VILNIUS TO RIGA via KOVNA 2013
Lithuania to Latvia 3 full days 2 nights
Led by Rabbi David Mason of Muswell Hill Shul
From Sunday 13th October with option to leave Kaunas on 2nd day

Day 1, Sunday 13.10.2013, Vilnius
Arrival to Vilnius. Bring your own sandwiches for first day’s lunch, fruit and drinks will be awaiting us on coach
Vilnius city tour 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. We also visit the Museum of Tolerance formerly Vilna Gaon museum.
Visit to Jewish Cemetery, a place of eternal rest of Jewish public and religious figures.
Check-in at Conti 4* hotel.
Dinner at Chabad Vilnius restaurant.
Overnight in Vilnius.

Day 2, 14.10.2013, Vilnius – Kaunas
Breakfast at the hotel. Departure to Kaunas formerly Kovna in yiddish
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).
Stop at Ziezmariai wooden synagogue which is just off the motorway on the way to Kaunas
Visit to the Ninth Fort Museum, just outside Kovna 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.
Visit Choral Synagogue Kovna Ghetto & Slabotka Yeshiva before concluding at Sugihara Centre.
Transfer to Kaunas airport. Departure.

OPTIONAL – Leaving Kaunas on 23.35 flight day 2 or continuing to Riga

Day 2, 14.10.2013, Vilnius – Kaunas – Riga
Transfer to Riga, check-in at Albert 3*+ hotel - likely arrival time in Riga midnight
Overnight in Riga.

Day 3, Tuesday 15.10.2013, Riga
10:00 Breakfast at the Cafe L'chaim run by Chabad
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.
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.
Transfer to the airport, departure.

PRICE PER PERSON:
£225 sharing a room – single supplement £35 for Lithuania part of trip 2 full days and 1 night

Included:

- 1 overnight at 4* centrally located hotel in Vilnius;
- 1 breakfast, 1 dinner, 2 lunch boxes (kosher food);
- Supply of water and fruits upon arrival;
- Transfers according to the programme with 15 or 30 seats bus (no bus after check-in to Conti hotel on the first day);
- Guide escort during whole tour;
- Guided excursions: Jewish Vilnius, Paneriai memorial, Trakai, Ziezmariai, IX Forth, Jewish Kaunas, Sugihara museum
- Entrances: Vilnius University, Trakai castle, IX Forth, Sugihara house.

OPTIONAL SUPPLEMENT
RIGA extended includes a supplement of £145 per per sharing and single supplement of £20
TOTAL COMBINED TRIP COSTS £370 pp sharing – single supplement £55 plus flights
Must book WIZZAIR Luton to Vilnius 7.30am Lands 12.10 Sunday 13th October 2013
If Returning on Monday from Kaunas book RYANAIR 23.35 on Monday 14th October lands 0.25 am
Otherwise for full 3 day trip book return from RIGA to London Stansted on RYANAIR at 22.15 Tuesday 15th October lands at 22.55

Included:

- 1 overnight at 3-stars hotel in Riga – Albert Hotel ;
- 1 breakfast, 2 lunch boxes (kosher food);

ANYONE INTERESTED MUST E-MAIL me at marcel.manson@westendtravel.co.uk DETAILS OF ALL PARTICIPANTS AND BE RESPONSIBLE OF BOOKING OWN FLIGHTS CURRENTLY APPROX £100 RETURN AND CONFIRMATION OF TRIP PROCEEDING £75 DEPOSIT per person required TO WEST END TRAVEL balance payable 6 weeks prior to trip