Arrival to Riga.

Check in at the hotel and lunch.

Tour to Rumbula, further visiting Ghetto Museum, old Jewish district. Maskavas Suburb is the melting pot of Riga‘s different ethnicities. The district was developed in 19th century on the road to Moscow (hence the name). It is a mishmash of large brick edifices and two floored wooden apartment buildings which became a Riga Ghetto. You will also visit a monument for the Great Synagogue, that was destroyed in 1941. 

Shabbat in Riga.

Trip to Panevezys visiting Daugavpils on the way.

Rabbi Kook was born in Latvian town name Griva, located close to Daugavpils. Part of his childhood he spent in his grandparents' home in Riga. When he was 39, he was invited to serve as the rabbi of Jaffa, and later was appointed Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He founded the Chief Rabbinate and Yeshiva 'Merkaz Harav'. Rabbi Kook is considered the founder of religious Zionism today.

Today you will start a tour tracing the path of Rabbi Kook, famous yeshivas’ and shtetls’.

After breakfast, you'll departure to Vilnius and start your tour of the historical center of Vilnius (Vilna) from Gediminas Castle and then proceeding to Cathedral Square, President's Palace, and Vilnius University. Later, you'll visit the old Jewish quarter's narrow streets and the courtyards of the middle-age ghetto, Great Vilna Synagogue, and shulhoyf. Vilna Gaon, the great Jewish scholar who was born 1720 in Belarus, spent an important part of his life in Vilnius. This city is a center of the struggle between Mitnagdim and Hasidim. You'll also behold the street of famous Jewish sculptor Mordekhai Antokolski and the world-renowned Strashun library that had more than 6000 volumes at the end of the 19th century. Next, the territory of the Large Ghetto, the courtyard of the Judenrat, the fight of the Ghetto prisoners against the Nazis.