Day 1   Departure North America

Embark your transatlantic flight.

 

Day 2   Amsterdam:

AM                    Start the day off with a Visit of the Anne Frank House, pre arranged visit with a lecture covers every interesting aspect of this remarkable story. A special lecture can be given e.g. in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam about the Dutch Masters with a Jewish background, like the painter Jacob Israel.

PM                    Head over to the Jewish Historical Museum located at the Plantage and include a visit to the Portuguese Synagogue. Afterwards you will have some time to walk through the Jewish Quarter.

EVE       Dinner at Ha Carmel Kosher Restaurant

 

Day 3   Oude Kerk aan de Amstel & Haarlem

AM        Depart for The Beth Haim of Ouderkerk on the Amstel, the oldest Jewish cemetery in Holland. It was purchased for use as a burying ground by the Jewish community of Amsterdam in 1614. Spizona's parents are buried here. Cemetery is now a monument and in desperate need of restoration.

PM        Head to Haarlem and visit the Ten Boom Museum. This museum is dedicated to Corrie Ten Boom, a woman who survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was sent there because her family had Jews in hiding during the World War II.

 

Day 4   Westerbork & Antwerp

AM        Travel to the North of Holland to visit concentration camp Westerbork, from where many Jews were transported to Germany during WW II. Monument at Westerbork: Each stone represents one person who had stayed at Westerbork and died in a Nazi camp.

PM        Head south to Antwerp, Belgium. Antwerp has the 4th largest Jewish Community in Europe) Be sure to

            visit the Central Station, one of the most beautiful train stations in the world.

            The Red Star Line Museum (People on the Move) opens spring 2013:

            http://redstarline.be/eCache/MHE/30/08/175.html 

Upon arrival attend a lecture about how the Jews came to Antwerp and their history. Following, visit a diamond cutting factory and see highly skilled craftsmen at work.

Overnight: The Radisson Park Lane or the Hotel Leopold

 

Day 5   Antwerp

AM        Take a Guided walking Day Tour through the Jewish Quarter. Visit to the monument with the burning thora, where the word 'zechor' is mentioned. The monument was finally finished 20 sivan 5758 (May 27th, 1997). Antwerp is home to about 15,000 Jews and one of the largest ultra-Orthodox communities in the Diaspora. The city's 30 synagogues are all Orthodox. Around 95% of Jewish children in Antwerp attend Jewish religious schools and there are many kosher delis, restaurants and grocery stores.

PM        Travel to Brussels

Stop in Mechelen to visit the The Dossin Barracks(Mechelen) opens summer 2012: http://www.kazernedossin.eu/en this

EVE       Dinner at Kosher Restaurant Balthazar 

            Overnight: Brussels

 

Day 6   Brussels

AM        After Breakfast, visit the National Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium. It is an impressive monument located at Rue Emile Carpentier and Rue de Goujons (B - 1070 Brussels) in the district of Anderlecht. The square is called 'Square of the Jewish Martyrs'. 23,838 names are inscribed on the wall. A small museum is also located here.

PM        Take a walking tour through the Jewish history area of Brussels. A special guide will inform you how in the last ages the Jewish community in Brussels developed. Main sights: foundation of the Bruossella with the Saint Gorik’s Island being most important. Furthermore the Jewish Bridge, Old Synagogues, Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, all represented in Brussels. The tour will end at the Jewish Museum of Belgium. The Museum is located in a 19th Century town house with a beautiful collection of Jewish art, Jewish religious objects and documents.

 

Day 7   Departure

AM        After breakfast departure for the airport of Brussels for your flight back home.

 

This tour can be operated out of Brussels airport as well.