Adriatic cruise combines Greek and Italian Jewish history sites — Jerusalem Post
A seven-night cruise aboard the Celestyal Journey departed from Piraeus in Greece and included stops in Kefalonia, Dubrovnik in Croatia, Kotor in Montenegro, Bari in Italy, as well as Corfu and Katakolon in Greece. The itinerary combined Adriatic tourist destinations with sites connected to the history of the region’s Jewish communities, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Jewish heritage sites
In Kefalonia, a Holocaust memorial is located near the cruise terminal. According to the publication, after the Nazis took control of the Ionian Islands in 1943, about 1,800 members of the Jewish community were deported and killed.
In Dubrovnik, passengers can visit a synagogue founded in 1352. The publication calls it the world’s oldest active Sephardic synagogue and Europe’s second-oldest synagogue. The building also houses a small museum.
During the stop in Bari, the author traveled by train to Trani, where the medieval Jewish quarter of Giudecca has survived. The Jewish community flourished there from the 9th to the 14th centuries, and four synagogues operated in the quarter. The 13th-century Scolanova Synagogue was returned to the Jewish community in 2005; another historic synagogue, Scola-Grande, now operates as a museum of Jewish history.
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Corfu and ancient Olympia
Many Italian Jews settled in Corfu, which was under Venetian rule from 1386 to 1797. In 1944, Nazi military personnel, with the assistance of Greek police, imprisoned community members in a fortress and deported them to the Birkenau death camp. Of about 1,700 community members, 200 survived.
The next stop was Katakolon, a port village from which visitors travel to ancient Olympia. An ancient stadium has survived there, while the Archaeological Museum displays a 4th-century BC sculpture of Hermes attributed to Praxiteles. The cruise ended in Athens with a tour of the Acropolis. At the end of 2025, exterior scaffolding that had stood at the Parthenon for about two decades was removed.
The liner and company offers
The Celestyal Journey accommodates 1,260 guests in 630 cabins. There are seven restaurants and eight bars on board, as well as two swimming pools, a theater, casino, sports courts and a spa. The company also offers seven-night winter Mediterranean cruises from €469 per person. Packaged meals are available for kosher dining and must be ordered at least a month in advance for an additional charge.
