Help me discover Jewish Spain and Portugal

March 13, 2022 8:07 PM

I really hope to be able to visit Spain and Portugal after I submit my dissertation later this month. I’m interested to explore the Jewish histories of these countries. What sites would you recommend? And any reading suggestions - literature, art and architecture, history?

I’ve been wanting to make a trip like this ever since I studied Ladino for a couple of months nearly a decade ago (I’ve mostly forgotten it all now). Would welcome any suggestions! Thank you.

posted by bigyellowtaxi to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

Best answer: when I toured Spain some years ago, looking for this material, I was very disappointed.

There is a synagogue still standing in Toledo, and if I were going back there I'd hire someone like this to show me more stuff... actually I think what I'd do if I were researching this is contact this guide, or someone like her, and ask her about it. Someone like this might be able to put you in touch with additional guides for places like Cordoba, who could give you real information. Because when I was there - I'm talking about Cordoba now - there was a tacky, yet expensive to enter, little "Jewish museum" with incorrect captions on the artifacts, but no real information. It read very much as a cynical money grab from Jewish tourists. And places of real significance that I would have expected to see marked, like the site of the very first auto da fe at the Seville cathedral, were not.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:06 PM on March 13, 2022

Best answer: You might get some ideas from this Sephardic Spain tour itinerary or this guy's blog about touring Converso sites in Portugal (I had no idea that 20% of Portugal's population was "Jewish by surprise").The cookbook Sephardi also has a lot of cultural information and might have some cool ideas, and this out of print book "Jewish Spain" might be useful too.

(How did you find someone to teach you Ladino?)
posted by hungrytiger at 11:17 PM on March 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I reactivated my account to answer this question! Recently (2013, recently in archaeological time) they discovered a mikveh in Coimbra, see Flickr. However, if my long-ago visit to Lisbon is any indication, you will need a powerful connection to visit it. I guess you could start by messaging the municipality's FB account?
posted by 8603 at 9:09 AM on March 14, 2022

Best answer: The Alhambra by Oleg Grabar is obviously about Islamic archicture, but offers an entrance into Sephardic culture. It is a very academic book, but on the plus side, it has all the references that can bring you further.
posted by mumimor at 11:37 AM on March 14, 2022

Best answer: Galeet Dardashti sings contemporary arrangements of traditional Sephardic as well as Mizrachi Jewish music in her various projects, including her band Divahn. Her voice is fantastic, and a few of the songs are in Ladino.
posted by umbú at 12:39 PM on March 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: A few years ago my husband and I went to Spain and originally went on a day trip to Girona to look at the places where they filmed game of thrones (Sept of Baelor) but then we discovered the jewish quarter of Girona that had a pretty cool jewish museum! Here is some info about it that i found! Jewish Quarter of Girona
posted by ruhroh at 6:28 PM on March 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Rabbi's Cat graphic novels by Joann Sfar explore Sephardic Jewish culture and history. Humorous and impressionistic rather than documentary and detailed. I found them both entertaining and informative.

Oh, and I adore this album: Sephardic Romances: Traditional Jewish Music from Spain
posted by snarfois at 8:22 AM on March 15, 2022

Response by poster: Wow thank you everyone! This is great!

@hungrytiger: I studied Ladino at a local university. I’ll send you a message now.
posted by bigyellowtaxi at 3:01 PM on March 15, 2022

Best answer: Another music recommendation: I highly, highly recommend recordings by Jordi Savall, especially Music from Christian and Jewish Spain 1450-1550 and Diáspora Sefardí.

Alex Ross did a lovely piece about Jordi Savall in the New Yorker.

Have a wonderful trip!
posted by kristi at 11:24 PM on March 16, 2022