What Places Should You Visit While On a Kosher Travel Adventure Through the Iberian Peninsula?3/9/2020 The Iberian Peninsula is a vaguely square-shaped landmass in the west of Europe. The nations of Portugal and Spain are situated in this peninsula, nations that are rich in Jewish heritage. This makes Iberia the perfect place for your kosher Europe Tours. With that said, what places of interest should you visit while on a kosher adventure through Portugal and Spain? Porto Ah, Porto, one of the most scenic ports on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. With its rustic yet colorful portside buildings and numerous historical sites, the second-largest city of Portugal is an ideal vacation destination for people around the world. However, Porto is also home to an active Sephardic Jewish community, which boasts the largest synagogue of Iberia, the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue. If you’re planning a kosher tour through the Douro region (a great vacation destination in its own right), then you should start with the beauty of Porto. Cordoba Spain’s history is intimately tied to the cultures of the Jews, Muslims, and Christians, a coexistence that has idealistically been dubbed the “convivencia.” This triple culture is best reflected in the city of Cordoba, the former seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a center of trade and learning in the Middle Ages. Cordoba was the birthplace of the esteemed Jewish scholar Maimonides, whose legacy is immortalized by a statue in the preserved Jewish quarter of this city. Belmonte Hundreds of years ago, the monarchs of Spain banished all the hardworking Jews of their country for religious and political reasons. While many Jews chose to emigrate to less hostile territory, a few others decided to remain Jewish in secret, pretending to convert to Christianity so as not to attract the Inquisition’s attention. The Portuguese municipality of Belmonte is home to many of these Crypto-Jews, who continue to practice their unique Sephardic Jewish culture today. One of Kosher River Cruises’ kosher cruises for 2020 will have a land tour that will visit Belmonte and the Crypto-Jews who have thrived there. A Jewish vacation through Portugal is not complete without visiting the enduring Jewish legacy in Belmonte.
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