From incredible wineries to the land of Cezanne & Van Gogh… With a Jewish Heritage twist
Bordeaux, hub of the famed wine-growing region, is a port city on the Garonne River in south-western France. It’s known for its Gothic Cathédrale Saint-André, 18th- to 19th- century mansions and notable art museums such as the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux. Public gardens line the curving river quays. The grand Place de la Bourse, centered on the Three Graces fountain, overlooks the Miroir d’Eau reflecting pool. Bordeaux was also the home to a prominent medieval Jewish community. During our tour we will walk along Rue Cheverus, which once formed the centre of the local medieval Jewish community. We will explore nineteenth-century Jewry with its gray stone synagogues, and visit the memorial dedicated to the Bordeaux Jews who died in the Holocaust. We will discover the Portuguese Consul, General Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who saved over 10,000 Jews and 20,000 other refugees, over a three-day period in June 1940 by countermanding his government’s orders and issuing Portuguese visas.
Provence established by the Romans and dotted with the remains of amphitheatres and arenas, an aqueduct and the remains of the Roman towns of St-Rémy-de-Provence and Vaison-la-Romaine. Provence is bordered on the west by the River Rhone, and on the south by the famous Côte d’Azur, the playground of the rich and famous. Provence’S signature lavender and sunflower fields blend with its vineyards and ancient olive trees, offering its visitors the very same vision, in the spectacular natural light that inspired such Impressionists as Van Gogh and Cezanne. The nature of the area is deeply sensual, allowing its beauty and pleasures to be savoured by all the senses in the colourful Provençal markets.
