Amazing Sights To See in Bratislava

Bratislava is on a hill overlooking the city and was once a Roman frontier post. Since the 19th century there has been a castle at this site but in 1881 it was reduced to rubble due to a fire. It was finally re-built in the mid 1900s and well worth visiting to see the museums inside and to look at the panoramic views over the city. Interesting to see are the rooms of the National Museum and the History Museum.

A large section was devoted to art – about 3500 prints, statues and paintings by both domestic and foreign artists are grouped according to themes. There is religious art, portraits of royalty, more portraits and modern art and sculpture. Other rooms are contain Slovakian glassware, carved wooden furniture, weaponry, helmets, armour and clocks. The Crown Tower is a small enclosed tower that offers a panoramic view of the city, comparable to the view from the Eiffel tower if you were in a city tour from a Paris river cruise.

The Primatial Palace, built in 1778 and located in the centre of the Old Town, is considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. The exterior is pale pink and white and is topped with various marble statues and a large cast iron cardinal’s hat. The palace itself is filled with large oil paintings of Hapsburg royalty, sparkling crystal chandeliers and six English tapestries on the walls. Another attraction is the ornate Hall of Mirrors. It was here that Napoleon and Francis I signed the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805.

Spend some time at St Michael’s Gate and St Michael’s Street. It is a very quaint street which is full of shops and restaurants and it is very relaxing to just sit and people watch while enjoying a coffee or cold drink. At the top of the street is St Michael’s Gate. This is the only preserved gate of the fortifications of the medieval city. Nowadays, the Museum of Weapons and City Fortifications is located within the tower. Don’t miss the Man at Work. It is a bronze statue of a sewer worker resting at the top of a manhole and he appears to be looking at passerby.

The Jewish community of Bratislava was the largest and most influential in Slovakia. In the early 1920s there were approximately 11,000 Jews in the city and in 1930, about 15,000. In the 1938 elections, Kraus of the Jewish National Party was elected Deputy Mayor of Bratislava and three Jews were elected to the Bratislava city council. Part of the community emigrated during the late 1930s and after the second world war, but the majority perished in the Holocaust. In Bratislava today, there is the Heydukova Street Synagogue, the Chatam Sofer Memorial, the Museum of Jewish Culture, the Bratislava Jewish Community Museum and two cemeteries, the Neolog and the Orthodox. There are also many other Jewish monuments and landmarks.

After your visit to Bratislava in a kosher travel, relax by returning to your Kosher Riverboat Cruises boat to enjoy freshly cooked, glatt kosher meals prepared by our team of on-board chefs, for your delight.

Mesmerizing Mississippi

The city of Biloxi was the third largest city in Mississippi behind Jackson and Gulfport. After Hurricane Katrina, the population of the city decreased and it then became the fifth largest city in the state. The beachfront of Biloxi lies on the Mississippi Sound as part of the Gulf Coast, an interesting stop for a kosher tour.

Well worth a visit is the Biloxi Lighthouse which was erected in 1848. It was one of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the South and is the signature landmark of the city. This lighthouse is famous for having several female lighthouse keepers including Maria Younghans who tended it for 53 years. It is now open for public tours after a 14 month refit.

Biloxi is a proud host to the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, which in turn is the home of the self-proclaimed “Mad Potter of Biloxi”, George E. Ohr. Born in July 12 of 1867, Ohr was an American ceramic artist whose innovative experiments with modern clay forms has earned him wide renown, with some even considering him as a forerunner of the American Abstract-Expressionism movement.

The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art is a work of art in itself, designed by Canadian-born American architect Frank Gehry. In 2008, it was selected by TIME as one of the top five architectural designs in the world for the “Style & Design 100” issue.

Another interesting museum to visit is the Alice Moseley Folk Art Museum, which is located inside the historic train depot of Bay St. Louis. It contains original folk art paintings, pottery, art glass and antique furniture. The actual inside of the museum is a replica of the interior of Alice’s former house.

The Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs celebrates the works of Walter Inglis Anderson, whose depictions of the flora, fauna, and residents of the Gulf Coast have earned him a place in the forefront of America's 20th century painters. It is also the home of his brother, Peter Anderson’s, pottery collection. Peter was a master potter and the founder of Shearwater Pottery which continues to be family-owned to this day. The museum also features the work of noted painter, James McConnell Anderson, who also created ceramics.

Jews have always been a small minority of Mississippi's population. Though small, Jewish communities are still very much part of the state and continue to preserve and observe religious tradition. They arrived in what is now Mississippi back in the mid-1700s, while the area was still very much under Spanish control. It should be noted, however, that the first significant Jewish community in the area was not established until 1800 in Natchez, where the first Jewish religious service was also reportedly held. In 1840, the Jews of Natchez purchased land for a cemetery, and went on to formally organize the one of the state's oldest congregations, the Children of Israel.

The earliest sign of a permanent Jewish settlement along the Mississippi Gold Coast was the cemetery in 1853. It was located on Reynoir Street and not having been used for many years, it was bought by the Jews in New Orleans. During World War II, the Keesler Air Force Base brought new life to the Jewish population of Biloxi. The new Jews who arrived needed a place to worship and they founded the Congregation Beth Israel.

To learn more about Mississippi's unique landmarks and Jewish heritage, we welcome you to join us on our Mississippi kosher cruise.