Blessed John Paul II

Day 1: HOMETOWN – WARSAW

We will arrive at Warsaw Airport where we will meet our tour escort. We will take our coach to go to the hotel to check in and leave our luggage. After a short break in the hotel we will start our guided tour of Polish Capital. A big part of what we will see is a perfect reconstruction made after WWII and thanks to it Warsaw is one of the UNESCO Heritage Sites since 1980. We will start our sightseeing tour walking down the most beautiful Warsaw Park called Łazienki Królewskie - The Royal Baths - where the Palace over the Water was built in the 18th century - it was a summer residence of the last Polish King - Stanislas August Poniatowski. In the upper part of the Park we will see the Monument dedicated to Frederic Chopin - the most famous Polish Composer and Pianist. After the visit to the Park we will continue our guided tour of Warsaw driving along Droga Królewska - The Royal Road - where we will admire plenty of palaces that once belonged to Polish nobles and aristocracy. Many of them survived the WWII and nowadays they belong to Polish government or to the embassies of different states. Upon arrival to the Royal Castle Square with the Column dedicated to Polish King Sigismund III who moved the capital from Kraków to Warsaw in 1596 we will leave our coach to walk down the Old Town. We will enter Warsaw Cathedral dedicated to Saint John that lies in Świętojańska Street that was rebuilt, as the whole Old Town. The tomb of the most famous Polish Primate Stefan Wyszyński, friend of Pope John Paul II is in one of the side chapels. We will see the Main Square of the Old Town with the Monument of the Siren which is the symbol of the Polish Capital. We will continue our walking tour admiring the 16th century Barbican leaving the Old Town and entering The New Town where Madame Curie was born - the only one woman in the whole world who twice gained the Nobel Prize - in Physics and in Chemistry. Our walk will end up in Krasiński Square where the Monument to the Warsaw Uprising stands. This Monument commemorates two hundred thousand people who died in the biggest uprising ever organised against the German Nazis that took place in 1944 and lasted 63 days. We will take our coach to drive to Piłsudski Square where on June 2nd of 1979 the Polish Pope John Paul II celebrated his first Holy Mass during his first pilgrimage to Poland during which he pronounced a very famous phrase: "Let your Spirit descend. Let your Spirit descend and renew the face of the earth, the face of this land". There are many who say this cry gave the beginning to all the changes that took place in Poland in the eighties of the last century. After we will drive the area where during WWII the Jewish Ghetto was established, that was totally destroyed during and after the Jewish Uprising of 1943. We will see two monuments: to Ghetto Heroes and to Umschlagplatz. Afterwards we will reach our hotel where we will have our dinner. Overnight.

Day 2: WARSAW – CZĘSTOCHOWA (134 miles) – CRACOW (90 miles)

After breakfasts we will drive to Czestochowa which is considered the Spiritual Capital of Poland. Upon arrival we will have a guided tour of the Sanctuary of Jasna Góra in Czestochowa that belongs to the Monks of Saint Paul the First Hermit - they arrived to Częstochowa in 1382. The most precious item you can find in the Sanctuary is the Miraculous Painting representing Mother of God with Jesus Child known as Black Madonna. According to the tradition it was Saint Luke the Evangelist who painted it but scientists consider it a little bit modern. We know the Polish Prince Ladislas of Opole brought the Painting to Częstochowa in 1382 and invited the Monks to come to look after it. In 1430 some thieves related to the Hussite movement arrived to Jasna Góra, entered the Miraculous Chapel, stole plenty of precious ex votes and damaged the Painting which since that moment carries three scars on the face of the Virgin. During our stay we will enter the Miraculous Chapel, we will visit the Knights’ Room, we will stop at the Stations of the Cross painted by Duda Gracz, we will visit the Treasury Room and the Museum of 600 years. We will have time for private devotion and later we will have lunch at a local restaurant. Afterwards we will leave Częstochowa going towards Cracow where we will register in our hotel. Dinner in the hotel. Overnight.

Our Lady of Częstochowa - LIVE

Day 3: CRACOW

After breakfast we will depart for a walking guided tour of the ancient capital of Poland, centre of science, culture and of the arts that exists for more than one thousand years. We will walk down the Old Town which was subscribed on the UNESCO Heritage List in 1978. We will visit the Wawel Hill - that belonged to Polish Kings and Princes and that still belongs to Cracow Bishops. The Wawel Cathedral was a place where Royal coronations took place since 1320 and became the Royal Pantheon in 1333 when Polish King Ladislas the Short was buried. Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II was the Bishop of Cracow and he took care of the Cathedral between 1959 - 1978. In the Crypt of Saint Leonardo which lies in the underground part of the Cathedral Wojtyła celebrated his first Holy Mass on November 1, 1946. He used to pray also near the Tomb of Saint Stanislas, Bishop of Cracow killed by Polish King Boleslas in 1079, and near the 14th century Cross considered miraculous – there had been also Saint Hedwig, Queen of Poland who prayed hours and hours in front of the same Cross in the remote 14th century. On the Wawel Hill we will see also three courtyards among which the 16th century Castle Courtyard is the most elegant and the most beautiful one. Afterwards we will leave the Hill and we will keep on walking down the medieval streets and squares of Cracow – along Kanonicza Street where Karol Wojtyła lived between 1951 - 1967, Saint Mary Magdalene Square where we will admire a Romanesque St. Andrew's Church and a Baroque one dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, of a royal foundation and the first ever Baroque building in Poland, we will keep on walking Grodzka Street and All The Saint's Square where we will enter Saint Francis of Assisi Church. The Franciscans arrived to Cracow in the 1330s invited by a Cracow Prince. They settled down and built the monastery that exists up till now. Among Franciscan Fathers there was Father Kolbe who spent there two years of his life. The Franciscan Church was also a very important place to Karol Wojtyła, who living in an adjacent Bishops' Palace prayed a lot in one of the Church benches where now the inscription conmemorating this fact has been put. While he was the Pope he offered a copy of the Turin Shrine to the Church which now is exhibited in one of its Chapels. The Saint Francis of Assisi Basilica is also known because of its modernist details such as the wall polychrome and outstanding stained – glass windows projected by a young artist and genius Stanisław Wyspiański at the end of the 19th century. The one that presents God Father creating the world is considered one of the best not only in Cracow but in whole Europe. Upon leaving the Church we will see the Bishops' Palace with its famous Pope's Window where John Paul II talked to the people gathered during his pilgrimages. We will walk down the Park called Planty created in the 19th century where the city walls and the moat were, to arrive to the university quarter where Collegium Maius stands that is the first and the oldest building belonging to the Cracow University. The University was founded by Polish King Casmir the Great in 1364 and the building was constructed at the beginning of the 15 century thanks to jewels left by Saint Hedwig. We will reach the Main Market that is the biggest European medieval square with its Town Hall Tower from the 15th century, the Cloth Hall where now you can buy traditional items of the local craft and Saint Mary's Church with an outstanding Main Altar carved by Veit Stvoss between 1477 - 1489. The Church itself has two towers; tradition says they were built by two brothers, the taller one belonged always to the city and each hour it is possible to listen to a special melody that is played by a trumpeter. It reminds the Tartar invasion that took place in 1240s. We will have lunch at a local restaurant. The afternoon will be free on leisure. We will have our dinner in our hotel. Overnight.

Enjoy Kraków - LIVE

Day 4: CRACOW – KALWARIA ZEBRZYDOWSKA (22 miles) – WADOWICE (9 miles) – CRACOW (30 miles)

We will have breakfast in our hotel and afterwards we will drive to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a UNESCO site since 1999 where the Shrine of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is. The complex consists of the Basilica where in a side chapel the Miraculous Painting of the Virgin Mary with Child is placed for almost 400 years, cloisters, monastery building and about forty chapels that are dedicated to Holy Mary and to Passion of Jesus Christ and are spread in the area surrounding the Sanctuary creating a kind of a walking path that is 3,7 miles long! When Karol Wojtyła's mother died when he was almost nine his father decided to go with him to the Sanctuary of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska and to present him the Virgin Mary as his new Mother. The Pope admitted many times that Kalwaria Zebrzydowska had been a very special place to him since when he was worried or sad he always tried to go there to pray and to walk down the paths - it gave him a lot of strength. He went to Kalwaria as a child, student, priest, Cracow Bishop, Archbishop, Cardinal and twice as Pope. We will have time for private devotion and after we will drive to Wadowice where we will have lunch at a local restaurant. Later we will visit the Church that stands in the Main Market Square where Karol Wojtyła was baptized and we will see the exhibition dedicated to The Pope. Late in the afternoon we will return to Cracow for dinner in our hotel. Overnight.

Day 5: CRACOW – LUDŹMIERZ (53 miles) – ZAKOPANE (15 miles) – CRACOW (66 miles)

Breakfast in our hotel. Today we will drive south of Cracow towards the Tatra Mountains. We will stop 53 miles away in Ludźmierz to visit the most ancient parish in the whole Podhale area that was founded in 1234. Inside of the Basilica there is the Statue of the Virgin Mary with Jesus Child that was called "Our Lady of Podhale" by the Pope John Paul II. Many years ago, in 1963 during a procession in which Karol Wojtyła participated the sceptre that the Virgin Mary was holding in her hand fell down but it didn't reach the pavement since the Bishop of Cracow was able to catch it before. Starting from then people used to say there were many good and great things to be prepared by God for Karol. Afterwards we will continue by coach to reach Zakopane, Polish Winter Capital. Before lunch we will visit the Chapel called Jaszczurówka - The Lizard's Place - projected by a famous architect Stanisław Witkiewicz, an artist who created Zakopane style about one hundred years ago. This style is a mixture of a local craft and some elements taken from Switzerland buildings. Witkiewicz projected also many villas in the city of Zakopane. We will have lunch at a local restaurant and afterwards we will drive to Krzeptówki that is a Zakopane district to admire the church constructed after the attempt to Pope John Paul II held in San Peter Square in Rome on May 13, 1981. The people living in Zakopane promised to build the church if the Pope survived and since he did they kept their word. It was the Pope himself who consecrated the church. Later we will drive to the centre of Zakopane to visit 19th century wooden church and the oldest cemetery that exists for more than 150 years. There are many tombs of famous local people and also of the artists who used to come to Zakopane from many different cities. The tombs have many details typical for the local craft. We will have also free time to buy local craft items in the local market. Return to Cracow for dinner in our hotel. Overnight.

Day 6: CRACOW – ŁAGIEWNIKI – WIELICZKA SALT MINES (10 miles) – CRACOW (10 miles)

After heaving breakfast we will drive to a southern district of Cracow whose name is Łagiewniki where the Shrine of the Divine Mercy is. The future Saint Faustyna Kowalska spent last years of her life there, she died in the convent in 1938 and she was buries there. During WWII Karol Wojtyła worked in the adjacent chemical plant Solvay and often stopped in the chapel of the nuns to pray. It was him who proclaimed the Feast of the Divine Mercy and it was him who provoked the construction of the new Basilica which later he consecrated during his last pilgrimage to Poland in 2002. We will enter the Old Chapel where the tomb of the Saint is and we will listen to a testimony of one of the nuns. Afterwards we will drive to Wieliczka to have our lunch at a local restaurant. In the afternoon we will go down to admire the underground world of the Salt Mines. We will reach 135 meters underneath the surface of earth, we will walk 2 miles and we will admire about 20 chambers excavated by the miners. There are many statues made in salt rock by the miners themselves who, sometimes, instead of going back home remained down to create such masterpieces. Among many places we will see the Chapel of Saint Kinga - the biggest underground chapel in the world and the Weimar Chamber where we will listen to the "Tristesse" of Chopin. Return to our hotel. Dinner in our hotel and overnight.

Day 7 CRACOW – AUSCHWITZ (43 miles) – WROCŁAW (141 miles)

After heaving breakfast we will depart from Cracow Oświęcim to visit Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau Camps. WWII began with the German Nazis attack on Poland that took place on September 1, 1939. On September 17 following the secret part of Ribbentrop - Molotov Pact Soviets invaded Poland from the East and so called fourth partition of Poland took place. Germans Nazis left Eastern part of Polish territory to Soviets, western one was incorporated to the Third Reich, and from the remaining General Government was created, depending totally on the Third Reich. Hans Frank was a head of this state and lived in Cracow, on the Wawel Hill, in the Royal Castle, where once Polish Kings and Queens had lived. Oświęcim is one of the oldest Polish towns with its history of more than 800 years but when the WWII started, German Nazis decided to incorporate it into the Third Reich and changed its name for Auschwitz. When German Nazis made up their mind to establish Auschwitz I Camp in 1940, it was thought to use buildings that once had belonged to the Polish Army. First transport of 728 Polish prisoners arrived from Tarnów on June 14, 1940. In 1941 Auschwitz II Birkenau camp was started to be constructed on spot of Brzezinka village, named Birkenau at the beginning of WWII. In September of 1941, German Nazis for the very first time used Cyclone B, making this horrible test on 600 Soviet war prisoners and 250 Poles who were enclosed into the underground cellars of Block No 11 in Auschwitz I. Later on this method became the main one used by German Nazis in Auschwitz to kill Jews, Gypsies and all the prisoners, no matter the nationality, who weren’t capable to work anymore. Even the decision regarding the extermination of Jewish people was taken in Berlin - Wansee in January of 1942, the first Jewish transports had arrived to Auschwitz earlier. During the WWII in all the Auschwitz Camps one million four hundred thousand people were murdered, and 90% of the victims were Jews coming from different European countries. We will never learn the exact number of people who died there since the majority of them was killed immediately in gas chambers after their arrival, without becoming camp prisoners. Auschwitz - Birkenau Camps became State Museum in 1947 and they are on the UNESCO Heritage List since 1979. We will see main entrance gate with the inscription “Arbeit macht frei” – “Work makes free”, and follow the exposition on the Camp history full of photos, drawings made by prisoners, prisoners' clothes, we will also see different items found by Russians on January 27, 1945 when they liberated the Camp – such as victims' glasses, shoes, suitcases, human hair... We will enter the Death Block with special cells inside to see the one where Father Maximilian Kolbe spent last days of his life, another one where many people died because of lack of the oxygen and four more – called the dark ones – each of the dimensions 90 x 90 cm and each one destined for four prisoners who were supposed to stay there at the very same time in the night time. We will see the reconstruction of Death Wall where prisoners were shot and the Gas Chamber nr I. Instead, in Auschwitz II Birkenau we will see the Death Gate, the platform where the selections took place and we will enter some wooden barracks. Afterwards we will drive to have lunch at a local restaurant and later we will continue in towards Wrocław for one night stay. Dinner in our hotel and overnight.

Day 8: WROCŁAW – TRZEBNICA (16 miles) – POZNAŃ (99 miles)

After having our breakfast we will start our guided tour of the city of Wrocław. First we will drive to the house where Edith Stein lived – now she is a Roman Catholic Saint known as Saint Benedicta of the Cross even if she was born in a Jewish family. She was a philosopher and mystic who died in Auschwitz II Birkenau Camp. Later on we will continue on visiting one of the most beautiful European cities which in the Middle Ages competed with Prague. In Wroclaw there are masterpieces of architecture and painting of each and every style. There are more than one hundred bridges in the city, many branches of the Oder River and plenty of channels that together with many parks give a lot of charm to Wroclaw. During our visit we will admire the Cathedral Island that is the most ancient part of the city and the main building of the University with its outstanding Leopold's Room built in the Baroque Style. We will have lunch at a local restaurant in the Main Square that is one of the biggest and most picturesque in Poland. After lunch we will drive to Poznan. On route we will stop in Trzebnica where Saint Hedwig of Silesia spent last years of her life, where she died and where she was buried. We will see the tomb of the Saint - patroness of the region. Afterwards we will proceed to Poznań for one night stay. Dinner in our hotel in Poznań and overnight.

Day 9: POZNAŃ – NIEPOKALANÓW (173 miles) – WARSAW (26 miles)

Breakfast in our hotel. Today in the morning we will visit the Cathedral Island where in 968, two years after so called Baptism of Poland Prince Mieszko I founded the first Cathedral in Polish land. In the undergrounds of the Poznań Cathedral there are remainings of two tombs - one where Mieszko was buried at the end of the 10th century and another one - of his son Boleslao - the first Polish King who was crowned in 1025, in the very same year of his death. The bodies of these two Polish rulers lie in a famous Golden Chapel on the ground floor of the Cathedral. During our stay in Poznan we will see also the Main Square that is considered one of the most lovely in Poland where there still is the Town Hall projected by an Italian architect Giovanni Battista Quadro of Lugano. Afterwards we will drive towards Łowicz, town which once belonged to Archbishops of Gniezno. The town itself is famous because of its folklore - still present even in nowadays. Upon arrival we will have lunch at a local restaurant and we will see the Cathedral. Afterwards we will depart to Niepokalanów - little town consecrated to the Immaculate founded in 1927 by Franciscan Frail, Auschwitz Camp prisoner, Martyr and Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe. We will see the wooden chapel built by the future Saint. Later on we will drive to Warsaw to register in the hotel for one night stay. We will have dinner in our hotel. Overnight.

Day 10: WARSAW – HOMETOWN

After having breakfast we will drive to visit the Palace of Wilanów that lies in the southern part of Warsaw. This Palace was built for the Polish King John III Sobieski who won the battle of Vienna against the Turkish troops in 1683. Afterwards we will take our coach to go to Warsaw Airport to for our flight back home.

The film is adapted from the autobiography of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish Jew who detailed his survival during World War II. A composer and a pianist, he played the last live music heard over Polish radio airwaves before Nazi artillery hit. During the brutal occupation, he eluded deportation and remained in the devastated Warsaw ghetto. There, he struggled to stay alive even when cast away from those he loved. He would eventually reclaim his artistic gifts and confront his fears, with aid from the unlikeliest of sources. (FILMAFFINITY)

Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland who sees an opportunity to make money from the Nazis' rise to power. He starts a company to make cookware and utensils, using flattery and bribes to win military contracts, and brings in accountant and financier Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to help run the factory. By staffing his plant with Jews who've been herded into Cracow's ghetto by Nazi troops, Schindler has a dependable unpaid labor force. For Stern, a job in a war-related plant could mean survival for himself and the other Jews working for Schindler. However, in 1942, all of Cracow's Jews are assigned to the Plaszow Forced Labor Camp, overseen by Commandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), an embittered alcoholic who occasionally shoots prisoners from his balcony. Schindler arranges to continue using Polish Jews in his plant, but, as he sees what is happening to his employees, he begins to develop a conscience. He realizes that his factory (now refitted to manufacture ammunition) is the only thing preventing his staff from being shipped to the death camps. Soon Schindler demands more workers and starts bribing Nazi leaders to keep Jews on his employee lists and out of the camps. By the time Germany falls to the allies, Schindler has lost his entire fortune — and saved 1,100 people from likely death. (FILMAFFINITY)

This program recreates the early career of John Paul II in the years leading up to when he was elected pope. KAROL: A MAN WHO BECAME POPE also features interviews with the film's actors, and footage of the actual John Paul II giving his first speech as pope. Cracow, September 1939, the German army invade the city under the leadership of Nazi general Hans Frank (Matt Craven). From the beginning, their politics is destructive towards everything that is Polish, the culture and the whole Polish Nation. The attack of hatred and destruction is directed towards elites of Polish universities, particularly, Professors at Jagiellonian University, and the Church. Young Karol experiences these events very cruelly, the suffering of his Nation is his suffering. His plans to study Polish philology and literature, to become an actor are ruined, his dearest friends (including the Jewish Family Kluger) are taken to Holocaust or killed on the way. The world seems to have turned into sheer bestial madness. But Karol's escape are books and prayer. With some of his friends, including Hania (Małgorzata Bela), they decide to retain the Polish culture meeting secretly and cultivating their love to the theater. They strengthen their faith that the only cure for the hatred in the world is love. It is then that Karol decides to be a priest and serve God. He goes to the seminar after which he serves his First Holy Mass on November, the 2nd, 1946. But the cruel experience of WWII does not end. After WWII, Poland experiences another pressure of the totalitarian reign, this time it is communism, illusively directed towards the goodness of people and openly against the Church. Karol as a young priest, later bishop and cardinal, never gives up defending human rights, heading for the real goodness of the society, and consoling people, sowing hope whenever possible. The movie shows two most important events: Poznań (1956) and Nowa Huta (1977). This experience which started with the trials of his Nation leads him to Rome, to the memorable 16th of October 1978 when the whole world hears the news: Habemus Papam... Cardinalem Wojtyła (the archive final shot of the movie). (FILMAFFINITY)

SINGLE ROOM SUPPLEMENT IN 4 STAR HOTEL: 360 €

DISCOUNT THIRD PERSON IN THE ROOM: 15%

THE PRICE INCLUDES

9 nights in 4* hotels - 2 in Warsaw (one at the beginning and one at the end of the trip), 5 in Cracow, 1 in Wrocław and 1 in Poznań.

9 breakfasts and 9 dinners in the hotels.

8 lunches in local restaurants.

Still water included during lunch and dinner.

Luxury coach with air - conditioning throughout the trip.

Tour escort service throughout the trip.

Guided visits: HD in Warsaw, 2 Hours in Jasna Góra Shrine, HD in Cracow, 2 hours in Wielczka Salt Mines, 3 hours in Auschwitz, 3 hours in Wrocław, 2 hours in Poznań and 1 hour in Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Tickets Tour: Wawel Cathedral in Cracow, Saint Mary´s Basilica in Cracow, Wielczka Salt Mines,Wrocław Cathedral, Wrocław University, Poznań Cathedral and Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Travel insurance.

Cancellation insurance.

THE PRICE DOESN´T INCLUDE

Flight ticket.

Extras such as drinks, telephone calls, tips, etc.

Everything that has not been mentioned in the programme or in the leaflet concerning the trip.

IMPORTANT: THIS PROGRAMME IS ONLY A SUGGESTION AND IT CAN BE TAILORED AND PERSONALISED ACCORDING TO GROUPS WISHES.