Jewish Heritage River Cruises Bring Travelers to Icons of History

History really comes alive for travelers who chose to experience the optional Jewish Heritage attractions featured on the AMAWaterways (www.amawaterways.com) Danube river cruises.

AMA features three river cruises down the Danube River through Eastern Europe that include several optional major components of Jewish history. The “Romantic Danube” trip is 7 nights sailing from Budapest, Hungary to Prague, Czech Republic, departing August 14, 2011, and the “Blue Danube Discovery” is a 10-night trip including 2 nights in Budapest, 7 nights cruising and concluding with 3 nights in Prague, departing November 15, 2011. The “Ledgendary Danube” includes three nights in Prague, then cruise to Nuremburg and Budapest and departs November 7, 2011.

Jews and non-Jews will all enjoy the features of the Jewish Heritage tours, which passengers can sign up for during their cruise. A significant historical note is that Eastern Europe did not see the devastation and destruction that so much of France and Western Germany did because the fighting of World War II was not focused there. This benefits the eastern countries now because many of their most beautiful and historically-significant attractions are intact.

Sam Hamedani, head of reservations for AMA and a non-Jew, recently joined several of the Jewish Heritage attractions on the cruise and said the history and beauty were amazing, regardless of what your religious beliefs are. The guides, who are all local to the city you are visiting, are especially knowledgeable and able to give a lot of local color to the tour.

In Budapest, visitors tour the Dohany Street Synagogue, also known as The Great Synagogue, the second largest synagogue in the world behind Temple Emanu-El in Brooklyn, New York.  Consecrated in 1859, the temple can hold 3,000 seated guests and 2,000 standing guests.  The late actor Tony Curtis, who was a Hungarian-descended Jew, helped sponsor a sculpture in this magnificent building. Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz in Brooklyn, and spoke only Hungarian until he was 5 or 6.

Besides the beautiful synagogue, Hamedani says the other big highlight he was able to see was the tomb of Rabbi Chatam Sofer in Bratislava, Slovakia. Sofer was a significant leader in Jewish heritage, often quoted in the texts of Orthodox Jewish writings. He lived during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Hamedani says he remembers the tour stressing the rabbi’s reputation for standing up for Jews against persecution at the time. The tomb had been lost for many years because the Nazis had built over it and was found through tunnels.

Other highlights of the tour include visits to the Jewish Museum in Vienna, Austria, Oskar Schindler’s home in Regensburg, Germany and on the longer tour, a visit to Courtroom 600 in Nuremburg, Germany, site of the international tribunal of the Nazis after World War II.

The AMA river cruisers are specially-built ships to fit through the locks of the rivers and feature all-inclusive pricing and luxurious amenities. Read more about the tours from a past Family First article and on their website www.amawaterways.com.  They also feature other specialty cruises including Tulip Time, Christmas Time and the Wine River Cruise so check those out too!