Massa teens travel to Spain and Portugal

From June 26 through July 8, 2024, the Massa program had a life-changing trip exploring Judaism in Spain and Portugal. As the chaperone from TBO, it was my pleasure and honor to accompany our teens on this journey. We started at Sea-Tac Airport, with hellos for our fellow travelers from Congregation Beth Israel in Bellingham and goodbyes to the parents, before hopping over to Amsterdam for a four-hour layover before arriving in Barcelona, Spain.

In Barcelona, we toured much of the city, especially the Gaudi sites, before going to the oldest, Roman part of the city where the old synagogue is. Next was Madrid. We spent a little time in the city, but nearby is the old city of Toledo which had some of the most expansive evidence of Jewish life. Spreading out from the old Jewish quarter, there were little tiles in the street and along the bottoms of walls, with Jewish symbols such as stars, letters and menorahs. It was a wonderful scavenger hunt to find as many as we could.

Cordoba was the next city on our tour, where we went to the old Jewish quarter that was a walled-in city within the city. A statue of Maimonides greeted us from his birthplace.

Seville was next on our tour. We were now in the south of Spain, and the hot weather reflected it. The old city and a tour of the largest cathedral in Spain, third largest in Europe, took place in the morning, and then everyone was ready to go back to air-conditioned hotel rooms. That evening, we all went to see a Flamenco performance, one of the best parts of the trip. Grenada and the Alhambra were quite the sights to be seen, and at around 100 degrees, ones we didn’t last long at!

We finally came to the Mediterranean and stayed near the beach for three days. The evenings were spent walking down to the beach for an evening dip, and one day was spent at the beach, or hotel, for those of us who just wanted to chill for the day. Ten days in, we left Spain for the British territory of Gibraltar. Everyone could forget their Spanish for the day and shop in pounds instead of Euros. The trip up the Rock of Gibraltar was even better with the macaque monkeys that were brought over in 711 CE and have lived there ever since. Our last two days were spent in and around Lisbon. We went around the city a bit and then drove up the Atlantic coast to visit Sintra and Cascais, where we could see the remnants of Jewish culture. After twelve days of Jewish learning, seeing the history of our people in person, and hearing Spanish and Portuguese history from their perspectives, it was time to say goodbye to our tour guide, Veronica, and return to Seattle.

-Jennifer Cail