Monday 4 – Sunday 10 November 2024

Journey with us to Provence and the Côte d’Azur to explore the region’s rich Jewish heritage

Discover the Jewish art, history and communities of Aix-en-Provence, Nice and the French Riviera on this six-night trip to the culture-rich South of France. Home to Marc Chagall from the late-1940s onwards, with stunning Mediterranean landscapes and unexpected connections to the Holocaust, this region provides a vibrant and dramatic slice of Jewish heritage.

Highlights include:

• Guided tours of the Chagall Museum and other sites relevant to this artist, including Vence Cathedral and the Fondation Maeght, St Paul-de-Vence;

• Visits to Picasso’s Temple de la Paix in Vallauris and Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence;

• A chance to explore the complicated history of the former Vichy government internment camp of Les Milles, plus a stop in Sanary-sur-Mer, where several eminent refugees from Nazism found sanctuary;

• Jewish heritage tours led by expert guides in the old towns of Aix-en-Provence and Nice;

• Visits to the Ephrussi Rothschild Villa and Villa Kérylos (built by the Jewish Reinach family);

• Additional lectures by art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen and JR executive director Aviva Dautch;

• A relaxing Shabbat spent with the Jewish community in Nice.

This trip is now full, but if you’d like to join the waiting list, please contact the JR office on 020 7794 5254 or tours@jewishrenaissance.org.uk.

This tour is arranged in association with Bespoke Kosher Travel and is for Jewish Renaissance subscribers only. Not currently a subscriber? Click here to subscribe.

Itinerary

Monday 4 November

Having made our way to the Grand Hôtel Roi René in Aix-en-Provence under our own steam, we will assemble in the lobby at 3.30pm for a group meet-and-greet session. This will be followed by a walk around the delightful old town of Aix led by a local expert, focusing on sites of Jewish interest. We will finish the day with a group dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Tuesday 5 November

Today, as on every day of our trip, breakfast at the hotel is included. After breakfast, we will convene in the hotel for an introductory talk by Dr Aviva Dautch and Monica Bohm-Duchen about some of the Jewish cultural figures connected to Aix and the places we’ll explore over the next few days, as well as to prepare us for this afternoon’s visit.

You’ll have free time to go and find lunch in the centre of Aix, and then we’ll meet back at the hotel ready to make our way (taking a 10-15 min ride on a local bus) to Camp des Milles, a former tile factory just outside Aix, which became an internment camp in September 1939. It is the only major internment and deportation camp in France still intact and open to the public, and our tour of this important yet little-known memorial site will place particular emphasis on the unusually high number of artists who were incarcerated there.

We will return to Aix in the early evening, then you can spend time exploring the old town centre at your leisure, since the rest of the evening and dinner will be independent.

Wednesday 6 November

After a relaxed breakfast, we will check out of the Grand Hôtel Roi René. Then we will board a coach to take us to the attractive harbour town of Sanary-sur-Mer which, in the run-up to World War II, provided a haven for a significant number of eminent refugees from Nazism. In Sanary there are lovely little cafés where you can buy lunch. From there, we will travel to Vallauris to visit the powerful War and Peace chapel, decorated by Pablo Picasso in the 1950s. Afterwards we will continue to Nice, where we’ll be staying at the Westminster Hotel. Having had time to check in, unpack and rest a little, we will reassemble for a group dinner, followed by an illustrated lecture by Monica Bohm-Duchen on the life and work of Marc Chagall.

Thursday 7 November

Our first coach stop of the day will be the Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice, where Monica will give us a guided tour of its inspiring collection of his works on Biblical themes. We will then travel inland to Vence, where the cathedral is home to a Chagall mosaic. After some time for you to explore the old town and buy lunch, we will drive to the nearby Chapelle du Rosaire, designed entirely by Henri Matisse. We will continue on to the picturesque hilltop village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where we will visit the nearby Fondation Maeght. We will end the day with free time for you to explore and buy dinner in the village, before the coach returns us to the Westminster Hotel in Nice.

Friday 8 November

After breakfast, we will travel by coach to the Greek-inspired Villa Kérylos in Beaulieu, commissioned by the eminent Jewish Reinach family.  Then we will continue on to the seaside town of Villefranche-sur-Mer, where Monica will talk about Berlin-born Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon’s intimate links with the area, before free time to explore a little and buy lunch at one of the waterfront cafés. Those who wish, may choose to follow in the footsteps of Charlie Chaplin in a short visit to the nearby Chapelle Saint-Pierre. Chaplin was one of the first visitors to the chapel following its post-war restoration, as it was decorated by his acquaintance Jean Cocteau. Aviva will tell you a little about their burgeoning creative friendship, as well as Cocteau’s complicated relationship with their Jewish contemporaries. In the early afternoon, the coach will return to the Westminster Hotel with plenty of time to relax before we meet at reception in the evening and walk together to the synagogue, where we’ll attend a Friday night service with the local Jewish community.  Following the service, we will have a group Shabbat dinner.

Saturday 9 November

Today, all activities are optional, should you wish to enjoy a day of rest. The hotel is located within walking distance of several synagogues, so those who’d like to can attend a Shabbat morning service. We will have a group Shabbat lunch at the hotel. On offer in the early afternoon is a walking tour of sites of Jewish interest in Nice, exploring the city’s Jewish history from medieval times to the present day. In the late afternoon, as the sun sets, Aviva will lead a short study session of Jewish literary texts with a French connection, followed by a group Havdalah ceremony. Dinner this evening will be independent – you may wish to eat somewhere along the waterfront, where our hotel is located, or return to the main centre of Nice.

Sunday 10 November

After checking out of the Westminster Hotel, our coach will take us to the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, where we will learn about its history, enjoying both the lavishly furnished interior and – weather permitting – the enchanting and extensive gardens. After a group lunch with wonderful views in the Villa’s café, the coach will take us to Nice Airport in time to check in for the 3.55pm BA flight to Heathrow or the 7.15pm Easyjet flight to Gatwick. Please note that these are the flights on offer as of mid-August and are subject to change; we will adjust the coach drop-off accordingly.

For those choosing to travel by train, the coach will make a brief stop at Nice train station en route to the airport. Those catching the Gatwick flight may also want to get off the coach at Nice station, which is in the town centre, as you’d have time for a couple more hours of exploration before you need to check in at the airport.

TOUR INFORMATION

Destination: Aix-en-Provence (two nights) and Nice (four nights).
Dates: Monday 4 – Sunday 10 November 2024.
Cost*: £1,995pp sharing a double/twin room, £350 single supplement.
Transfers: The cost above does not include travel to the start and end points of the tour.

Travel options: arrival

We ask that you arrive at the Grand Hôtel Roi René in Aix-en-Provence on Monday 4 November in time to check-in and be ready to start the tour at 3.30pm (CET). We recommend the following routes:

1. Fly into Marseille airport and take a shuttle bus into Aix-en-Provence, which is approximately a 30-minute journey, followed by a 15-minute walk to the hotel. You could also take a taxi at a reasonable cost.

2. Take the TGV (high-speed train) from Paris (Gare de Lyon) to Aix-en-Provence station. These trains run regularly and take around 3.5-4 hours. If you choose this route, we recommend that you arrive in Paris on the Sunday and stay overnight, then take the TGV mid-morning on the Monday. Once at Aix-en-Provence station, take a taxi to the hotel, which will take approximately 20 minutes.

Travel options: departure

On Sunday 10 November you will be dropped at Nice airport (2pm) or Nice train station shortly before, as you prefer.

1. The coach will drop you at Nice airport at 2pm, to allow time to check in. There are flights with both BA (Heathrow) at 3.55pm or EasyJet (Gatwick) at 7.15pm. Please note that these are the flights on offer as of mid-August and are subject to change.

2. For those choosing to travel by train, the coach will make a brief stop at Nice train station en route to the airport. If you wish to get the TGV from Nice to Paris, it will take approximately 5.5 hours. We recommend staying in Paris overnight and returning to the UK the next day.

*Price includes luxury four-star accommodation; all coach travel throughout the tour; all entrance tickets, guided tours and extra lectures; all applicable taxes and tips; and all breakfasts, plus three dinners and two lunches (not including alcohol). All food provided will be vegetarian or pescatarian (no seafood/non-kosher fish).

**If the numbers aren’t viable, you will be informed and refunded by 6 September 2024. Once the trip is confirmed, the deposit is non-refundable.

Please note that although Jewish Renaissance is arranging this trip, the travel company you are contracting with is Bespoke Kosher Travel, who are making all the bookings within the above package and providing your package protection (IATA and PTS registered and bonded) – this covers all elements of the tour as described above, but does not include issues caused by your flights or individual circumstances. It is highly important that you also arrange your own individual travel insurance. We also recommend that you apply for a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC).

All accommodation will be four star. For our nights in Aix-en-Provence we will be staying in the Grand Hôtel Roi René, which is near the centre of town, and in Nice, the Westminster Hotel & Spa on the Promenade des Anglais.

We will be spending Shabbat in Nice, where the hotel is within a 20-minute walk of a number of synagogues. We will ensure that it is possible to be Shabbat observant for those who require.

This is a high-end tour, in both comfort and quality, however Jewish Renaissance has partially subsidised the single supplement to help lower the cost and overall has set the price as low as possible, so that cost isn’t a barrier. If you would like to support this tour or JR’s work with a voluntary contribution, please donate here.

Please note, this tour involves a substantial amount of (non-strenuous) walking. If you have mobility or accessibility issues, please contact us via tours@jewishrenaissance.org.uk before booking.

ARE YOU A SUBSCRIBER?

JR Tours are open to subscribers only. Subscriptions start at £28/a and can be purchased at subscribe.jewishrenaissance.org.uk.

RESERVE YOUR PLACE

This trip is now full, but if you’d like to join the waiting list, please contact the JR office on 020 7794 5254 or tours@jewishrenaissance.org.uk.