For 2010, Crystal Cruises is offering numerous optional Crystal Adventures that focus on destinations' Jewish Heritage. The excursions enable travelers to absorb a region's diverse spiritual culture, explore Judaic history and even trace their roots in the cities of Jerusalem, Berlin, Odessa, Rome, St. Petersburg, and even unexpected places like Stockholm, Dublin, Mumbai and Montevideo.
Many options in Jerusalem explore the Jewish Quarter; the Western Wall, the holiest of Jewish sites; Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, dedicated to the history of Jews during the Holocaust period; and other significant locations.
In Berlin, tours include a visit to the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp, a prototype for all the camps that followed, and the Jewish Old Quarter and the New Synagogue, laid in 1988, exactly 50 years after the "Night of Broken Glass."
While visiting Dublin, tours visit The Irish Jewish Museum, formerly a synagogue, opened by President Chaim Herzog, Israel's Irish former leader, plus a visit to his childhood home.
In Uruguay's capital city of Montevideo, travelers will visit the historic Sephardic and Ashkenazi synagogues, as well as the Holocaust memorial and a glimpse into modern-day Jewish life.
While in Mumbai, tours will attend an array of Indian synagogues and other important Judaic cultural sites.
Options in Odessa include Shomrei Shabbos synagogue, the Jewish Cemetery and memorial to Shalom Aleyhem, famed Ukrainian writer of "Fiddler on the Roof."
In Rome, travelers visit the Jewish Ghetto, issued by anti-Semitic Pope Paul IV in 1555, isolated by walls until 1870.
A tour in St. Petersburg includes a special concert by the cantor of the Great Choral Synagogue, the second largest in Europe.
Finally, those visiting Stockholm will see The Great Synagogue, and its memorial to 8,500 Swedish Holocaust victims, plus one of the few Jewish museums in Scandinavia.
The tours are available on itineraries throughout 2010.
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