What Can You Experience on a Kosher Holiday to Budapest?

The Danube River winds through the center of Europe, the second longest waterway of that great continent. Along the river is a variety of European capital cities, from Vienna to Belgrade. While vacations outside of one’s country is not advisable at the moment, there will be time in the future where the pandemic will subside, and kosher river cruises through Europe’s wonderful travel destinations will be possible once more.

Budapest is the capital of the country of Hungary, a sprawling city with the remnants of older days still standing tall in its scenic skyline. The Danube River cuts through the center of Budapest like the red carpet of a museum, letting the passengers of a river cruise immerse themselves in the history and heritage that can be explored in the Hungarian capital. For a Jewish travel audience, here’s a few things that you can expect. 

A Variety of Synagogues

From the large Dohany Synagogue (also known as the Great Synagogue of Budapest, the second-largest synagogue in the world) to the elegantly-designed Kazinczy Street Synagogue, Budapest has a variety of well-restored synagogues that you can visit and explore. A good number of them are museums that store important relics of Jewish heritage in Europe, but a lot of them are still active centers of religious activity.

A Rich and Complicated History

Chain Bridge Budapest

Like many places in Europe, there had been records that showed an active Jewish presence in the urban life of Budapest even before the medieval era, around the 11th Century. The Jews of Budapest (back when the city was two separate towns called Buda and Pest) contributed to the trade of the area, and despite the various persecutions and calls for expulsion, they managed to establish an enduring legacy, as shown by the activity of its many synagogues. If you’re looking for a future kosher holiday, consider going to Hungary. 

What Makes this Jewish Vacation Environment-friendly

Preserving the earth and taking care of all life forms is strongly emphasized in Jewish teachings. This is explained in the Jewish concept of bal tashchit which translates to “do not destroy”. If you want to explore Jewish heritage and experience a holistic approach to Jewish culture and traditions with compassion for Mother Nature, then an environment-friendly Jewish vacation is the right thing for you!

Take a look at some of the policies of this Jewish tour in line with their commitment to sustainability.

1. Paperless Transactions
   
   From checking out our tour packages, booking your trip, and requesting for your cruise documents, Kosher River Cruises have shifted to the digital format. Not only does this save more time and offer convenience, it also makes a big difference for the environment. 
   
   
2. Energy-efficient Shipping Technology
   
   With cutting-edge technology, our fleet of modern cruise ships are equipped with a smart recycling system for our wastewater, solar energy and aerodynamic ship design for reduced air resistance leading to lesser power consumption, and a sustainable climate-control system. This is to ensure that the environment is not compromised while guests enjoy their Jewish vacation. 
   
   
3. No to Single-Use Plastics
   
   Plastics thrown into bodies of water degrade through time and release harmful chemicals, and can either be ingested by marine animals or trap aquatic life forms. By 2050, the number of plastics could outweigh the population of fishes in the ocean if no course of action is taken. As you cruise in your Jewish tours through the Danube or Seine, remove your stress and worries just as we have banned the use of plastic bags, straws, water bottles, and plastic utensils–common single use plastics that often end up in waterways.

Cliché as it may sound, but we should leave nothing but footprints in every vacation location that we enjoy, to help ensure that the sites we visit are preserved for the next generation to admire and experience. For sustainable Jewish tours, check out Kosher River Cruises and start planning your next vacation!

2 Great International Recipes You Can Prepare Kosher

When people went on Jewish trips around the world before the pandemic hit, there was always the concern that the local food was not kosher, and therefore something that they could not enjoy, barring themselves from experiencing the local flavor. 

As 2020 continues to surprise us and with most of our community staying indoors, the dietary options of Jewish travelers might seem strange to bring up. However, staying indoors gives people a lot of time to spare, and we’ve discovered that there’s actually a lot of different cultural dishes from around the world that are kosher, or at least easy enough to turn kosher. Here are three great recipes from around the world that you can prepare for yourself.

Alu Vadi/Pathrode of India

A lot of vegetarian cuisines are quite kosher, from ratatouille to the non-meat variants of banh mi. Alu Vadi or Pathrode of India is one such cuisine, a kind of plant-based snack made from colocasia leaves. Dassana Amit of Veg Recipes of India presents this easy to follow the recipe for you to try your own pathrode at home. You might have to wait before you can go on Glatt Kosher Tours through India, but you can sample great kosher Indian cuisine today. Just be careful with the taro though. The recipe even gives the option to replace it with spinach leaves. 

https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/alu-vadi-patra-pathrode-recipe/

Apple Strudel from Austria

The original homeland of this recipe is not too far removed from the ancestral homes of some European Jews, some of its ingredients (pig lard or ostensibly kosher meat paired with dairy bread) made it inadvisable to eat. However, this did not mean that there weren’t strudel variants that could be eaten safely by Jews, especially when this recipe is easy to modify. In the link below, Leah Barzel of Kosher.com provides a great and tasty apple strudel recipe, one that you can use to warm those cold nights with something sweet and toasty to partake in.

https://www.kosher.com/recipe/apple-strudel-442

Places to Visit on a Post-Pandemic Kosher Europe Tour

The world still feels like it's under lockdown, with most of the population told to stay at home. However, despite the dire situation, it’s still important to look to the future. In time, this pandemic will end, and it will be safe to travel far and wide again. The economy will heal and friends and family can gather together once more without fear of infection. 

One way to orient oneself towards a positive outlook is by mapping out one’s plans for the future, whether it's to get oneself a new car, set up one’s own business (when it’s possible to, of course) or complete a travel itinerary. If you’re inclined towards Kosher Europe tours, here’s a few great travel destinations that you can add to your future travel itinerary.  

 

Salamanca, Spain

Plaza Mayor

Salamanca is an old university city in Spain, home of one of the oldest universities in the West. While ostensibly a Christian city that attracts hundreds of international students each year, Salamanca, like most of the major cities in Spain, has a Jewish quarter, along with other remnants of Sephardic Jewish heritage. Salamanca was also the birth city of Abraham Zacuto, whose contributions to astronomy helped explorers like Vasco de Gama map the stars and chart paths across the sea. 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Canal City

Amsterdam is well known for many things. As the capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam is a bustling city of artistry, commerce and learning. It was also once the safe haven of Sephardic Jews who fled Spain following the 1492 Expulsion. Here, they found relative prosperity and rebuilt their commercial and cultural advancements, to the point that they even had a printing press. Amsterdam was also the home of Jewish diarist Anne Frank, whose legacy is preserved in the Anne Frank House in the innermost part of the city. If you’re interested in a future Glatt Kosher tour of Europe, be sure to add Amsterdam to your list.