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Krakow Tour 8-12 March 2009
TRS004
| SUN |
| 8 |
| MAR |
Join us for a once-in-a-lifetime historic trip to Krakow. Unlike other Polish cities, Krakow suffered little destruction so the Jewish quarter remains virtually intact giving a real insight into pre-war Jewish life, despite the loss of its Jewish inhabitants. We will visit Jewish sites, places of interest in Krakow and learn the history and story of those who lived there. Included are visits to the World Heritage Wieliczka Salt Mine and Wawel Royal Castle.
Our visit to Poland will mark the seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of World War II and the trip will coincide with the festival of Purim. After seventy years of silence the Megillah is to be read in the only remaining synagogue in Oswiciem (renamed Auschwitz by the Germans), where 50% of the population before the war was Jewish. The Megillah will be read by Jerold Gotel, our Director of Overseas Operations, who has in the past read the Megillah in Warsaw, Krakow and Lodz. It will follow a tour of the camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Our previous trips to Krakow have been truly memorable and so, in response to public demand, we are repeating it in 2009. Jerold Gotel will be leading this outstanding tour together with our Chief Executive and Senior Historian, Trudy Gold, with tour director, Lionel Unterhalter.
Places are limited so please contact Lionel Unterhalter as soon as possible on
020 7612 7615 or ljcctours@yahoo.co.uk to avoid disappointment. He will be very happy to answer questions and provide more information.
ITINERARY
DAY ONE Sunday 08 March
• 09:10am: Depart London Gatwick British Airways BA 2774. Arrive Krakow-Balice Airport at 12:35pm.We will be met by our tour guide Izabella Sliwinska. Transfer to 3* Eden Hotel, Clemna St 15, Krakow 31-053 Tel: (+4812) 430 65 65, a fully restored 15th Century building in the heart of the old Jewish quarter.
• Check into our hotel followed by a lunch break.
• 15:00: Join in a walking tour (about two hours) to give a sense of the Jewish area in Kazimierz which before the war was home to 65,000 Jewish people, a quarter of the city’s population.
• Early evening: We will stop for a coffee/tea which will give you an opportunity to get to know your fellow travellers.
• Evening: At leisure. You may want to have dinner at one of the several quaint Jewish-style restaurants on the Square, listen to some Kletzmer music, within easy walk of our Hotel.
DAY TWO Monday 09 March
• Early start. Breakfast at our hotel.
• 08:30: After breakfast, depart by coach for a full day tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau (about six hours plus coach travel time) Jerry Gotel and Trudy Gold will talk to us en route. At Auschwitz, we will be met and taken around by a special guide.
• 16:30: About 5kms away, we visit the town of Oswiecim (where before the War, 50% of the town’s population was Jewish) and the old Synagogue/Museum. The Curator will welcome us.
• Presentation of the exhibits by the Curator followed by an interesting film on Jewish Life in Oswiecim before the Holocaust.
• 17:30 -18:30: Tonight is Purim. After the Nazi invasion, all official Jewish life ended. Seventy years on, the LJCC is proud that our tour co-leader, Jerry Gotel, will read the Magillah in Oswiecim. After the service, some Homantashen.
• Evening: After shul, a Purim Dinner (price included) at a venue to be confirmed (either in Oswiecim or upon our return to Krakow. Details will follow)
DAY THREE Tuesday 10 March
• Breakfast at our Hotel.
• Optional: Purim service at the Remuh Synagogue, near our Hotel.
• 9.30-12:30: Coach leaves for a guided tour of the famous Wielicza Salt Mine about 15kms ride. Note: There are 360 broad steps down (well lit and ventilated), lift-ride up. With a guide, we will explore this fascinating and interesting World Heritage site.
• Back to Kaziemierz for a lunch break.
• 14:30-17:30: With Izabella, we take the Coach to historic Wawel Royal Castle and Cathedral. Then a walk along “Kings’ Route to the Rynek Glowny which is Krakow’s famous Old Town Grand Square. Stop there for the best hot chocolate ever! Lots of little shops and stalls. View the Town Hall Tower with its solitary trumpeter. This area features the nearby Cloth Hall which is the Renaissance monument of commerce. Then, time permitting, the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University.
• Evening at leisure: Optional group outing in Kaziemierz for dinner and Kletzmer music concert at the Kletzmer-Huys Restaurant, easy walk from our hotel (price not included. During the concert, audience will be asked not to talk during the performance!) or feel free to explore Krakow. Further optional: You could dine at the Wiezynek Restaurant, one of Poland’s best. Short taxi ride from our hotel. Menu extensive but expensive. Details on request.
DAY FOUR Wednesday 11 March
• Breakfast at hotel.
• 9.30am: We board a coach to the Pharmacy Under the Eagle, which belonged to the legendary Polish Chemist Tadeusz Pankiewicz, since awarded the “Righteous Among the Nations” distinction by Israel .
• On to Oskar Schindler’s factory (presently under conversion but we will see its location)
• Visit the ghetto area and then the Memorial to Plaszow.
• Lunch break.
• 14:00-16:00: Join Izabella and our tour leaders on a walking tour of Jewish Krakow and the Ghetto. This includes Kazimierz, the ancient Remuh Synagogue and the cemetery next to the Shul (with the grave of the Tzadik) We visit the 14th Century Old Synagogue which houses the Museum of Jewish History and Culture and other interesting sites including Isaac’s Synagogue .(About two hours)
• 16:00-17:15: Highly recommended Galicia Jewish Museum: A visit here is a truly moving way to round off your Krakow experience. View “Traces of Memory”, the remarkable photographic tribute to a vanished world, a poignant acknowledgment of Poland’s Jewish History. Return to our Hotel OR
• 17:15-18:00: You may want to browse in the Museum’s excellent bookshop or enjoy a coffee there. Museum closes at 18:00. Evening at leisure.
DAY FIVE, Thursday 12 March
• Check out and please settle all extras at reception.
• Breakfast at hotel.
• Then some free time for last walk-about the town square.
• 10:30am sharp. Coach to airport.
• 13:20 Depart Krakow on BA 2775
• 14:50 Arrive London Gatwick
The LJCC reserves the right to amend this itinerary.
Our visit to Poland will mark the seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of World War II and the trip will coincide with the festival of Purim. After seventy years of silence the Megillah is to be read in the only remaining synagogue in Oswiciem (renamed Auschwitz by the Germans), where 50% of the population before the war was Jewish. The Megillah will be read by Jerold Gotel, our Director of Overseas Operations, who has in the past read the Megillah in Warsaw, Krakow and Lodz. It will follow a tour of the camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Our previous trips to Krakow have been truly memorable and so, in response to public demand, we are repeating it in 2009. Jerold Gotel will be leading this outstanding tour together with our Chief Executive and Senior Historian, Trudy Gold, with tour director, Lionel Unterhalter.
Places are limited so please contact Lionel Unterhalter as soon as possible on
020 7612 7615 or ljcctours@yahoo.co.uk to avoid disappointment. He will be very happy to answer questions and provide more information.
ITINERARY
DAY ONE Sunday 08 March
• 09:10am: Depart London Gatwick British Airways BA 2774. Arrive Krakow-Balice Airport at 12:35pm.We will be met by our tour guide Izabella Sliwinska. Transfer to 3* Eden Hotel, Clemna St 15, Krakow 31-053 Tel: (+4812) 430 65 65, a fully restored 15th Century building in the heart of the old Jewish quarter.
• Check into our hotel followed by a lunch break.
• 15:00: Join in a walking tour (about two hours) to give a sense of the Jewish area in Kazimierz which before the war was home to 65,000 Jewish people, a quarter of the city’s population.
• Early evening: We will stop for a coffee/tea which will give you an opportunity to get to know your fellow travellers.
• Evening: At leisure. You may want to have dinner at one of the several quaint Jewish-style restaurants on the Square, listen to some Kletzmer music, within easy walk of our Hotel.
DAY TWO Monday 09 March
• Early start. Breakfast at our hotel.
• 08:30: After breakfast, depart by coach for a full day tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau (about six hours plus coach travel time) Jerry Gotel and Trudy Gold will talk to us en route. At Auschwitz, we will be met and taken around by a special guide.
• 16:30: About 5kms away, we visit the town of Oswiecim (where before the War, 50% of the town’s population was Jewish) and the old Synagogue/Museum. The Curator will welcome us.
• Presentation of the exhibits by the Curator followed by an interesting film on Jewish Life in Oswiecim before the Holocaust.
• 17:30 -18:30: Tonight is Purim. After the Nazi invasion, all official Jewish life ended. Seventy years on, the LJCC is proud that our tour co-leader, Jerry Gotel, will read the Magillah in Oswiecim. After the service, some Homantashen.
• Evening: After shul, a Purim Dinner (price included) at a venue to be confirmed (either in Oswiecim or upon our return to Krakow. Details will follow)
DAY THREE Tuesday 10 March
• Breakfast at our Hotel.
• Optional: Purim service at the Remuh Synagogue, near our Hotel.
• 9.30-12:30: Coach leaves for a guided tour of the famous Wielicza Salt Mine about 15kms ride. Note: There are 360 broad steps down (well lit and ventilated), lift-ride up. With a guide, we will explore this fascinating and interesting World Heritage site.
• Back to Kaziemierz for a lunch break.
• 14:30-17:30: With Izabella, we take the Coach to historic Wawel Royal Castle and Cathedral. Then a walk along “Kings’ Route to the Rynek Glowny which is Krakow’s famous Old Town Grand Square. Stop there for the best hot chocolate ever! Lots of little shops and stalls. View the Town Hall Tower with its solitary trumpeter. This area features the nearby Cloth Hall which is the Renaissance monument of commerce. Then, time permitting, the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University.
• Evening at leisure: Optional group outing in Kaziemierz for dinner and Kletzmer music concert at the Kletzmer-Huys Restaurant, easy walk from our hotel (price not included. During the concert, audience will be asked not to talk during the performance!) or feel free to explore Krakow. Further optional: You could dine at the Wiezynek Restaurant, one of Poland’s best. Short taxi ride from our hotel. Menu extensive but expensive. Details on request.
DAY FOUR Wednesday 11 March
• Breakfast at hotel.
• 9.30am: We board a coach to the Pharmacy Under the Eagle, which belonged to the legendary Polish Chemist Tadeusz Pankiewicz, since awarded the “Righteous Among the Nations” distinction by Israel .
• On to Oskar Schindler’s factory (presently under conversion but we will see its location)
• Visit the ghetto area and then the Memorial to Plaszow.
• Lunch break.
• 14:00-16:00: Join Izabella and our tour leaders on a walking tour of Jewish Krakow and the Ghetto. This includes Kazimierz, the ancient Remuh Synagogue and the cemetery next to the Shul (with the grave of the Tzadik) We visit the 14th Century Old Synagogue which houses the Museum of Jewish History and Culture and other interesting sites including Isaac’s Synagogue .(About two hours)
• 16:00-17:15: Highly recommended Galicia Jewish Museum: A visit here is a truly moving way to round off your Krakow experience. View “Traces of Memory”, the remarkable photographic tribute to a vanished world, a poignant acknowledgment of Poland’s Jewish History. Return to our Hotel OR
• 17:15-18:00: You may want to browse in the Museum’s excellent bookshop or enjoy a coffee there. Museum closes at 18:00. Evening at leisure.
DAY FIVE, Thursday 12 March
• Check out and please settle all extras at reception.
• Breakfast at hotel.
• Then some free time for last walk-about the town square.
• 10:30am sharp. Coach to airport.
• 13:20 Depart Krakow on BA 2775
• 14:50 Arrive London Gatwick
The LJCC reserves the right to amend this itinerary.