Dear Raffaella,

Chana and I arrived in Paris yesterday, and I hurry to write you and tell you that we had a wonderfully, interesting and enjoyable week in Portugal.Our warmest thanks to you for having arranged all the details down to the tiniest item of our various tours, which included a driver, local guides, meals and lodging. Your care and attentiveness to our every need along the way was exceptional.

You arranged the most professional people for every step of the way; Our driver Nuno Oliviera, our tour in Castelo de Vide with the former Mayor Carolino Tapadejo, our guide Joao Fiandero in Tomar and Nelson Mendes our guide in Lisbon.

Our hotel accommodations were unique and first rate, the provision of delivered kosher meals was a great convenience. Your regular check- in with our driver Nuno, as well as ourselves, was another indication of your sincere concern for our welfare and enjoyment of our trip. I, Nachum was the Associate Director General of Shaare Zedek Medical center, one of the leading Medical Centers in Israel, for the last 45 years, until my retirement, and in that capacity I have travelled widely on several continents- in all sincerity I can say that this was the most carefully and best organized trip I have taken part in.. Kudos and thumbs up to you for your high level of professionalism. We will certainly highly recommend both yourself and all those who you chose to accompany us during this week

Mucho Abrigado,

Chana and Nachum Pessin

November 2012

Dear Mrs. D`Intino,

Our visit at the Parque das Nações was great. We are very satisfied and Maria Helena had more than enough information for us. All our questions are answered. Thank you very much for arranging a great tour and we would like to thank Maria Helena too. It was a perfect start of our week in Portugal. Thank you very much!

Very kind regards,

Mirjana Glavas

Dear Raffaella,

We enjoyed the trip very much!

Thank you for the warm start with the map and the books in the hotel.

The Restaurants were very good. The sites to visit as well. Ina did her job very competently and knew also some good addresses.

We made one/ two coffee stops more so we couldn`t see all buildings, but more than enough.

Thank you for your work, I will recommend your services

Have a nice time.

Bruno Hermann

Architektengemeinschaft4

Dear Raffaella,

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with you in organizing our recent KOSHER trip entitled” Portugal- in the footsteps of the Anusim”. All of the 25 members of our group had an enthralling and enjoyable tour and we thank you for your professionalism and attention to the small details which has made this such a memorable trip.

The needs of the Kosher traveler are not always easy to meet, but nothing was a problem for you and the delightful hotel staff were always so helpful and accommodating.

We were most fortunate to have had Sergio as our guide, his wealth of knowledge of Portuguese Jewish history and his charming humor added much to our experience.

The hotels themselves met the highest level of comfort and were ideally suited to the tour. The highlights of the tour were, without doubt, our meetings with the Rabbis and members of the Jewish communities of Lisbon and Belmonte whose personal stories enriched our understanding of this tragic period of Jewish History.

With many thanks,

Dr.Alan Edel

Petach Tikva,

Israel

July 2011

When I brought my group to Portugal I was fortunate to have Raffaella D’Intino, the director of “Episode” a leading travel firm based in Lisbon to help me arrange an Itinerary for our unforgettable eight day trip in June 2010

We met at Lisbon airport - a group of thirty two friends, twenty one from Israel and eleven from England. Sergio, our Portuguese guide is one of several employed by “Episode “. He greeted us and stored our luggage in the base of the large comfortable air-conditioned coach that was waiting for us outside the main gates. It took us twenty five minutes to arrive at the hotel, during which time Sergio gave us some feeling of the layout of the capital city and its history. We felt immediately that we had a guide who would make our visit both interesting and with a touch of humour, memorable.

During our travels over the next week we were impressed by Sergio’s general knowledge as well as specific information on Jewish Heritage. The coach always arrived promptly and soon we felt both the driver and Sergio were our friends too.

We had a full Itinerary which stretched from Lisbon –Tomar-Coimbre-Porto-Covilha-Belmonte-Castelo de Vide- Lisbon- Sintra and Evora

There were many highlights which we shall all remember. To mention a few;

1. The Baroque library of more than 300,000 tomes, built between 1717 and 1723 by King João V. A written description of the height of its halls and the gold leaf-decorated ceiling and walls can in no way give justice to the magnificent sight we beheld standing with open-mouthed awe and admiration,

2. The meeting in the mountain city of Belmonte with past conversos who have now returned to their Jewish origins. The beautiful synagogue, the meals they prepared, the dancing and singing together and the recently opened Jewish museum we visited

3. The meeting with Mr Carolino Tapatejo, a past mayor and the instigator of the excavations/archeological project in the town guided us through the cobbled streets finishing at the small town square where the forced baptisms took place in the 15^th & 16^th centuries..

We also tasted the rich kosher Port produced at Taylors wineries and enjoyed a cheese and wine evening with two varieties of excellent kosher dry red wines and kosher cheeses from the Braz factory in Covilha.

I would highly recommend “Episode” for their promptness, attention to details, attention to our special interests and for their outstanding guide, Sergio, who made history come to life in a masterly manner,

Many thanks

Sheila Becker, “Sheila’s Friends”, Jerusalem

Dear Raffaella
 
What a wonderful trip we had and we are very very grateful for all the care and planning you put into this.
 
The travel problems on flights were thankfully not too bad and we are now all home with some wonderful memories.
 
Nuno was a great driver and really went out of his way to be helpful.
 
The hotels were fanatastic and the Possada at Belmonte was just magical.
 
We all appreciated the meals and the way you were able to help us with our strange diets!  The lunches in the local restuarants were really excellent and as you implied full of atmosphere.
 
We really liked the guides.  The guides in Evora, Belmonte and in Tomar stood out but all were well informed and did so much to make our trip just great.
 
Thank you so much Raffaella, you are a real star and please feel free to use this in any way you wish to publicise a five star tour operator!!
 
All good wishes - Alan