Tentative itinerary

Day 1-5 | Day 6-10 | Day 11-15 | Day 16-21

Day 11 Wednesday
Galizia is a place from where the Galizianers come. Who are the Galicianers? We will learn about them on this day as we travel through shtetls of Galizia and tell funny stories about Galizianers.
We will start with what is considered to be one of the main tourist attractions in Poland - the salt mines in Wieliczka. We then proceed to either Bobova or Nowy Sanz. Both shtetls were important Hassidic courts. This will give us a chance to learn something about Hassidut which was and still is one of the most important streams in Judaism .In the afternoon we continue to Zakopane the beautiful resort in the High Tatras on the Polish-Slovak border. We will spend the night on either the Polish or the Slovak side in a mountain resort.

Day 12 Thursday
After passing the border we will stop in one of the spots on the Slovak Tatras to recreate one of the routs of the Bricha that Jewish survivors made in 1945 when they crossed illegally from one country to the other to fulfill their dream to get to Palestine. This is going to be a hike in breath taking scenery that will teach us about one of the peaks of Zionist history. We then proceed to Sarvash in Hungary where we arrive late in the evening.

Sarvash is a very unique summer camp run by JDC for Jewish youth from many countries, especially in Eastern Europe. We will spend the weekend here taking part in all kinds of activities but most important -meeting hundreds of Jewish youth from many different countries and backgrounds. The program is structured and includes a whole range of activities including sports, folk dancing crafts etc. There is a main theme- this year it is "the home". Today we will join the camp's programmatic activity. We can choose to have a program for ourselves as a separate group or split into smaller groups that will join others so there is more encounter.

Day 13. Friday
Friday in Sarvash is spent preparing for Shabbat including baking of chalot and other chores. Friday evening Kabalat Shabbat with hundreds of Jewish kids from many countries. Since some Israeli groups are bound to be in Sarvash we will make a major effort for the San Francisco kids to spend as much time over the weekend with the Israelis in a so called mifgash or encounter program. The program will be planned before hand by both groups and will involve diverse joint activities like sports, games, walks, discussions etc.

Day 14. Saturday
Shabbat in Sarvash will basically be a day of activities with the Israeli kids and possibly others as well. Those who wish may join the prayers in the morning. There is a walk in the afternoon, then Havdalla and Israeli folk dancing at night.

Day15. Sunday
Travel to Budapest two hours away and then a city tour including the sites of Buda. Overlooking the city, Raul Wallenberg Memorial and Pest with Heroes' Square, the Parliament and stop over at the Dohany Synagogue and visit the Jewish Museum. This is the exact place where Theodore Herzel lived as a boy. It will give us a chance to talk about Herzel and the rise of Zionism. Here we will also learn a few things about Hungarian Jewry and their special fate in the Holocaust to which we can attribute the fact that they are the only substantial community that remained in Eastern Europe after the Holocaust. This tour should take us till the late afternoon.

After we check into the hotel and have dinner, we will go to hang out at Vaci Utzi - The Budapest version of Ben Yehuda Street (far shot comparison).