Secrets of Jewish Majorca - Half Day Experience

About this tour

Explore Palma's layered Jewish past across four hours, tracing the Inquisition's grip and the resilience of Crypto-Jews who maintained hidden faith behind Catholic facades. Walk streets where Xueta families established roots for centuries, discovering how discrimination shaped everything from jewellery trades to local pastries. You'll visit key heritage sites throughout the Old Town, uncovering how a community survived erasure through adaptation and secrecy.

Highlights

• Inquisition-era streets where Xueta families built generational jewellery businesses
• Crypto-Jewish history: public Catholicism, private religious practice
• Medieval sites tied to forced conversions and religious persecution
• Family-run jewellery shops maintaining centuries-old traditions
• Ensaimada pastry origins rooted in anti-Jewish prejudice
• Palma's Old Town Jewish quarter architecture and layout
• Stories of survival and cultural continuity to the 1960s

What to expect

Your guide walks you through Palma's medieval streets, stopping at landmarks where Jewish and Crypto-Jewish communities lived under constant threat. You'll learn how the Inquisition forced conversions, pushing believers underground—many adopting Catholic identities by day whilst maintaining Jewish practices at home. The tour connects historical sites to tangible remnants: jewellery shops still run by descendants, architectural details, and local customs born from centuries of prejudice. Expect a narrative of adaptation rather than erasure, showing how marginalised communities endured through resilience and coded survival.

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