Secrets of Jewish Majorca - Half Day Experience

Hear the stones whisper hundred of years of history. Learn about the Inquisition, forced conversions, and the emergence of the ‘Crypto-Jews. This visit includes all of the sites of the highlights tour as well as additional locations connected to Jewish heritage in Palma. You will learn about the Inquisition, forced conversions, and the emergence of the ‘Crypto-Jews’ who publicly professed Catholicism while privately adhering to Judaism. We will also visit the specific streets where the Xueta families have lived for centuries until as recently as the 1960s. Signs of this at-one-point marginalized community can still be found today with many of the current jewelry shops having been kept within their families for generations beforehand. Even the famous Mallorquin pastry, the “ensaimada” is specifically cooked with pork fat as a reaction to the centuries-old prejudice and discrimination.

1. 1

   Palma de Mallorca

   3 hours

   Start in the Jewish Quarter Interpretation Center, which is next to the entry point to the old Jewish Quarter. Whenever you visit Jewish Quarters in and around Catalan-speaking regions of Spain such as the Balearics, Valencia, and Barcelona you may see the signs “Carrer de Call” or “Street of the Jewish Quarter.” We enter a secret tunnel in a Ceramics Workshop then view memorial plaques or Stopelsteins from the Spanish Civil War. You will learn about the Inquisition, forced conversions, and the emergence of the ‘Crypto-Jews’ who publicly professed Catholicism while privately adhering to Judaism. Visit the specific streets where the Xueta families have lived for centuries until as recently as the 1960s. You will also learn about the tragic events of 1691, when a group of Crypto-Jews tried to escape on the ship of an English captain but a storm prevented their departure. We end visiting the plaza where 18 orange trees were donated by the local Jewish community.

2. 2

   Stop 2

   30 min

   Museum

3. 3

   Stop 3

   30 min

   Take a visit to a unique modern bakery with a medieval oven built in 1652

• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.