This morning your driver will meet you at your ship at 9AM for the approximately 2.5 hour drive to Berlin. Upon arrival, your local guide will meet you for touring.
You will first visit the fantastic Jewish Museum – Europe’s largest Jewish museum. The permanent exhibition is closed until July 2019 but temporary exhibitions will be possible to visit. Nearby you can see the Topography of Terror. For history lovers, this outdoor museum on the site of the former headquarters of the Gestapo and SS is an essential visit. The museum is an outdoor timeline of Nazi terror in Germany.
Next, stop in the Neue Synagogue. The synagogue was first inaugurated in 1866 and features the oriental- influenced architecture that was popular at the time. The synagogue was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II and was essentially demolished in 1958, except for the front façade and entrance. In 1995 it was reopened as a museum showing the history of the synagogue and of Jewish life in Berlin.
Afterward, head to one of Berlin’s neighborhoods not far from the Museum Island – Hackesche Höfe, a series of ambitiously restored industrial courtyards. It is in this area where you will find another interesting place to stop on your own if you like – the small Museum of Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind. Known as the “Schindler of Berlin,” this museum will introduce you to the efforts of Otto Weidt to protect his Jewish employees from persecution and deportation. He employed mainly blind and deaf Jews who produced brooms and brushes. Down some of the many side streets there is still ample evidence of what was once a thriving Jewish community and of its destruction by the Nazi regime.
After touring, your guide will remain behind in Berlin and you will return with your driver to your ship.
Exeter Services: Vehicle & Driver (12 Hours); Berlin Guide (6 Hours)