Jewish Travels and tours

Through my travels, I followed many jewish walking tours in the world in many cities : Florence, Venice, Rome, Paris, Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Djerba in Tunisia, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Seville in Spain, Oslo, Stockholm, Denmark …

The selection of jewish tour guides for every city

1. The Global Map of all Jewish Quarters to visit in the World

2. The Selection of the Jewish Tour guides in the city

3.Full Description City by City

Why the Jewish Blog for my travels ?

You will notice that every time you travel, it seems always difficult to find the best tour guide in the city. The best guides are often working part-time, they are busy or out of reach and do not publish their tours on the platforms.

So, I decided to list every tour guide I take during my travels here below :

Rome

Name of Tour : Jewish Ghetto & Synagogues – 3 hours

Guide : Micaela Pavoncello

My opinion :

Great tour in Rome. I didn’t try the other Jewish Tours that this agency also provides (Jewish Vatican tour, or Ancient Jewish History), but I was very satisfied with this Jewish Ghetto tour.

It was full of information, and the guide actually spent longer than 3 hours with us, explaining about the different Jewish communities in Rome, through the centuries.

Our guide was originally from Libya, wow ! but she had lived in Rome her whole life.

She was passionate with the History of the Jews and Rome, and she spoke perfectly English too. It is a very good way to discover the history of the city of Rome, as well as one of the cutest areas in town. It is funny how, like in Paris, the Jewish old ghetto/area became today one of the most trendy and hip neighborhood in the city. We enjoyed staying in the area for lunch afterwards.

Description :

Join a shared group tour of the Jewish Ghetto.

You will be taken on a historic walking tour of the Jewish Museum, with its rich collection, the main Synagogue – the largest in Rome – and the Ghetto with its beautiful Fontana delle Tartarughe, the Portico d’Ottavia and other medieval buildings.

The Jewish community of Rome were moved from Trastevere, and other areas of Rome, to one small location next to the Tiber in 1555. The Pope decreed that all Jews were to live in the confined Ghetto territory, adhering to professional and economic restrictions.

On the guided tour, you will be taken on a journey through 22 centuries of Jewish history in Rome. The good and the bad all shared with humor, knowledge and passion.

It is a common misconception that Rome is a Christian city. There are more Jewish sights in Rome than one would imagine. Roman Jews have even preserved their own dialect – the Giudeo-romanesco – with its 16th century dialectical forms and a free use of  “romanized” Hebrew words!

The ghetto is also full of restaurants offering delicious Jewish-Roman dishes, like the famous fried artichokes, the “carciofi alla giudia”.

Clients can join some other travellers. Each group consists of no more than 10 participants. The tour will be confirmed only if there are two or more people interested in the same date.

A guided private tour also includes the Jewish Museums in Rome

Price :

For the jewish private tour the price is approximately 250 euros or join a small group 85 euro  pp plus entrance fee to synagogue. Entrance fees expected to be paid on spot 11 € p/p

Link : www.jewishroma.com

 Rio de Janeiro

Name of Tour : Jewish Heritage in Rio de Janeiro – 3 hours

Guide : Gisela Vayda & Leonardo

Email : giselavayda@gmail.com

My opinion :

I first contacted Gisela by email, who answered very quickly. Unfortunately she was not available on the date I wanted, but she recommended me to one of her colleagues called Leonardo.
Touring about the Jewish History in Rio was a very interesting and unique experience for me.

My first time in Rio (visiting a friend who was working there), and learning about the history of the Jewish communities in a country in South America was also a first !

Here I am in a very different History from other European cities where I took the Jewish Tours before, so I couldn’t see myself doing it differently. It was only me on the tour, but as Rio is a very big city, we had a driver for the morning. Leonardo took me to many different synagogues, of both Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions. We met the rabbis, and talked a bit about the Jewish communities in Rio.

Leonardo’s insight was very interesting, as well as his knowledge about the History of Brazil in general.
In general, I was very impressed by the number of Jewish places in Rio. I guess that I didn’t expect to see so much about the Jewish Heritage in South America ! I

Description :

Enjoy a tour that highlights the Jewish presence in Rio de Janeiro. Jewish presence started in Rio at the time of the first Portuguese navigators in the 1500’s. Since then, the Israelite immigration was constant. In the words of the great Brazilian historian Adolfo Varnhagen, “The Jews were the pioneers in the struggle for the Brazilian independence”.

On this tour, you will visit the main attractions of the Jewish heritage in Rio de Janeiro with an expert guide. The tour begins with a visit to Itzhak Rabin Park, inaugurated by Lea, his wife, with privileged views over Botafogo beach and Sugar Loaf. You will also see Chaim Weitzman Square, a public school named after Anne Frank. Then, you will head to the Jewish Museum and the Grand Temple, a beautiful building from 1932. In Copacabana, you can see the “Clube Israelita Brasileiro” and Beth El Synagogue (external). In Leblon, you will see the Beit Lubavitch Synagogue and the Midrash Cultural Center(external). Its also possible to book an internal visit to some Synagogues.

Price :

Tour price per person – Minimum of 2 people USD 95.00

Private tour USD 220.00

Jewish Museum has a entrance fee of R$ 10,00 (USD 3.00) per person and Grand Templo R$18,00 (USD 6.00 ) per person.Those fees are not included on the price.

• Transport by private vehicle (included in the price)

The pick-up for the tours is restricted to hotels and flats in Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. For pick-ups at other locations there will be an extra charge.

Link :  http://www.rioshuttletour.com/jewish-heritage-in-rio-de-janeiro/

Amsterdam

Name of Tour : Amsterdam Jewish Cultural Quarter – 1 hour to 5 hours

Guide : Taco Pauka

Email : tacopauka@gmail.com

My opinion :

Being a tour guide runs in the family : my mother was a tour guide in Paris for over 20 years, and she’s now a certified guide in Israel. Thanks to her, I became a tour guide in Paris. And a few years ago, my oncle Taco decided to go back to school, and he is now an amazing guide in Amsterdam (where he was born). So this description might not be the most objective one. But on the other hand, as a tour guide, I can assure you that Taco was born to become a guide. And the tour that he gave me of the Jewish History of Amsterdam amazed me.

I’ve learned so much thanks to him that I didn’t know ! And I was very surprised as I have been to Amsterdam many times before. But his tour was very well built, with great anecdotes and personal stories too.

Description :

The first Jews came to Amsterdam around the end of the 16th century as descendants of refugees of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. In the same century Jews from eastern Europe fled to Amsterdam from famine and prosecution. Around 1700 some 10.000 Amsterdam Jews had become the biggest Jewish community of Western-Europe. The majority suffered from extreme poverty in Amsterdam, but some were experienced merchants who contributed substantially to the boost of the Amsterdam economy during the Golden Age (17th century).

Of about 140.000 Jews that were living in The Netherlands in May 1940, 102.000 were murdered. In Amsterdam many Jewish houses were not only abandoned but also ruined during the occupation. Some remarkable buildings and many other historic sites in the neighborhood tell us the story about a vibrant and diverse culture, about the Dutch tolerance-culture and of course about the horror, the Portuguese Synagogue (the world`s biggest synagogue at the time), the beautiful Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum (located in four former Synagogues), but also the ‘Hollandse Schouwburg’, the deportation center of that time.

It is possible to book only an outside walk in the Jewish Cultural Quarter, or expand the tour with an inside visit to the 17th century Portuguese Synagogue and the ‘Hollandse Schouwburg’, the deportation center during the Holocaust. A visit to the Portuguese Synagogue is possible on Saturdays and Jewish holidays. With your ticket you can visit the nearby Jewish Historical Museum and the Holocaust Museum before or after our tour (ask us for the opening hours!). Your admission ticket is valid for 1 month: you can visit all the locations one time within one month.

+ Not on Saturdays and jewish holidays
+ This tour does NOT include a visit to the Anne Frank House!

Price :

Depends on the duration of the tour, from a 1 hour outside walking tour, to a 5 hours program including a visit to the Synagogue.

Paris

Read more : the Jewish Tour Paris in 3 hours (+)

Tour Guide Paris: Flora Goldenberg

Email : flora.goldenberg@gmail.com

Description:

The tour is about the history and the life of the Jews of Paris since the Romans and during the middle ages. You’ll hear stories of anti judaism, and see places related to the history of the Jews during that time.

Then we’ll talk about the history of the Jews after they were expelled from France in 1394, at the French Revolution, and during the 19th century. You’ll hear about the famous Dreyfus case, and other stories of when antisemitism was developed, at the same time as when the Jews were assimilating in France and great wealthy families became very successful in France (the Rothschilds, the Camondos…)

We’ll continue to explore the history in Le Marais, the Jewish area, which is a beautiful old part of the city. We will visit a synagogue, see commemorative plaques for WWII, talk about the occupation of Paris, while discovering the cute narrow streets of le Marais, it’s lively cafés and bakeries, it’s schools and parcs. On the way you’ll also see some private mansions built in the 17th century.

The tour can end at the holocaust memorial  (free entrance) which is also situated in the Marais.

If you want to join some other travelers, each group consists of no more than 8 participants maximum.

The tour will be confirmed only if there are three or more people interested in the same date. Prices start at 80 euro for the grouped tours

Click here : Jewish Tour of Paris

Seville Spain

I hope you enjoyed my favorite Jewish quarters.

Due to personal reasons, I can not travel for the moment, but as soon as I am back, if I travel again, I will update this page.