Jewish Heritage in Turkey

Arrival in İzmir. Transfer to the hotel. Overnight in İzmir.

After breakfast, departure for Sardis, the capital of ancient Lydia. We will see the significant ruins of the Acropolis. We will visit the Temple of Cybele and Diana, which later became a church. Then the golden river Pactolus and the Royal Road. Next we will visit the restored synagogue and see the names of the wealthy American Jewish families who financially supported the excavations. This synagogue is considered the largest ancient synagogue outside Israel.
Return to İzmir, where we will visit some of the city’s synagogues, such as Beth Israel, Bikur Holim, Algazi, the Seniora Synagogue and Havra Sokak (Synagogue Street). Overnight in İzmir.

Full-day tour of the ancient city of Ephesus. Visit the Library of Celsus with its menorah inscription, the marble-paved Arcadian Way, the Roman Baths and the Great Theatre. Opportunity for lunch and shopping in Ephesus.
Return to İzmir airport.
Evening flight İzmir–Istanbul. Overnight in Istanbul.

Experience a Jewish heritage tour of Istanbul:
Drive to Balat, the Jewish working-class quarter on the shore of the Golden Horn, which absorbed most of the settlers who came from Spain in the fifteenth century. Visit the recently restored Ahrida Synagogue (we need your full name, date of birth and passport number to obtain special permission to visit synagogues in Istanbul), originally built in the 15th century and the earliest synagogue in Istanbul. The original 20-metre-long oak bimah (teva), shaped either like Noah’s Ark or like the Ottoman ship that carried the Sephardim from Spain to freedom in Turkey, can still be seen.
Then continue to the Galata district. Begin a tour of Sephardic history in the Galata quarter, an area that was almost entirely Jewish for more than 400 years. Today Galata is known throughout the world for the tower built by the Genoese in 1348. The Office of the Chief Rabbinate is also located in Galata. Today there are 16 synagogues in Istanbul that are still in use. First visit the Neve Shalom Synagogue, which is used today for most community functions, and also visit the Jewish Museum of the Quincentennial Foundation, located near the synagogue. Walk to the nineteenth-century Ashkenazi Synagogue, the only Ashkenazi synagogue in Istanbul, originally built by Austrian Jews. After the synagogue visit, free time for lunch, a walk to the Schneidertempel Art Gallery (depending on the exhibition schedule) and a walk to the Camondo Steps, built in the 19th century. Neo-Baroque and early Art Nouveau styles were blended here in the 1870s to create this curving thoroughfare on one of Istanbul’s steepest hills. Abraham Salomon Camondo, of the wealthy Sephardic Jewish Camondo family, financed its construction. He inherited the banking and business success of his ancestors and went on to become the chief banker of the Ottoman Empire, in the Galata district where the steps are located.
Overnight in Istanbul.

Free time until the transfer. Depending on your time, you can visit the Jewish cemetery.
Transfer to the airport and departure from Istanbul.