PRAGUE day trip including Terezin visit
Tuesday 27th September 2016

Prague is a treasure trove of Jewish sites possessing the oldest and best preserved Jewish monuments in Europe, which include synagogues and cemeteries. The Jewish district is located between the Old Town Square and the Vltava River. This district is also called Josefov, after the name of Josef who facilitated the living conditions for the Jews in Prague. Here, visitors will find the remains of a former Jewish ghetto and explore the Jewish heritage with visits to. We will spend the morning visiting the Jewish quarter, its shuls and cemetery before giving everyone a free 2 hour break for lunch at approx 12.30 – 2.30 We will visit the city’s main sites:-

Flights we are taking – RyanAir from Stansted to Prague at 6.45 am lands at 9.40 returning to Stansted at 22.55 landing at 23.55 giving us over 13 hours in the Czech republic. Flights to be booked only once 10 people have paid deposits to enable trip to be confirmed [Deposit is the trip cost of £95 refunded if trip cancelled].

DAY AGENDA FOR TUESDAY 27th September 2016 :
MORNING - We will be met at Prague airport by our guide & historian Aharon who will tell us the history of the Jews in Prague by visiting all the shuls described below and the former ghetto district and museums plus Jewish cemetery. The main Jewish tour of Prague is by foot and this historic walking tour, you will learn about the history of the thriving Jewish quarter of Prague, starting with the Old Jewish Cemetery—the oldest of its kind in Europe, open from the 15th to the late 18th century. Two of its most famous tombs are Rabbi Loew and Mordechai Maisel, a brilliant financier and philanthropist. Also on the tour is the Staranova Synagogue (Old-New Synagogue), originally built in 1270—it is the oldest extant synagogue in Europe with services still being conducted there. You will also see the Maisel Synagogue, now repository of Jewish ritual objects, and the Pinkhas Synagogue, open in 1492, where Franz Kafka once prayed with his family. Also on the tour are the Klausen Synagogue, now an exhibition space for old Hebrew manuscripts and prints, and the Spanish Synagogue, unique in its Moorish inspired design and architecture. We will conclude the Jewish quarter by getting back on minibus and visiting the final renovated and biggest Synagogue in the city the Jerusalem Shul in a different part of town that hosts exhibitions on relevant Jewish topics.

LUNCH TIME – Approx 12.30
Choice of three kosher restaurants or bring your own food and spend more time visiting the city. We will be making a booking at the King Solomon so please confirm if you wish to be included. There is also a Chabad restaurant and Dinnitz Israeli style kosher meat restaurant all very close to each other.

AFTERNOON – Approx 2.30 Essential Prague sites including main town Square – Charles Bridge then on coach to the Castle before leaving for Theresienstadt Otherwise known as Terezen concentration & transit camp with Lidice Memorial if there is time. Terezen concentration & transit camp, located 60 kilometers from Prague, will demonstrate why this was meant to be a "model" concentration camp—one that even passed the Red Cross inspections. Although Terezin acted as a transit center, more than 30,000 Jewish adults and children died in the camp. This tour will show you both the camp and the town of Terezin, including the small fortress – the prison for political offenders; a secret hidden synagogue used during the Holocaust and a gallery of artwork produced by inmates at the camp. On the way back from Terezin you will visit Ustek--a lovely town in north Bohemia, much beloved of film-makers for it's historical charm and well preserved architecture. It's also home to a Jewish cemetery and a synagogue that has been recently restored by the Jewish Museum in Prague. There's much more than this to see though, including the 'Bird Houses' – wooden homes partially carved out of the surrounding rock thereafter return to airport at about 21.15 for flight home at 22.55 landing at Stansted at 23.55

Costs for trip are - £95 per person, covers all transport costs in Prague museum fees and guide costs plus a bottle of water on coach
Excludes Flights with RyanAir [£55 return as of 21/3/16] and travel insurance and any food
Do not book any flights till trip is confirmed

To confirm your place we need the total trip costs paid at £95 per person so don’t delay