Poland: Jewish Heritage

Welcome to Poland !
Arrival to Warsaw. Transfer to the hotel and check-in.

Free afternoon.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Warsaw.

Breakfast at your hotel.

In the morning sight­seeing of Warsaw. The City Tour allows us to immerse ourselves in and observe the many con­trasts of the Polish capital city. The tour starts with a walk around the Lazienki Royal Park. Here we will see the famous monument ded­icated to Frederic Chopin, the Palace on the Water and the Theater on the Island. We will con­tinue with transfer to the Old Town (UNESCO) and a short walk around the Old Town: from the Royal Castle, passing next to the Saint John Cathedral, the Market Square and the bar­bacane to the New Town. We will con­tinue to the Krasinski Palace, the Supreme Court bulding. Our itin­erary will con­tinue with the Grand Theatre and the National Opera, the Jablonowscy Palace, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Saxon Garden.

In the afternoon sight­seeing of Warsaw Jewish part. From the 11th century till the beginning of the World War II, Poland was known as the cul­tural and spir­itual centre of European Jews. Many of the Polish Jews gained the fame all around the world. As examples we can mention: Arthur Rubinstein, Wladyslaw Szpilman (his story is the base of the Polanski’s movie “The Pianist”). During your trip around Warsaw you will have a chance to see parts of old Jewish Warsaw, syn­agogue, kirkut (cemetery) and other places con­nected with the rich history and tra­di­tions of Polish Jews as well as the monu­ments com­mem­or­a­tiong mar­tyrdom of Jews during WWII and Jewish Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Warsaw.

Breakfast at your hotel.

In the morning excursion to Treblinka to see the museum in the former con­cen­tration and exterm­in­ation camp built by the Germans in the Polish lands during the second world war. In just 16 months when the camp in Treblinka was in oper­ation, it is estimated that almost 800,000 people were killed in its gas chambers, which makes it the second-largest Nazi death camp apart from Auschwitz.

Continue to Tykocin, a charming city with a special atmo­sphere. Today it looks exactly like before World War II. One can still admire king’s castle, 18th century mon­astery and church, aston­ishing 17th century syn­agogue as well as wooden houses more than 100 years old. The Jewish com­munity was formed here in 16th century and it con­sti­tuted a great cul­tural center, becoming one of the largest Jewish com­munities in Poland. The syn­agogue of Tykocin is the second largest syn­agogue in Poland after that one in Krakow.

Stop in nearby Lopuchowo forest, where the Jewish com­munity of Tykocin was murdered. It holds mass graves of 2.500 inhabitants.

Accommodation in a hotel cent­rally located in Warsaw.

Breakfast at your hotel.

1 day trip from Warsaw to Lodz.

Get to know the history of Jews of Lodz – once one of the biggest Jewish society in Poland. Stop by the Radegast station, the final point of trains trans­porting Jews from western European coun­tries and pro­vincial ghettos from Wartheland. See the Jewish cemetery, the largest Jewish nec­ro­polis in Poland. Pass the Children’s Martyrdom Monument, also called the monument of the Broken Heart, ded­icated to Polish children who died or were murdered while being imprisoned in the camp in Przemysłowa Street. Take a rest in the Survivors’ Park com­mem­or­ating the liquid­ation of the ghetto and stop under one of over 600 “memory trees” planted by those who sur­vived the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Visit the only remaining pre-war syn­agogue – Reicher syn­agogue which sur­vived the times of occu­pation as a salt ware­house. Discover the ren­ovated indus­trial complex of the Manufaktura, belonged to a Jewish busi­nessman Israel Poznanski with an open-air plaza sur­rounded by large brick buildings and the longest stretch of foun­tains in Europe. At the end take a walk along Piotrkowska Street, a popular avenue full of shops, pubs, res­taurants, and sculp­tures that com­mem­orate famous inhab­itants of Lodz and learn from your guide what else you can dis­cover on your own after this tour.

Transfer back to Warsaw.

Accommodation in a hotel cent­rally located in Warsaw.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer from Warsaw to Lublin.

Get to know the history of Lublin Jews. Go through a Memorial Trail of Lublin Jews, that com­mem­orates places related to the tragic history of the Jewish com­munity and marks the borders of the ghetto in Podzamcze and the last road of Lublin Jews to Umschlagplatz, from where about 28,000 people were trans­ported to the death camp in Bełżec. Hear about a world that no longer exists. See the Lublin castle, the Grodzka Gate (called also the Jewish Gate), Chewra Nosim Synagogue — the only pre­served pre-war Jewish temple, the Old Jewish Cemetery, and the former Academy of the Sages of Lublin – cur­rently hotel and syn­agogue. Finally visit the Majdanek State Museum – the former German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp. Enjoy the most important places for Jewish history in Lublin and learn from your guide what else you can dis­cover on your own after this tour.

Accommodation in a hotel cent­rally located in Lublin.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer from Lublin to Lezajsk.

Lezajsk, a city located in the valley of the San River in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. It is here that Hasidim Jews from all over the world come to pray at the tomb of Tzadik Elimelech who lived in the 18th century. They believe that Tzaddik Elimelech, on the anniversary of his death, des­cends from heaven and takes to God their prayers for health, well-being for children and success at work. They write them down on pieces of paper called quote and place them at the grave. Prayers are accom­panied by tra­di­tional dances and singing psalms. Every year the tomb is visited by about 2.5 thousand believers.

Further transfer to Krakow.

Accommodation in a hotel cent­rally located in Krakow.

Breakfast at your hotel.

In the morning sight­seeing of Krakow — the cul­tural capital of Poland with Old Town listed as UNESCO Heritage. During the tour you would see Barbican and defensive walls with Florian’s Gate, the Main Market Square with Sukiennice Cloth Hall, St Mary’s Church and Town Hall Tower. We would proceed to the Jagiellonian University, pass by Archbishop Palace (where John Paul II used to live) as well as St Andrew’s Church and St Peter and Paul’s Church to reach the Wawel Hill.

In the afternoon we will explore Krakow Kazimierz Jewish District known from Schindler’s List. Kazimierz used to be a sep­arate town close to medieval city of Krakow. It was mostly pop­u­lated by Jewish com­munity. Throughout years it became Krakow’s dis­trict, but the abundance of markets, syn­agogues and kirkuts (Jewish cemeteries) shaped char­acter of this part of town. As Kazimierz depicts the history of Polish Jews, some shots of Steven Spielberg Schindler’s List were cap­tured here. During this tour you would dis­cover this charming part of Krakow with its monu­ments and com­plexed history.

Accommodation in a hotel cent­rally located in Krakow.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer to Oswiecim (Auschwitz).

All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, gen­ocide and the Holocaust. It was estab­lished by the Nazis in 1940, in the suburbs of the city of Oswiecim (Auschwitz in German) which, like other parts of Poland, was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. A visit to con­cen­tration and exterm­in­ation camp museum might help you to com­prehend what incomprehensible.

Transfer from Krakow to Wieliczka the most beau­tiful and the oldest oper­ating salt mine in the world (UNESCO Heritage). From over 700 years it was a source of Polish fortune and a physical fun­dament of culture. Today Wieliczka is the most will­ingly visited Polish tourist object with mag­ni­ficent chapels, charming under­ground lakes and ori­ginal tools and equipment. During this tour you could see a number of excavated chambers on 3 levels adorned with beau­tiful sculp­tures made of salt as well as a salt museum. Transfer back to Krakow.

Accommodation in a hotel cent­rally located in Krakow.

Breakfast at your hotel.