The Hidden Secrets Of Spain by Glatt Kosher Vacations

 

For many centuries, until 1492, the Iberian Peninsula was a mosaic, a melting pot of people, cultures and religions. The presence until this time of Jewish communities embellished the urban geography of Spain.

 

These communities developed their own culture, practiced their customs and their religion and went about their social life in close contact with both Christian and Arab communities. The wealth left by this reality is a common inheritance, a collective heritage of many of Spain’s people. The Routes of Sefarad are journeys through the most notable Jewish quarters.

 

This tour will immerse you into the rich Jewish history of Spain.

Explore BARCELONA and MADRID

 

Barcelona

The cosmopolitan city of Barcelona is situated in the Catalonia part of the country. The city is famous for its unique art and Catalan architecture. You can succumb to the colorful creations, lose all sense of time. Barcelona uniquely blends culture, art and natural beauty.

 

The Jewish community is part of the rich culture of Barcelona, it was the most important and numerous in Catalonia and the entire Catalan-Aragonese Crown. Barcelona became one of the few cities in Europe with two Jewish neighborhoods (Call Major & Call Menor.)

 

Madrid is the capital of Spain and is also the country’s largest city. The city is famous for its cultural history. The heavy influence of religion on the life and architecture of Madrid is palpable.

 

The Jewish community also had a great presence in Madrid, as well as in the cities of Toledo and Córdoba where there are infrastructure that shows the Jewish culture in its splendor in this European area, building a Jewish heritage that to date can be seen

 

LUXURY ACCOMMODATION

HOTEL MELIA BARCELONA SARRIA ✯✯✯✯✯

 

The Meliá Barcelona Sarrià is a luxury city hotel with a strategic location in the financial, cultural and commercial heart of the city of Barcelona. Only a few minutes from Avenida Diagonal, the Paseo de Gracia and the Football Club Barcelona Camp Nou Stadium, it is the perfect choice both for business and leisure travelers. The hotel is also located in one of the city’s main cultural and entertainment districts.

 

Modern, functional design with rooms full of light and with spectacular views of the city. Immerse yourself in the history, architecture and beauty of Barcelona at the Meliá Barcelona Sarriá the Level will make your stay a truly unique and select experience recover after an intense day of work or sightseeing in YHI Wellness, a Spa with specialized services that will reinvigorate you inside and out.

 

MIGUEL ANGEL ✯✯✯✯

 

Hotel Miguel Angel by BlueBay is a luxurious, elegant and modern hotel which was fully renovated in 2000. It offers spacious, sophisticated accommodation in the very heart of Madrid.

 

Located in the Barrio de Salamanca, one of the most elegant commercial and residential areas of Madrid. With magnificent views of the Paseo de la Castellana, the hotel offers all the necessary amenities to satisfy the most demanding guests.

 

The Hotel Miguel Angel is close to the main museums such as El Prado, El Thyssen-Bornemisza, Reina Sofia, the emblematic Santiago Bernabéu football stadium, as well as the IFEMA Convention Center, and is only 10 minutes by car from the historic center and the airport.

 

ITINERARY

DAY 1.

 

Transfers from the airport to hotel in Barcelona.

 

P.M Visit to Picasso Museum and Casa Gaudi.

 

DAY 2.

 

Tour of Girona

 

It preserves one of the best medieval Jewish quarters in Catalonia. Here you will visit the Banastrucca Porta Centre, which houses the Museum of Jewish History and the Nahmanides institute for Jewish Studies. -Candle lighting and Shabbat dinner

 

DAY 3.

 

Leisure Day, Shabbat lunch.

 

DAY 4.

 

City Tour of Barcelona.

 

Explore the authentic city of Barcelona. Meet your guide for a walking tour of the Jewry also known as “Call”; visit of the old Synagogue, gaze the only Mezuzah mark in the city, pass by the building where the Spanish Inquisition functioned in Barcelona since 1478, stop by the fragments of Matzevot reutilized in construction post expulsion, gaze the Shoah Memorial (dedicated in 1995), a very special landscaped site.

 

DAY 5.

 

A.M: Transfer from Barcelona to Madrid by train.

 

P.M: City Tour of Madrid. Visit the Sephardi House in Madrid, in the heart of Old Madrid, just a few meters from the Plaza de la Villa is located in Cañete Palace. The transfer of the Site completes the process of creating Sepharad-Israel House. Admire the most important buildings and monuments in Madrid, such as Cibeles square, Gran Via, Castellana Avenue, and Royal Palace.

 

DAY 6.

 

Tour of Toledo

 

The route begins in the famous Plaza de Zocodover, the visit continues through the maze of narrow streets, until we reach the Synagogue of el Tránsito, continuing through the Jewish Quarter, visitors reach the Synagogue of María la Blanca in the heart of the former Aljama of the city of Toledo. The route begins in the famous Plaza de Zocodover, the visit continues through the maze of narrow streets, where hundreds of years of history within the old walls can be plainly seen, until we reach the Synagogue of el Tránsito, which now houses the Sephardic Museum continuing through the Jewish Quarter, visitors reach the Synagogue of María la Blanca in the heart of the former Aljama of the city of Toledo.

 

DAY 7.

Tour of Cordoba.

 

You will visit Judería and Synagogue. Our tour will take you to one of the three preexpulsion synagogues remaining in Spain. Found in Cordoba, the Ancient Synagogue at Calle de los Judios 20.

 

The statue of Maimonides is in the Plaza de Tiberiades, as a lasting reminder of his life and achievements.

 

The entrance to the ancient Juderia is near the Almodovar Gate, We will also take you to the small Jewish Museum: Casa de Sefarad and Casa de la Memoria.

 

DAY 8.

 

Transfers from the hotel in Madrid to the airport.

 

GIRONA

 

Girona, located in the north of Catalonia, Girona offers history and tradition. One of the best examples of the more than one thousand years of the city's history is the Jewish quarter. Located in the area known as the "historical city", the Girona Judería is made up of an authentic labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys that, together with the courtyards, transport us to past times, specifically to the Middle Ages. The one in Girona is famous for being one of the best preserved Jewish quarters in the world, it shows the multiple decorat

 

TOLEDO

 

Toledo offers us the chance to get closer to the history of Spain from medieval times to the present day. This is a city full of culture as they have traveled through its Muslim, Jewish and Christian streets and the essence of all cultures still survives in its streets. Toledo has a wealth of Jewish heritage difficult to match in Spain. The neighborhood of the Jewish quarter is an opportunity to get closer to discovering the Jewish world, its places of meeting, its homes, markets and bathrooms and cemeteries. This group sought its own isolation to maintain its identity. Thus, we find a neighborhood shaped like a small city formed by a network of walls and alleyways closed by doors, with tracks or radial passages that communicated different neighborhoods of the Jewish quarter with each other and the Jewish quarter with the rest of the city of Toledo.

 

CORDOBA

 

The visit to the Jewish quarter of Córdoba allows you to follow a journey full of charm and magic, discovering corners that guard its rich culture. The presence of the Jews in Cordoba is almost as old as the city itself. The neighborhood of the Jewish quarter of Córdoba is one of the most beautiful preserved in Spain and throughout the world. A vestige of the great Andalusian city that still retains all the charm of yesteryear and in which the visitor can live a magnificent experience feeling transported to past times.

VACATION INCLUDES: