Ophir Tours English Speaking and Kosher Tour Greece Jewish Heritage Trip Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa and more! March 4-14, 2019

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1 Ophir Tours English Speaking and Kosher Tour Greece Jewish Heritage Trip Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa and more! March 4-14, 2019 The history of the Jews of Greece is the oldest in all of Europe. There has been a Jewish population since at least before the second temple was destroyed; and ruins of Greek Jewish synagogues from the second century B.C.E have been found. Despite their long history in the country, however, Greek Jews have struggled to belong. Together we will discover a rich history which can be found in the cosmopolitan cities of modern Greece, where small and strong communities can still be found. J Day 01 Monday Arrival on TK 1849 from Istanbul at 13:35 (1:35pm). En route to hotel enjoy a panoramic tour of Athens to see the main sites via bus. Check-in at the Hotel for a rest before dinner Dinner and overnight in Athens. Day 02 Tuesday Today is the day to explore the city and its Jewish and Greek past. Start the morning with a visit and guided tour to the world famous Acropolis. The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments are universal symbols of the classical spirit and civilization and form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity to the world. Will continue our tour exploring the History of the Jewish community of Athens In the heart of the Agora, a mere stone s throw from the Acropolis, stood an unusual building believed by some scholars to have been the first synagogue in Greece dating back to the 5thcentury B.C.E. During the time of Alexander, the Great and in the centuries that followed, Jewish life was concentrated in the northern part of Greece. Not until the 19th century, when Greece gained its independence from the Turks, did a Jewish community begin to grow and prosper in Athens. The synagogue at 5, Melidoni St. was built in 1905 to accommodate the growing community that numbered 3000 by the 1940s. Although the Holocaust took its greatest toll on the Jews of Thessaloniki, Athens was also a center of Nazi persecution. Very near the synagogues, in a small park overlooking the Keramikos archeological site, stands the Holocaust

2 memorial. It was inaugurated in 2010 to honor the memory of 59,000 Greek Jews that were killed by the Nazis during WWII. Dinner and overnight in Athens. Day 03 Wednesday Venture out of Athens for a tour to Mycenae Nafplion Epidaurus. The archaeological site of Mycenae is the imposing ruin of one of the great cities of the Mycenaean civilization, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean world from the 15th to the 12th century B.C. and played a vital role in the development of classical Greek culture. The city is indissolubly linked to the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which have influenced European art and literature for more than three millennia. Nafplion is among the most picturesque towns in mainland Greece. Only 2 hours drive from Athens, Nafplion town has an intense medieval atmosphere. On top of a hill above Nafplion, there is the strong fortress of Palamidi with amazing view to the sea. At the entrance of the port, there is a small islet with a fortress that used to protect the town from naval attacks. In a small valley in the Peloponnesus, the shrine of Asklepios, the god of medicine, developed out of a much earlier cult of Apollo (Maleatas), during the 6th century BC at the latest, as the official cult of the city state of Epidaurus. Its principal monuments, particularly the temple of Asklepios, the Tholos and the Theatre - considered one of the purest masterpieces of Greek architecture date from the 4th century. The vast site, with its temples and hospital buildings devoted to its healing gods, provides valuable insight into the healing cults of Greek and Roman times. Dinner and overnight in Athens Day 04 Thursday Early breakfast at the Hotel Today we start our trip north. First stop will be the town of Chalkida in Evia where we will visit some important Jewish sites, including the Jewish cemetery and Colonel Frizis monument. The graves in the cemetery date from the Ottoman period. The earliest are of considerable interest as they have gabled superstructures that are slanted and with an opening at the head to permit the insertion of a commemoration stone. Most of the 16th century graves have disintegrated, and the headstones have been incorporated into the arches above the windows of the synagogue. (A number of other headstones in the synagogue were found during the razing of the old Venetian fortifications of Chalkida. It is recorded that the Jews were forced to assist in constructing those fortifications in the 14thcentury, using material from their own cemetery) Colonel Mordechai Frizis monument Mordechai Frizis, a native Jew of Chalkida, was the first Jew to graduate from the Greek officer s school and was killed in the Albanian campaign of the

3 Second World War. He was well known as a brave and popular leader to his troops. We will continue our journey north to the town of Larissa (280 kms from Chalkida) Arrival in Larissa and check in our Hotel. Dinner and Overnight Check-in at the Hotel Dinner and Overnight in Larissa Day 05 Friday Early breakfast at the Hotel Today we will visit some important Jewish sites in Larissa. The synagogue: It is located at 29, Kentaraun St., at the intersection with Kyprou St. The synagogue is normally open for services on Shabbat and holidays. We will be able to visit based on community approval. Holocaust monument: The Monument of Jewish Martyrs of the Holocaust is built in front of the synagogue, on the square called Plateia Evraion Martyron Katohis (Square of the Jewish Martyrs of the Holocaust), at the center of the city. It was unveiled in April In addition, we will visit the Jewish cemetery of the town. Arrival in Thessaloniki around and check in at the Hotel Friday night dinner and Overnight in Thessaloniki Day 06 Saturday Shabbat lunch and Seudah Shlishit in Thessaloniki. Dinner and Overnight in Thessaloniki. Day Sunday-Monday Day Full Day Tour of the City including a number of Jewish monuments 1. Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki: Representing the historic centre of Thessaloniki s Jewish community, this museum serves to acquaint the public with the city s Jewish historic and cultural heritage. The museum s permanent exhibition features headstones from the old Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis during the Greek Occupation, family and religious heirlooms, as well as old Jewish newspapers and costumes. The Holocaust Room, an emotionally charged space, includes items from the Nazi crematoriums, yellow stars worn by Jews in the ghettos, and the authentic metal press used to make these. 2. Jewish Holocaust Memorial: The Jewish Holocaust Memorial, established in remembrance of the 50,000 Greek Jews exterminated at Nazi concentration camps is located at the south eastern corner of Eleftheria (Freedom) Square, nowadays transformed into a parking facility. Nazi forces had rounded up Jewish men here on July 11, 1942 for processing procedures prior to their

4 deportation to concentration camps. The memorial s monument, a bronze sculpture of a seven-branched menorah, whose flames are wrapped around human bodies in demise, was created by Nandor Glid, a Serbian Professor of Applied Arts in Belgrade, and his son. It was unveiled in 1997 and, since 2006, has stood at the parking space opposite the port at the beginning of Nikis Avenue. 3. Old Railway Station: The last act in the Jewish tragedy of Thessaloniki took place between March 15 and August 2, 1943, at the city s Old Railway Station, where Jews were stacked into livestock carriages and sent off to the extermination camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen. Since 1951, the Old Railway Station has been used to transport goods. An old railway administrative building, built in 1871, featuring a monument with historic details on the Baron Hirsch Jewish district, established in 1892 to house Jews displaced by a fire, may be seen here. 5.Casa Bianca: One of the city s most renowned mansions, Casa Bianca has housed the Municipal Gallery since Built in 1912 by Italian architect Pierro Arrigoni, it was owned by Dino Fernandez Diaz, a Jewish entrepreneur of Spanish heritage, and named after his wife. This building is not only famous for its unique architectural style, featuring Renaissance and Art Nouveau elements, but also because it is the location where a romance developed between Alini, the owner s daughter, and Spyros Alibertis, a Greek army second lieutenant. The couple discarded the era s social and religious taboos, married and survived the Holocaust. The mansion was sold in 1965, housed a kindergarten and school in the ensuing years, and, following a strong earthquake in 1978, was expropriated by the Greek State and restored to its original form in an exemplary fashion. 6. Old Jewish Cemetery Memorial: The oldest Jewish necropolis in the Mediterranean, it existed from the early Roman era at an expanse nowadays belonging to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. It included over 300,000 tombs but few gravestones survived the Nazi assault of In 2014, as remembrance of the destroyed Jewish cemetery, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Jewish community erected a simple monument in the form of a bronze sculpture of a seven-branched menorah, as well as a composition comprised of marble plaques from the desecrated tombs. The memorial was created by architect Konstantinos Lentaris. 7. Malakopis Gallery: The old La Banque de Salonique (Bank of Thessaloniki) building, at Hrimatistiriou Square, nowadays operates as a shopping gallery named Stoa Malakopis. The building was constructed in 1907 and designed by renowned architect Vitaliano Poselli, while the bank was founded by the Italian-Jewish Allatini entrepreneurial family. The clock at the top of the building s façade is stuck at 11:07, signalling the time when a major earthquake struck Thessaloniki on June 20, 1978, devastating many buildings and leaving 45 dead. 8. Saul Gallery: The Saul Gallery serves to remind of the robust entrepreneurship practiced by the Jews in Thessaloniki. It was built by Jewish banker Saul Modiano between 1867 and 1881, possibly to architectural plans

5 by Vitaliano Poselli. It stood as a two-level building of simple Renaissance design and featured roughly 100 shops, workshops and offices. Part of the structure was torched by a fire that broke out in the area in 1917 and rebuilt in 1929, as an L-shaped structure. The arcade is still used for commercial purposes today, hosting cafes and a number of small shops. 9. Hirsch Hospital: The main building at the Ippokrateio, Thessaloniki s biggest and most modern hospital today, was built between 1905 and 1908, based on plans by the architect Pierro Arrigoni. Originally serving as a hospital for the city s Jewish community, it was developed courtesy of a donation by the baroness Clara de Hirsch, the wife of Austrian-Jewish philanthropist Maurice de Hirsch, who developed the Balkan region s railways. The two-level hospital, which was equipped with 98 beds, was initially known as the Hirsch Hospital. During the ensuing war periods, it was used as a military hospital by the French and British allies. Between 1944 and 1950 it covered the medical needs of British military bases. In 1950, the Jewish Community transferred the hospital s ownership to the Greek State. The old building nowadays houses the modern-day hospital s administration. A wall script in Hebrew, listing the names of the hospital s first board members, may be seen in the B Pathology unit corridor. 10. Modiano Market: Thessaloniki s largest sheltered market was built in 1922, based on designs by Jewish architect Eli Modiano, over the ashes of Kadi, a Jewish district. It was launched in 1925 as a central food market. This rectangular-shaped building, featuring a glass roof and divided into Dinner and Overnight in Thessaloniki. Day 09 Tuesday Early breakfast at the Hotel Full Day Meteora tour. Return in Thessaloniki Dinner at the Hotel and Overnight Day 10 Wednesday Excursion to Vergina with visit of the Royal Tombs of Aigai. Transfer to the Airport Flight Schedule TK MAR TLVIST HK TK MAR ISTATH HK TK MAR SKGIST HK TK MAR ISTTLV HK

6 Price: 2299 Euro Single Supplement: 250 Euro Price Includes: Round trip flights on Turkish Airlines from Israel 9 night s 4 star hotel accommodation Kosher meals: daily breakfasts in hotels + lunch boxes. Catered dinners from community or kosher fish dinner in hotel. Transportation in air-conditioned coach as per itinerary Local guides for the excursions and visits as per program including all entrance fees Israeli English-speaking tour leader Porterage at hotels Water on bus Individual wireless headphones Not included: Any items of a personal nature Any other items not mentioned in Price includes Tips for Israeli Guide Travel/Medical insurance Prices are subject to change due to fuel or tax increases. The itinerary is subject to change.