Crystal expands Jewish heritage tours

Crystal Cruises is offering almost 30% more Crystal Adventures exploring Europe’s extensive Jewish heritage this year. A predecessor to the line’s new Christian heritage tours, the popular program gives Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony travellers the opportunity to intimately experience Jewish culture and history. The boutique outings visit neighbourhoods, museums, monuments, synagogues and more somber sites in/near Palamós, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dublin, Hamburg, Rome, Odessa, St. Petersburg and Israel. Highlights include: !!! Haifa: A kibbutz, the ancient holy city of Safed, Golan Heights, and a second-century Jewish burial ground; !!! Girona: El Call, one of Europe’s best-preserved Jewish Quarters, by Segway or foot; !!! Dublin: The homes of Dublin’s Jewish Lord Mayors and ex-Israeli President Herzog, the first dedicated day school, and Jewish cemetery; !!! Stockholm: The Jewish Museum and three local synagogues, from Stockholm’s first (1790) to one whose interior is originally from another synagogue in Hamburg; !!! Berlin: Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, the Grosse Hamburger Strasse deportation area, Otto Weidt’s broom-making factory, and the Holocaust Memorial (two different excursions); !!! Athens: Athens’ Jewish Museum, containing more than 8,000 domestic and religious artifacts from 2,300 years of Greek Judaism; !!! Odessa: Kosher refreshments, Ukraine’s only Jewish history museum, Shomrei Shabbos synagogue, and Beit Grand Jewish Cultural Center; !!! Hamburg: Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, home of 100,000+ WWII prisoners; !!! Ashdod: Jerusalem’s Western Wall, Old City, and Holocaust artifact-filled Yad Vashem memorial. Half-day and full-day adventures start at $75 p.p., with two-person Private Options also available in Rome, Haifa, Berlin, and Odessa. Crystal Serenity’s October visit to Israel further offers trips to Galilee, Tel Aviv, and other Jewish-related areas, by coach or helicopter. (http://www.crystalcruises.com)