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10-Day The Treasures of the Baltics |
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Explore
the towns and cities of the Baltics, the squares and synagogues of Vilna, Kovno,
Riga and Tallin, all centers of Jewish life before World War Two, where learning
and culture flourished. From architectural marvels to Holocaust memorials, the
Baltics are an experience in Eastern European history and Jewish memory,
offering an opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of how modern Judaism
was developed.
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Tour Highlights
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Visit to the Old Town and Jewish Quarter of Vilna, Kaunas,
Riga and Tallin
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Meeting with members of the local Jewish community in
Vilnius and Riga
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Visit to the Trakai Castle
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Visit to the home of Leah Goldberg
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Shabbat services at the Peitav Shul in
Riga
Trip Includes
- 8 nights accommodation
in selected hotels
- 2 nights
Vilnius
- 2 night Kaunas
- 2 nights Riga
- 2 nights
Tallinn
- Breakfast daily and
3 dinners
- Sightseeing per itinerary in
a modern air-conditioned motor coach with panoramic windows
- Services of a friendly and
professional English-speaking Expedition Educator throughout the trip
- Entrance fees per itinerary
- All
hotel portage and tipping
included
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DAY ONE:
Sunday
- Depart the U.S. for
Vilnius.
Overnight:
Flight
DAY TWO: Monday WELCOME TO
LITHUANIA
- Arrival at Vilnius Airport.
- Welcome by our representative and assistance with
arrival formalities.
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Transfer to your hotel and check in. Airport transfer
included.
- Relax, unpack and settle in.
- Welcome dinner at the Medininikiai Restaurant and
orientation to the program hosted by Expedition
Educator.
Overnight: Hotel Radisson SAS
Astoria, Vilna
DAY THREE:
Tuesday HISTORICAL VILNIUS
Breakfast at the
hotel.
Begin your trip to the
Baltics with a panoramic introductory tour of Vilnius, Lithuania's largest
city and capital, with an Old Town that was listed in 1994 as a UNESCO
Heritage site. The tour of the Old Town will be including stops at:
- The Vilnius Castle
Complex, a group of defensive, cultural and religious buildings that
evolved between the 10th and 18th centuries, including the Lower and
Upper Castle and the remaining Gediminas' Tower, the traditional symbol of
Vilnius, and the Cathedral;
- The Old University,
founded in 1579 by the Jesuits, is Lithuania's largest university and one of
the largest in Eastern Europe; its fleet of buildings exhibit various
architectural styles, from Gothic and Renaissance to Rococo;
- Hill of Three Crosses,
originally constructed in 1916 by Polish sculptor Antoni Wiwukski, torn down
by the Soviets in 1950 and reconstructed in 1989 by Henrikas
Šilgalis;
- St. Anna's Church,
originally erected in 1394 and continually expanded throughout the
centuries, using various art and architectural styles;
- The Chapel of the Gates of Dawn,
the only surviving of the ten original gates in the town wall, which houses
the famous icon of the Virgin Mary, dating from the early 17th
century.
Lunch at leisure en
route.
Continue with a guided visit
through the medieval Jewish Quarter and what was traditionally known
throughout the Jewish world as Vilna, Yerushalayim de Lita (the Jerusalem of
Lithuania). Vilna was one of the most significant pre-Holocaust European
communities with a community of over 100,000, and was a world center for the
study of Torah and the home of Rabbi Eliyahu Kremer, also known as the Vilna
Gaon (the Genius from Vilna). The tour will include visits to the:
- Vilnius Choral Synagogue,
built in 1903;
- Vilna Gaon Jewish State
Museum, dedicated to the history of Lithuanian Jewish life, including an
exposition on the Holocaust and a contemporary Tolerance Center;
- The Judenrat (Vilna Ghetto
Council);
- The Jewish
Cemetery
Da'at Encounter: Meet with
representatives of the present-day Jewish community.
Return to the hotel
Dinner and evening at
leisure.
Overnight: Hotel Radisson SAS
Astoria, Vilna
DAY FOUR: Wednesday TRAKAI-KAUNAS
(KOVNA)
- Breakfast at the hotel
- Check out of the hotel and depart for Trakai, one of
Lithuania's most charming towns located on a peninsula between two lakes.
Trakai is a UNESCO World Heritage City.
- Visit to the Trakai Castle followed by a stop at the
Karaite Synagogue.
- Lunch on your own at leisure in Trakai.
- Drive to Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city and
at one time its temporary capital. Until 1940, Kaunas, also known as Kovno,
boasted a Jewish population of some 40,000, one-fourth of the city's entire
population.
- Enjoy a panoramic tour of the Old Town where you'll
view the Kaunus Cathedral, Old Town Hall and Square and Kaunas Castle.
- Check into your hotel.
- Dinner on your own.
Overnight: Best Western
Santakos, Kaunas
DAY FIVE: Thursday JEWISH KAUNAS
(KOVNA)
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Morning tour of Jewish Kaunus or Kovno:
- Slobodka Jewish Ghetto, home of the famous Slabodka
Yeshiva, considered the ‘mother of yeshivas' and the forerunner of the
Hebron Yeshiva;
- Zamenhoff and Mapu Streets, named in honor of
Eliezer Zamenhoff, the inventor of the international Esperanto language, and
Abraham Mapu, a native of Slobodka and a Hebrew novelist of the Haskalah
movement, considered the creator of the Hebrew novel;
- Home of Leah Goldberg, one of Israel's most well
known pre-state poets and authors, many of whose poems in Hebrew refer to
her longing for her birthplace;
- Ohel Yakov Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery;
- Children's Memorial;
- Holocaust Museum and Memorial
- Lunch on your own, followed by a leisurely afternoon
on your own to explore this picturesque city which boasts numerous
restaurants, bars and cafes as well as art galleries and Lithuanian folk art
souvenir shops.
- Return to the hotel and dinner on your
own.
Overnight: Best Western
Santakos, Kaunas
DAY SIX: Friday KAUNAS-RIGA
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Check out of the hotel and depart for Sauliai,
Lithuania's fourth largest city, for a short city tour.
- Stop en route at the Hill of Crosses, or Kryziu
Kalnas, a Lithuanian national pilgrimage site where hundreds of thousands of
crosses of all sizes and styles stand to represent Christian devotion and a
memorial to Lithuanian national identity.
- Lunch on your own en route.
- Cross into Latvia and arrive in Riga, where the Jewish
presence dates back to the 13th century.
- Da'at Encounter: Visit the Jewish Museum and meet with
representatives of the Jewish community.
- Check into your hotel and time to relax.
- Private Shabbat dinner at the hotel.
Overnight: Hotel Revel
Ridzene
DAY SEVEN: Saturday RIGA
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Shabbat services at the Peitav Synagogue, built in
1905 and Riga's sole surviving synagogue.
- Walking tour of Riga's Old Jewish Quarter, which at
its peak, prior to the Holocaust, was home to some 44,000 Jewish inhabitants.
Visit the Memorial of the Burnt Synagogue, destroyed by the Nazis in 1941.
- Lunch en route on your own.
- Continue with a tour of Riga's Old Town, with visits
to:
- Riga Castle;
- St. Mary's Dome Cathedral, the largest cathedral in
the Baltics;
- Large and Small Guilds, the former is home to the
Riga Orchestra while the latter is a Crafts Corporation House.
- Freedom Monument, a 138-foot-high monument honoring
soldiers killed during the 1918-1920 Latvian War of Independence;
- House of Blackheads -- originally mentioned in the
14th century as an important center of public life for unmarried merchants,
the Brotherhood of Blackheads -- which was later destroyed during World War
Two and reconstructed at the beginning of this century;
- St. Peter's Church, first built in the 13th century
and since expanded;
- Riga's Art Nouveau district, one of the largest
centers of Art Nouveau in Europe.
- Return to the hotel and evening at
leisure.
Overnight: Hotel Revel
Ridzene
DAY EIGHT:
Sunday RIGA-TALLINN
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Check out of the hotel and proceed to Salaspils to see
the monument complex in remembrance of the Soviet victims of the Nazis, and
then to Rumbula to visit the monument to the 25,000 Jews executed by the Nazis
in early December 1941. Continue to the Holocaust Memorial and burial
spot of 40,000 victims from throughout Europe murdered in Bikernieki
Forest.
- Lunch on your own en route.
- Drive via Paernu, Estonia's main summer resort, and
continue to Tallinn, Estonia's capital and largest city, situated on the Gulf
of Finland.
- Arrive in Tallinn and check into your hotel.
- Dinner and evening at leisure.
Overnight: Hotel Radisson SAS,
Tallinn
DAY NINE: Monday TALLINN
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Visit to the Klooga Holocaust Memorial, located at the
site of an Estonian forced labor camp set up by the Nazis during World War Two
and the Jewish cemetery in Rahumae, including the Jewish Chapel and
Levinovitschi Mausoleum.
- Da'at Encounter: Visit to the Tallinn Jewish Center,
school and museum as well as the Beit Bella Synagogue, inaugurated in 2007 and
the first synagogue to be built in Tallinn since 1944, when the original
synagogue was destroyed by a Soviet air bombing on the then Nazi-occupied
city.
- Lunch at leisure on your own.
- Tour of Tallinn's Old Town including visits to:
- Town Hall Square
- Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
- Niguliste Church
- Dome Cathedral
- Toompea Castle
- Old Pharmacy House
- Lunch en route at leisure.
- Return to the hotel and time to freshen up.
- Enjoy a farewell folklore dinner at the Kaval-Antsu
Talu restaurant.
Overnight: Hotel Radisson SAS,
Tallinn
DAY TEN: Tuesday
- Breakfast at the hotel.
- Check out of the hotel.
- Transfer to the airport for
flight home. (Airport transfers included. Please allow a minimum of three
hours for check-in.)
- Flight back to the U.S. (arrive on
the same day).
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Need to Know
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- Tour prices are per person in U.S.
dollars. All hotel accommodations, motor coach transportation, special
dinners, sightseeing, admissions, luggage handling and the services of local
guides, drivers, and the Expedition Educator are included.
- Hotel Accommodations: The
tour price includes all hotel accommodations, in hotel rooms with private
baths. Our standard is to provide the best available hotels while considering
value. Although the level of the accommodations may differ slightly from hotel
to hotel, we are committed to your comfort. Two-bed rooms are reserved in most
hotels. Triples are two-bed rooms with a rollaway cot where available and are
not recommended when considering the comfort of those in the room. King-size
beds are not available in most hotels; what is considered king-size usually
consists of two single beds pushed together and made up separately, but with
one headboard. Some two-bed rooms may have two twin - not full- or queen-size
- beds.
- Meals are included as
specified in the itinerary.
- Expedition Educator: All
trips are conducted by our Expedition Educators or local guides who remain
with the group throughout the tour.
- Gratuities Included: All
gratuities for restaurant and hotel staff.
- Luggage Responsibility: All tour
packages allow one piece of luggage per person and one carry-on bag. Excess
luggage will be subject to charge of up to $100 per piece. The Travel Agent
and/or Tour Operator shall not be held responsible for any damage to or loss
of luggage/personal items. All damage/loss must be reported at time of
incident and documented in writing by local authorities for submission to your
insurance company.
Not Included
- Airfare to the tour
departure point and from the tour ending point is not included. Airfare may be
purchased from us for travel originating in the United States. Please see
Flights tab in the right-side toolbar.
- Personal Expenses: All
personal expenses such as: laundry, valet service, cables, telephone calls and
postage are not included.
- Guide and Driver
Gratuities:
- 4 seater -
$70 (i.e. 2 pax) - per day
- 7 seater - $90
(i.e. 3-5 pax) - per day
- 10 seater - $110
(i.e. 5-7 pax) - per day
- 10-19
passengers: Guide $10, driver $5 - per participant per day
- 20 passengers
and more: Guide $8, driver $4 - per participant per
day
Additional Information
- Airline Security Measures:
In the U.S., you must provide identification in the form of a passport at the
time of airport check-in for travel to international destinations. Your
passport name must match the name on your tour reservation and airline ticket
or you may be denied boarding.
- If you are traveling from an
airport outside the jurisdiction of the U.S, you will need to determine what
travel documentation and identification is required for that particular
airport.
- Due to heightened security
regulations, certain items such as a metal nail file, pocketknife, cigarette
lighter or tweezers, and some liquid, gel, or aerosol items may not be
permitted in your carry-on luggage. Please call your airline prior to
departure to obtain current information on non-permissible carry-on items and
recommended airport check-in times. You may also wish to visit the
Transportation Security Administration website at www.tsa.gov to obtain more
information on acceptable identity documentation and prohibited luggage
items.
- Holidays and Museum Closures
- Museum visits and personal shopping time may be disrupted due to unforeseen
circumstances or the many religious, state and local holidays locally observed
in the destinations being visited.
- Photography During Tours: We will
occasionally use photographs taken by fellow guests or your trip director for
promotional purposes. If you prefer that your photo not be used in any
marketing activities, please notify us at the start of your
tour.
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| 10 Day | The Tresurers of the Baltics |
| 2010 | | Land Only | | Status | | |
| Aug 22 | | $1949 | | Sold Out | |
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Important to Know
Taxes, security fees and fuel surcharges are not included. Learn more
Land only price does not include arrival/departure transfers unless otherwise indicated.
By paying your deposit upon registration you are agreeing to Da’at terms.
We highly recommend that you review those terms for full details about conditions and penalties.
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Accommodations
- 10 Day | The Tresurers of the Baltics
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Day 2 - 3: Radisson SAS Astoria
Vilna
This landmark hotel, originally built in 1901
and recently renovated, offers sophisticated facilities while retaining its
turn-of-the-century charm.
Superbly located in the heart of the picturesque Old Town, the hotel is within walking distance
of main attractions and shopping areas and a short drive from the
airport.
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Day 4 - 5: Best Western Santakos
Kaunas
The Best Western Santakos
Hotel is situated on a calm and quiet street in the heart of Kaunas, the city
considered the most authentically Lithuanian. Hotel guests can experience the rich
Lithuanian culture through the area's many popular music festivals including
Kaunas Jazz Festival, Pazaislis Classic Music Festival and the International
Festival Operetta in Kaunas Castle.
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Day 6 - 7: Hotel Reval Ridzene
Riga
Overlooking the park and historic Old Town, the
Reval Ridzene Hotel is in the center of Riga and near the city's main parks,
offering the hotel an almost tranquil setting. With modern luxuries, the utmost
respect for privacy and attention to detail, the hotel is ideal for discerning
travelers visiting Riga.
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Day 8 - 9: Radisson SAS
Tallinn
The
Radisson SAS Hotel in Tallinn is the perfect place for enjoying the city's
picturesque Old Town with its cobblestone streets and medieval houses, ancient
walls and gun towers, as well as local shopping and entertainment
areas.
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