English

Ayelet Tours Traveling University
Eastern Europe
with Professor Stephen Berk
June 16-28, 2019

Tour Rates & Dates:

There are no Departure Dates available for this Package.
*Please note that all rates displayed are based on standard room double occupancy.
All rates above are in US Dollars, and are based on full payment by credit card unless otherwise noted.
If check payment discount is available for this tour, it can be selected after clicking "BOOK" above.
(Deposit can still be paid by credit card). Upgraded room categories may be available to book later in the booking process.
If Land & Air price is displayed, the air portion includes tax and fuel surcharges, which are subject to change until ticketed.

Tour Overview:

Download a PDF version:

INCLUDED IN MAIN TOUR:

3 nights Kings Court Hotel, Prague
3 nights Kempinski Hotel, Budapest
3 nights Sheraton Hotel, Krakow
2 nights Hotel Bristol, Warsaw
Breakfast daily
6 dinners, including Shabbat dinner in Budapest
Internal flight from Prague to Budapest
First class train from Krakow to Warsaw
Touring in a deluxe air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking guides
Transfer upon arrival/departure with main group
Entrance fees per itinerary
Porterage


INCLUDED IN BERLIN PRE-TOUR:

4 nights Regent Hotel, Berlin
All touring and sightseeing in a deluxe air conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking guide
Breakfast daily
2 dinners, including Shabbat dinner
Transfer included if arriving/departing with main group
Entrance fees
Porterage

NOT INCLUDED:

Roundtrip airfare, departure taxes & fuel surcharges (Contact Ayelet Tours for flights)
Any border taxes or visas
Tips to guides, drivers & waiters ($18 per person, per day; pre-collected)
Meals not listed above
Items of a personal nature
Travel insurance (highly recommended)

Tour Itinerary:

BERLIN PRE-TOUR:

DAY 1: Wednesday, June 12, 2019: DEPARTURE

• We depart on our overnight flight to Berlin.

DAY 2: Thursday, June 13, 2019: ARRIVE BERLIN

• Welcome to Berlin!
• Upon arrival, we meet our local tour guide and begin our tour of Berlin, Germany's capital, reunited in 1989, and home of Germany's largest Jewish community, with a tour of the Mitte, Berlins historic center district.
• We see Checkpoint Charlie, the East Side Gallery, featuring artwork painted on the Berlin Wall, the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, the Burning of the Book Memorial and more.
• We check into our hotel with time to refresh.
• Tonight, we enjoy a welcome dinner together at our hotel.

Overnight in Berlin

DAY 3: Friday, June 14, 2019: POTSDAM

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• We start our day at the Gleis 17 Memorial and continue to the Wannsee House, where the Wannsee conference took place and the “final solution” of the Jewish question was decided.
• We continue to Potsdam. On the way, we cross the Glienicke Bridge, a famous exchange point for Soviet spies during the days of the Cold War. In Potsdam, we view the stunning Sanssouci Palace and Gardens, built by Frederick the Great.
• We continue to Cecilienhof Manor, site of the famous 1945 meeting between Truman, Churchill and Stalin.
• Later this afternoon, we return to Berlin and meet Professor Stephen Berk, who arrives this afternoon, for a lecture in a private room of the hotel.
• Tonight, we enjoy Shabbat services with the local community at the Pestalozistrasse Synagogue, followed by Shabbat dinner together.

Overnight in Berlin

DAY 4: Saturday, June 15, 2019: SHABBAT SHALOM!

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Morning at leisure. You may choose to join services at one of the many local synagogues or explore this beautiful city at your own pace!
• This afternoon, we enjoy a walking tour of the Old Jewish Quarter, revolving and changing.
• We learn where Otto Weidt, Berlin's own “Schindler,” ran his workshop for the blind, and see where the successful women's protest helped save almost 2,000 Jews from deportation to the death camps.
• The remainder of the day is at leisure with dinner on own this evening.

Overnight in Berlin

DAY 5: Sunday, June 16, 2019: BERLIN

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Morning lecture with Professor Berk.
• This morning, we stop and see the Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue, then tour the beautiful Rykestrasse Synagogue, Germany's largest synagogue, reopened 70 years after being damaged severely during Kristallnacht. We also view the Rosenstrasse Memorial, site of a significant peaceful protest by Aryan wives and relatives of Jewish Germans rounded up for deportation.
• This afternoon, we explore one of Berlin's most fantastic museums, The Pergamon Museum at Museum Island.
• Evening at leisure and dinner on own.

Main tour participants depart the United States this evening.

Overnight in Berlin

MAIN TOUR:

DAY 6: Monday, June 17, 2019: PRAGUE

• Breakfast and check out of our hotel.
• We transfer by bus to Prague, where we meet up with the main tour participants who arrive today.
• We arrive in Prague, the Czech capital, also known as "the City of One Thousand Spires" with its Baroque churches, promenades, parks and ancient city walls.
• We check into our hotel and refresh.
• This afternoon, we enjoy a tour of Golden Prague, including the 1,000-year-old Hradcany Castle and St. Vitus' Cathedral, the Charles Bridge and the Astronomical Clock.
• Tonight, we enjoy an orientation lecture and welcome dinner with Professor Stephen Berk.

Overnight in Prague

DAY 7: Tuesday, June 18, 2019: JEWISH PRAGUE

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Morning lecture with Professor Berk at the State Jewish Museum.
• We enjoy a sightseeing tour of Jewish interest sites, with a visit to the Old City to view the Josefov, Prague's Jewish town with its Old Town Hall, the Alt-Neu Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue, the Maisel Synagogue, the Spanish Synagogue, and the Jewish cemetery.
• Evening at leisure and dinner on own.

Overnight in Prague

DAY 8: Wednesday, June 19, 2019: TEREZIN

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Today, we travel to Terezin, the former "model" Nazi concentration camp. We enjoy a lecture with Professor Berk before visiting the Fortress, Jewish cemetery, Museum, the hidden synagogue, the memorial monument and the town itself.
• We return to Prague for an evening at leisure and dinner on own.

Overnight in Prague

DAY 9: Thursday, June 20, 2019: BUDAPEST

• Breakfast and check out of our hotel.
• We transfer to the airport for our short flight to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Situated on the opposite banks of the Danube River, the former cities of Buda and Pest are linked by a series of graceful bridges.
• Upon our arrival, we enjoy a panoramic bus tour of Budapest, including the Parliament, the Royal Palace, and the Castle Hill area, as well as the Fishermen's Bastion, Coronation Church, Hero's Square and Gellert Hill.
• We check into our hotel and enjoy the evening at leisure to discover Budapest and have dinner on own.

Overnight in Budapest

DAY 10: Friday, June 21, 2019: JEWISH BUDAPEST

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Morning lecture with Professor Berk.
• We begin our day at the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Statue and then visit the Dohany Synagogue, the 2nd largest synagogue in Europe, followed by the Jewish Cemetery and Museum.
• In the evening, we enjoy Shabbat services at the Dohany Synagogue, followed by Shabbat dinner together at our hotel.

Overnight in Budapest

DAY 11: Saturday, June 22, 2019: SHABBAT SHALOM!

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• This morning, we invite you to join us for optional Shabbat services.
• The afternoon is at leisure to explore this beautiful city at your own pace.
• Evening on own for dinner and exploring.

Overnight in Budapest

DAY 12: Sunday, June 23, 2019: TO KRAKOW

• Breakfast and check out of our hotel.
• This morning, we depart for Krakow, driving through the lovely hills and countryside of Slovakia, past the Tatras and into the Great Plains of Poland. Professor Berk lectures on the bus.
• Upon our arrival, we check into our hotel and refresh.
• This evening, we enjoy dinner together with guest speaker Jonathan Ornstein, Executive Director of the Krakow JCC, who updates us on the many exciting projects they have undertaken in what is now a growing and flourishing Jewish community in the heart of Galicia.

Overnight in Krakow

DAY 13: Monday, June 24, 2019: AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Morning lecture with Professor Berk.
• This morning, we travel to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the infamous Nazi concentration camp, where many Jews and others perished in WWII. Here, we see the museum and pay tribute to the victims.
• We return to Krakow and have the remainder of the afternoon to reflect.
• We enjoy dinner together this evening at a local restaurant.

Overnight in Krakow

DAY 14: Tuesday, June 25, 2019: KRAKOW

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Morning lecture with Professor Berk.
• Our morning city tour includes Wawel Castle, St. Mary's Church, the Renaissance Cloth Hall and other ancient landmarks.
• This afternoon, we enjoy a Jewish heritage tour that includes the Old Jewish District, Kazimierz, where we see the Old Synagogue (a massive fortress-like building erected in the 15th and 16th centuries), the "Temple," and the Remuh Synagogue.
• We continue to the Little Museum at the Drug Store inside the Jewish Ghetto, Schindler's Factory, and the Plaszow Concentration Camp.
• Evening at leisure and dinner on own.

Overnight in Krakow

DAY 15: Wednesday, June 26, 2019: JEWISH WARSAW

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• This morning, we travel by train to Warsaw and check into our hotel.
• After lunch on own, we drive through the Warsaw Zoo, where we visit the zookeeper's house owned by the couple that saved many Jews during the Holocaust, now memorialized in the movie “The Zookeeper's Wife”.
• Later this afternoon, we explore the New Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN).
• Tonight, we meet with members of Beit Warszawa, the new progressive congregation in Warsaw. We enjoy dinner and hospitality as we learn more about the Judaism alive in today's Poland.

Overnight in Warsaw

DAY 16: Thursday, June 27, 2019: WARSAW

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Morning lecture with Professor Berk.
• Today, we enjoy a city tour of Warsaw including Chopin's Monument, the Royal Castle, the Jewish Historical Society, and walk to Old Town Market Square and Lazienki Park.
• This afternoon, we set out on a sightseeing tour encompassing Nozyk Synagogue (the only surviving synagogue in Warsaw, founded in 1900), the Warsaw Ghetto, the Jewish Resistance Bunker at Mila 18, the Stawski Street buildings (where the SS had their headquarters) and the Gensa Cemetery (established in 1806, containing the graves of about 250,000 people and known as the largest cemetery in Poland).
• Tonight, we enjoy a special farewell dinner together, followed by an elegant Chopin concert!

Overnight in Warsaw

DAY 17: Friday, June 28, 2019: DEPARTURE

• Breakfast and check out of our hotel.
• We transfer to the airport for our flight home, landing later today.



The Memories Last Forever!!
Itinerary subject to change