Pilgrimage to Poland

CHICAGO- CRACOW

Check in at the airport. Meet with your tour guide. Flight to Cracow

CRACOW- KAZIMIERZ

After arrival we will start with lunch at the local restaurant in Cracow’s Kazimierz, which is a special place, shaped by the several centuries old Christian-Jewish neighborhood. After lunch we will go for a walk along the narrow, cobble streets which have retained their former names: Szeroka, Wąska, Izaak or Estera. We will see some synagogues which have changed their purpose – the High Synagogue is a place of concerts, promotional meetings and exhibitions, and you can learn about the history and culture of Cracow’s Jews at the Museum in the Old Synagogue. The church and the museum’s functions are combined in the church on Skalka which, according to a legend, is the sanctuary of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaw and plays the role of the National Pantheon with the crypts of distinguished Poles. Check in at the hotel. Dinner at the local restaurant. Free time. OVERNIGHT: CRACOW

CRACOW(Wawel, Old Town, St. Mary’s Church)

Morning visit at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Łagiewniki for the Holy Mass in front of the image of the Merciful Christ or the grave of St. Faustina Kowalska. City tour of  Poland’s historic capital including: Wawel Royal Castle and Cathedral –venue of the coronations and burials of the Polish kings, and site of the relics of St Stanislaus the bishop, patron saint of Poland. Lunch in the local restaurant. Then we will visit the Old Town with Europe’s largest market square, St. Mary’s Church with its famous altarpiece, the Gothic masterpiece by Veit Stoss, the medieval Jagiellonian University, and the streets of the Old Town. Dinner at the local restaurant. Free time. OVERNIGHT: CRACOW

WIELICZKA – WADOWICE - ZAKOPANE

Transfer to Wieliczka Salt Mine situated on the outskirts of Cracow for a tour of its salt mine, a unique, UNESCO-listed relic of the European medieval technology. Several kilometer walk through the chambers and chapels hollowed out from the rock salt, foremost among them in terms of its ornate beauty and size is the world-famous St. Kinga’s Chapel. Lunch at the local restaurant. After lunch we will departure to the city of Wadowice, the place of birth of Pope John Paul II. Holy mass in Wadowice. Transfer to the so-called winter capital of Poland – Zakopane. Dinner at the hotel and free time.OVERNIGHT: ZAKOPANE

ZAKOPANE (Kasprowy Wierch, Krzeptówki Sanctuary, Krupówki, Old Town)

AUSCHWITZ – CZĘSTOCHOWA

After breakfast we will go to Auschwitz – Birkenau Memorial Museum for the tour of the former concentration camp Auschwitz I, including the starvation cell where St. Maksymilian Kolbe died a martyr’s death, where the Nazis murdered over a million people in the gas chambers, most of them Jews. Among them was the Christian-Jewish patron saint of Europe, Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). Lunch at the local restaurant and transfer to Czestochowa, where at 9pm we will join the famous ” Closing of Black Madonna Icon”. Dinner at the hotel before visiting Jasna Góra. Free time.OVERNIGHT: CZĘSTOCHOWA

CZĘSTOCHOWA – TORUŃ

Morning visit at the Pauline Monastery at Jasna Gora in Częstochowa with the miraculous image of Our Lady of Częstochowa (the Black Madonna). It is one of the foremost Marian sanctuaries in the world, and the Poles’ national sanctuary. Tour of the monastery, prayer in front of the icon, and a Holy Mass in one of the chapels. Lunch at a local restaurant and transfer to Toruń. After check in at the hotel we offer you a walk through the ancient part of the City. During that short walk we will see The Old Town in Torun, with its historic buildings from several different eras which is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Of particular interest are its Gothic churches of St John and the Assumption, the Town Hall, the surviving sections of the town’s defensive walls, and the house where the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born. We will also visit the Museum of Toruń Gingerbread – a historical factory, built in 1885 by a well-known family of Toruń gingerbread-makers. Dinner at the hotel. Free time. OVERNIGHT: TORUŃ

TORUŃ – MALBORK - GDAŃSK

GDAŃSK - SOPOT

We will start our day with the Holy Mass. Tour of Gdańsk. For several hundred years Gdańsk was the biggest port and the richest city on the Baltic Sea. It was in Gdańsk, too, that the first shots of World War II were fired, and it was here that Solidarity, the mass movement under Lech Wałęsa that fought the Communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe, was born. Sites in our program include the Old Town, with its Renaissance and Baroque townhouses, town hall, Artus Court, former quay, and the Gothic Basilica of Our Lady, Europe’s largest brick church, all reconstructed after the destruction of World War II. Lunch in the local restaurant. Then we will enjoy the river cruise that will take us from the center of Gdańsk to the Westerplatte Monument, a war memorial located on the Westerplatte Peninsula in the Gdansk harbor channel constructed between 1964-1966 to commemorate the Polish defenders of the Military Transit Depot in the Battle of Westerplatte, one of the first battles in Germany’s invasion of Poland, which marked the outbreak of World War II in Europe.  Free time in Sopot, a well-known seaside resort. Time for a stroll along the Baltic’s longest pier. Dinner at the hotel. OVERNIGHT: GDAŃSK

GDAŃSK - WARSAW

After breakfast check out followed by an approximately 4-5 hour drive to Warsaw. Upon the arrival we will have lunch at the local restaurant and then check in at the hotel. Free time for the rest of the day – we encourage you to enjoy the hotel spa, stroll along the Old City streets, spend your time shopping in the nearby shopping malls or rest at the hotel. Dinner at the local restaurant.OVERNIGHT: WARSAW

WARSAW       

WARSZAW - CHICAGO

Breakfast at the hotel, check out. Transfer to the Warsaw airport and the flight back to Chicago.