Day 1: HOMETOWN - WARSAW

Day 2: WARSAW - PŁOCK (68 miles) - WARSAW (68 miles)

Breakfast in our hotel. Today we will drive to Płock that is one of the most ancient Polish towns, once place where Dukes of Mazovia had lived and ruled. This is also the place related to Saint Faustina who entered the convent in Płock in 1930 and where on February 22, 1931 Mercyful Jesus appeared to her for the very first time. We will see the chapel of the nuns and meet one of them. After we will have lunch at a local restaurant and later we will enter Płock Cathedral, one of the most ancient in Poland, famous for its Romanesque Door. Later on we will visit the Cathedral Museum, plenty of medieval, renesaince and baroque masterpieces. We will go back to Warsaw for dinner and overnight.

Day 3: WARSAW - ŚWINICE WARCKIE (105 miles) - GŁOGOWIEC (2 miles) - ŚWINICE WARCKIE (2 miles) - ŁĘCZYCA (13 miles) - TUM (1 mile) - CZĘSTOCHOWA (102 miles)

Breakfast in our hotel. Today we will leave Warsaw to drive to the central part of Poland to see two places related to Saint Faustina. First we will arrive in Świnice Warckie to enter its parish church to see the font where the future Saint was baptized as Helena and to meet one of the nuns of the same Congregation that Saint Faustina. Afterwards we will drive to Głogowiec where the homeplace of the Saint is. We will enter a very little house where the Saint was born on August 25, 1905 as a third child of a couple Stanisław and Marianna Kowalska and where later she lived with her parents and ten of her brothers and sisters since after her seven other children were born. We will continue to Łęczyca to have lunch at a local restaurant and later we will visit a wonderful Romanesque church in adjacent Tum. Afterwards we will drive to Częstochowa that is considered a spiritual capital of Poland, crossing Łódź, where Helena had worked before going to Warsaw. Arrival in the hotel in Częstochowa and check in. Dinner in our hotel and overnight.

Day 4: CZĘSTOCHOWA - CRACOW (90 miles)

Breakfast in our hotel. Afterwards we will have a guided tour of the Sanctuary of Jasna Góra in Częstochowa that belongs to the Monks of Saint Paul the First Hermit who arrived in 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 the Picture was painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist but scientists consider it a little bit modern. Anyway we know a Polish Prince Ladislas of Opole brought the Painting to Częstochowa in 1382 and invited the Monks to come and to look after it. In 1430 some thieves related to the Hussite movement arrived in Monastery, 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 our hotel. Overnight. 

Our Lady of Częstochowa - LIVE

Day 5: CRACOW – AUSCHWITZ (43 miles) - WIELICZKA (43 miles) – CRACOW (10 miles)

After heaving breakfast we will depart from Cracow to Oświęcim to visit Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau Camps. As everybody knows, the Auschwitz Camps were the biggest ones ever created by German Nazis. Just to remember: 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 Russian troops invaded Poland from the East and so called fourth partition of Poland took place. Germans left eastern part of Polish territory to Soviets, western one was incorporated to the Third Reich, and from the remaining part a kind of state called General Government was created that depended totally on the Third Reich. Hans Frank was a head of this state and lived in Kraków, 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, changing its name for Auschwitz. When the decision to establish Auschwitz I Camp was taken 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 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, among them 90% Jews coming from different European countries. We will never learn the exact number of victims since the majority of them died 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 the 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 some wooden barracks. Afterwards we will drive to have lunch at a local restaurant. Later we will continue on towards Wieliczka 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 in the mines 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 6: CRACOW – DISTRICT OF ŁAGIEWNIKI – WADOWICE (31 miles) – KALWARIA ZEBRZYDOWSKA  (9 miles) - CRACOW (22 miles)

After heaving breakfast we will drive to a southern district of Cracow whose name is Łagiewniki where the Shrine of Divine Mercy is. The Faustina Kowalska entered this convent in 1926 and it was here where she took new name of Maria Faustina on April 30, 1926, where two years after she vowed chastity, obedience and poverty, where she spent last years of her life there, and where she died on October 5, 1938 and where she was buried. 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, we will see the new Basilica and we will listen to a testimony of one of the nuns. Afterwards we will drive to Wadowice, hometown of Pope John Paul II and we will have lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch we will enter the Basilica situated in the Main Square of Wadowice to see the place where Karol was baptized and we will see the exhibition dedicated to him. Returning to Kraków we will stop in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, 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 buildings 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 6 km/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 and 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 and helped to solve many problems or at least to see a matter in a different light. He pilgrimed to Kalwaria as a child, student, priest, Bishop of Cracow and Archbishop, Cardinal and twice as Pope. Last time he went to Kalwaria in 2002 to celebrate the Mass conmemorating 400th anniversary of the Sanctuary. We will have time for private devotion and after we will drive back to Cracow to have dinner in our hotel. Overnight.

Day 7: 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 Wojtyla 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 that is 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 cross All The Saint's Square and we will enter Saint Francis of Assisi Church. The Franciscans arrived in Cracow in the 1330s invited by one Cracow Prince. They settled down and built the monastery that exists up till now. Among Franciscan Fathers there was Father Kolbe who spent in this convent 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 is. Being 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 a beautiful Park called Planty created in the 19th century in the place where the city walls and the moat had been, to arrive in the university quarter where Collegium Maius stands, that is the first and the oldest building belonging to the Cracow Universit. 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 farewell dinner in a local restaurant. Overnight.

Enjoy Kraków - LIVE

Day 8: CRACOW - HOMETOWN

Breakfast in our hotel. Afterwards we will have time at leisure till the time we will drive to Cracow Airport to take 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 occupied by German Nazis 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. Krakow, 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 (Malgorzata 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: Poznan (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 Wojtyla (the archive final shot of the movie). (FILMAFFINITY)

SINGLE ROOM SUPPLEMENT IN 4 STAR HOTEL: 280 €

DISCOUNT THIRD PERSON IN THE ROOM: 15%

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

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