Jewish Heritage Tours

Nurdan’s United Travel Services DMC ( UTS ) - Turkey

In Istanbul

Discover the cosmopolitan city with many thriving Jewish quarters - Visit the Neve Shalom, Ahrida and Zulfaris Synagogues (Jewish Museum)…Take a walk in the colourful streets of the Jewish communities in the quarters of Balat and Galata along the famous Golden Horn…

“Jewish Heritage” Experience in Istanbul

We begin our tour at the Pera Museum in the heart of Istanbul’s old European quarter.  The museum has an exceptional permanent collection of late-Ottoman portraits.

We now move on through streets lined with handsome 19th century, baroque buildings – not to mention fashionable cafes, bars and restaurants – to the Galata Tower, which was the main fortification of Constantinople’s Genoese quarter.  From here we descend into what was for many years the city’s principal Jewish quarter.  There are a number of impressive synagogues, one of which has been converted into an excellent museum.  Unlike their Western European counterparts neither the Byzantines nor the Ottoman Turks indulged in the persecution of Jews.

Indeed, the Ottomans were so philosemitic that when the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, Sultan Beyazit II, seeing an opportunity to acquire a wealthy, well-educated and enterprising population, sent ships specifically to bring them to his capital.

We end the day with a visit to the Ahrida Synagogue in the ancient district of Balat on the southern shore of the Golden Horn.  Ahrida is a corruption of Ohri, and the synagogue was founded in the 14th century by refugees from Macedonia. A leading member of the Jewish community will tell us all about its history.