VILNIUS - KAUNAS – RIGA 2012 - Mission to Lithuania led by Rabbi Lewis Yeshurun Edgware
4 Days / 3 Nights in Lithuania & Latvia
Sunday 6th May 2012 [Monday 7th bank holiday] to Wednesday 8th May with options to leave early at different times or even extend
Day 1, 06.05.2012, Vilnius
12:55 Arrival to Vilnius, check-in at Conti 4* hotel.
Bring Lunch with you – best eaten on the coach to our Vilnius Hotel as tour will start 30 minutes after arrival at Hotel. Fruit and drinks will be supplied on coach
Vilnius city tour Approx 2pm including the main historic and architectural monuments of the town. You will see the Medieval Jewish quarter, its lanes and courts, listen to the history of Great Vilna Synagogue, the personality of Gaon of Vilna. In Vilnius Old Town you will also see the world famous Jewish printing house “Widow and Brothers Romm”, the Monument to Tsemakh Shabad and the Ghettos of Vilna where more than 40.000 Jews were concentrated in 1941-1943. Visit to Vilnius University and the Yiddish Institute, in which the Yiddish language is taught and Yiddish literature is fostered.
Dinner and overnight in Vilnius.
Day 2, 07.05.2012, Vilnius – Ponar – Trakai – Vilnius
Breakfast at the hotel. Morning visit to Ponar Memorial (10 kilometres from the city center) - a place of the mass killing of 100,000 people (mostly Jews and Poles), from Vilnius and nearby towns and villages during World War II. You will see the memorial and museum dedicated to this great tragedy.
A tour to Trakai, the ancient capital and the residence of Grand Dukes of Lithuania, famous for the lakes and sights of the area. The 14th century insular castle with a museum of Lithuanian history. The Karaite museum and the story of this small ethnic group (confessing Judaism), brought by Lithuanian duke Vytautas from Crimea as war prisoners about 600 years ago. Visit to the Kenessa (synagogue).
Return to Vilnius. Lunch in Vilnius.
Afternoon visit to the Vilna Gaon State Jewish (Tolerance center, Green House) to see the collection of traditional and modern Jewish objects of art and documents and objects connected with the Holocaust. The museum demonstrates different aspects of the historical and cultural heritage and tragedy of Jews.
The last visit to Jewish Cemetery, a place of eternal rest of Jewish public and religious figures.
Dinner and overnight in Vilnius.
Day 3, 08.05.2012, Vilnius – Kaunas
Breakfast at the hotel. Departure to Kaunas at 7.45 am PROMPT as otherwise will be unable to fit all required visits before we depart on pm flight On the way to Kovno stop in Ziezmariai to visit the last wooden synagogue in Lithuania.
Arrival to Kaunas.
Kaunas city tour includes the most interesting – architectural and historic monuments in the Old Town; former Kaunas Jewish ghetto; Sugihara Center; Kaunas Choral Synagogue. Kaunas Choral Synagogue is striking for its black and golden colors, as well as its Children's Memorial. From Synagogue you’ll be able to pass the house where the poet Leah Goldberg once lived, and visit the area that once contained the vibrant Jewish Ghetto, ultimately incinerated by the Nazis. Stand at the spot where the members of the Kaunas Ghetto once lined up and waited as Nazi officers assigned their fate.
Visit to the Ninth Fort Museum, a former death site of thousands of Jewish nationals during the World War II. There Jews were imprisoned overnight, only to be executed in the surrounding open fields the next morning. Visit the Museum within the fort, and pay respects at the memorials on the open grounds which surround it.
PRICE PER PERSON :
£359 ON BASIS OF SHARING A DOUBLE ROOM
£60 SINGLE ROOM SUPPLEMENT
DOES NOT INCLUDE FLIGHTS – WHICH MUST BE BOOKED BY YOURSELVES AS FOLLOWS:-
EARLY FLIGHT TO VILNIUS On WIZZAIR <HTTP://www.wizzair.com> LUTON TO VILNIUS Sunday 6th May Flight No W6 8002 8.15am Lands 12.55pm
Those who need to return on the Tuesday can book a return flight on RyanAir that returns from Kaunas Tuesday morning otherwise our recommendation is that this trip is extended by another day so we can travel and see Riga in Latvia.
THEN RETURN FLIGHT LATE BACK FROM RIGA AIRPORT ON RYANAIR FLIGHT to STANSTEAD www.ryanair.com Wednesday the 9th day of May on FR2645 LEAVES AT 22.20pm LANDS 22.55pm
Included are:
- 2 overnights at 4-stars centrally located hotel in Vilnius;
- 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 2 dinners, 1 lunch box (kosher food);
- Transfers according to the programme with 15 or 35-50 seats bus;
- Guide escort during whole tour;
- Entrance to Sugihara House, Ninth Fort Museum, Vilnius University, Trakai Castle, Tolerance Center, Green House;
- 5 guided excursions: City Tour in Kaunas, Vilnius, Vilna Gaon State Jewish museum, Ponar memorial, Trakai.
Additional RIGA extention :-
Transfer to Riga airport, departure to any returning on late flight back to Stanstead on the 8th May
OPTIONAL
Dinner at the Cafe L'chaim and overnight in Riga.
Day 4, 09.05.2012, Riga
10:00 Breakfast at the Cafe L'chaim.
Riga City tour a tour of the Old Town, including the Dome Cathedral, the Jewish quarter, a memorial for the burnt Great Synagogue of Riga, the Jewish school founded in the XIX c. by Rav Dr. Max Liliental, the Synagogue, the museum “Jews in Latvia”, the Jewish community centre, the sites of Shimon Dubnov in Riga. Visit to Rumbula and Bikierniki Memorials, where Nazis murdered many thousands of Jews from Latvia, Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Lunch at the Cafe L'chaim.
Afternoon visit to Salaspils, the Memorial to the victims of the Nazis. At this site, obscured by dense forest, the Nazis herded thousand of victims to be executed and buried in the anonymity of mass graves. Jews were brought from as far away as Austria and Germany; many Latvians and Russians were killed at this site as
well. The current monument was unveiled only in 2001, and it illustrates the persistent Jewish soul and its refusal to be forgotten.
Dinner at the Cafe L'chaim. Then Transfer to Riga airport for departure back to Stanstead.
PRICE PER PERSON OPTIONAL SUPPLEMENT TO RIGA:
Sharing double or twin room £132 per person
Single supplement £149
Included:
- 1 overnight at 3-stars TIA * Hotel in Riga;
- 1 breakfast, 1 lunch and 2 dinners at Cafe L'chaim (kosher food);
- Coach for Riga City tour and visit to Salaspils, transfer to Riga’s airport (no guide escort!);
- Entrance to Riga’s Dome;
- Guided excursion of Riga Old Town and Jewish Riga.
COMBINED COST of full trip of 3 nights 4 days sharing a double/twin room is £491 per person
Single supplement £568 plus flights – vital to have own insurance for this trip