oldest and most important Jewish communities in Transylvania. You will see a striking collection of art nouveau buildings, many of them once owned by Jewish families, which are slowly being restored to their original splendor. We visit the Zion Synagogue, a grandiose Neolog temple, built in 1878 and the Orthodox Great Synagogue, built in 1890.

We drive southwards to discover Timisoara's Jewish heritage, one of the country's most developed cities and the birthplace of the 1898 revolution. Enjoy a sightseeing tour of the city. Spend the night at the La Residenza hotel 4*. (B)

Day 8 - Sat. Brasov

Breathtaking mountainous terrain awaits us as we voyage through the Carpathian Mountains to Brasov. Nestled below steep, craggy, tree-clad mountains, this beautiful town is the most visited city in Romania after Bucharest. The Jewish Temple in this historic and bustling Transylvanian city was built in 1901. Tour of the old town, a blend of centuries-old buildings and trendy chill out bars. Overnight at the Bella Muzica hotel 3*. (B)

Day 9 - Sun. Bucharest

We return to Bucharest. A last opportunity for city sightseeing and shopping (your own arrangements) in Bucharest. Transfer to the airport for your flight home. (B)