Day 1: Depart for Warsaw

Depart to Warsaw with meal served on board.

Day 2: Arrival to Warsaw

Welcome to Poland! Upon arrival into Warsaw, we will enjoy a panoramic view of the city. Then, transfer to your hotel. We celebrate HOLY MASS – Church of St. Alexander (to be confirmed)

Dinner at hotel and overnight in Warsaw.

Day 3: Warsaw

After breakfast, we enjoy a full day of sightseeing in Warsaw. We begin with a visit to St. Stanislaus Kostka Church where Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko was brutally murdered by militant security police in 1984. See Pilsudski Square, Warsaw’s largest square, used over the centuries for military parades and national celebrations. We celebrate HOLY MASS in Church of St. Kostka. We will follow the Royal Route to Lazienki Park seeing the Chopin monument, enchanting gardens, and the Palace. Then, we walk along the streets of the Old Town to admire the Castle Square with its Royal Castle, the Old Town Market Square, and the Barbican and City Walls. Visit the Church of St. Anna, where Pope St. John Paul II celebrated a Mass for the young people of Poland, and the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Warsaw’s oldest church. During the visit, it will be possible to see the place where Blessed Hanna Chrzanowska was born in Senatorska Street 32 (the original house was destroyed during WW II) and the Szlenkier Palace (Today- Italian Embassy ), where her grandparents lived. Finally, attend a Chopin piano recital in the Museum of the Archdiocese of Warsaw. Welcome dinner at a typical Polish restaurant in Warsaw.

Day 4: Niepokalanow - Swinice Warckie – Wroclaw

After breakfast, we drive to Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate Virgin. The Franciscan Monastery was founded in 1927 by St. Maximilian Kolbe, a martyr from the death camp in Auschwitz, and in 1980 Pope St. John Paul II. gave the church the title of Basilica. A statue of the Immaculate Conception was placed in a niche in the front wall of the Basilica. Meet the priests from the Niepokalanow Sanctuary and visit the museum of St. Maximilian Kolbe. We will celebrate HOLY MASS in Niepokalanow. Then, we continue to Swinice Warckie for a visit to St. Casimir parish church where St. Faustina, who spread the devotion of the Divine Mercy, was baptized. We transfer to Worclaw for dinner at hotel and overnight.

Day 5: Wroclaw - Legnica - Czestochowa

After breakfast, we drive to Legnica to visit the Eucharistic Miracle at St. Hyacinth’s and celebrate HOLY MASS — On Christmas Day 2013, in Legnica, an industrial city of 100,000 in southwest Poland, a priest accidentally dropped a consecrated Host on the floor. In accordance with Church procedures, the Host was placed in a dish filled with holy water to dissolve. After two weeks, the Communion wafer dissolved only partially, and a red substance appeared on it. The Bishop of Legnica at the time, Stefan Cichy, formed a committee to study this unusual phenomenon. Two independent forensic medicine departments from universities in Wroclaw and Szczecin studied a sample of the Host. Researchers from Szczecin found human DNA, as well as tissue from the human heart, with alterations that frequently appear in a state of agony. Afterward, we may have lunch in Legnica or we will return to Wroclaw for lunch. Then, we will continue our drive to Czestochowa – known as the “spiritual capital” of Poland.

Dinner & overnight in hotel.

Day 6: Czestochowa

Breakfast at the hotel. We will walk to the Shrine to celebrate to HOLY MASS in The Rosary Chapel. Then, a visit with a local guide to the Pauline Monastery of Jasna Gora, Poland’s most famous Shrine of Our Lady and a major pilgrimage site, often visited by St. Pope John Paul II. The miraculous Black Madonna image is the monastery’s most cherished treasure. Lunch on your own.

The afternoon is free for individual visits and prayers. Dinner at the hotel. In the evening, at 9 p.m., we have an opportunity to participate in the “Appeal of Jasna Gora” prayer held in front of the altar of Our Lady Black Madonna for over 70 years. Overnight at hotel.

Day 7: Czestochowa – Auschwitz Birkenau – Krakow

Breakfast at the hotel. We will celebrate HOLY MASS at Czestochowa. Then, we drive to Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp where St. Maximilian Kolbe sacrificed his life for another in 1941. Visit the Memorial Site and Museum Auschwitz–Birkenau with a local guide. After the visit, we continue to Krakow. Dinner at the hotel and overnight.

Day 8: Krakow: ln the footsteps of St. John Paul II - Wieliczka Salt Mine

Breakfast in hotel. Meeting in the hotel with a local guide and sightseeing of Kracow in the footsteps of the Holy Father, Pope St. John Paul II. There are so many places connected with Pope St. John Paul II, such as St. Florian’s Church where he was a vicar; the beautiful Franciscan Church, his favorite praying place; Franciscan Street with the famous Pope’s window where St. Pope John Paul II used to show up to talk with Cracovians during his pilgrimages to Poland; Collegium Novum, the main building of Jagiellonian University, where after WWII, Karol Wojtyla lectured in theology; and the Archbishop’s Palace, which was his home for a number of years. Visit the Market Square, one of the largest medieval town squares in all of Europe. Enjoy a walking tour featuring St. Mary‘s Altar, the largest Gothic altar in the world, the Town Hall Tower, the Cloth Hall, the burghers’ houses, and Wawel Cathedral, including St. Leonard’s Crypt, where St. Pope John Paul II celebrated his first Mass. Lunch on your own. Then, transfer to Wieliczka Salt Mine, the oldest and longest salt mine in Europe. The tour with a local guide and will include The Pilgrim`s Route. You will see sacred sculptures carved in salt, unique views, beautiful chambers, and among them the most magnificent – St Kinga’s Chapel. At the end of our tour, we will celebrate HOLY MASS in the St. Pope John Paul II Chapel of Wieliczka Salt Mines.  Dinner in local Polish restaurant. Overnight in hotel.

Day 9: Krakow: - Excursion to Zakopane

Breakfast in hotel. Meeting with a guide and full day trip to charming resort town of Zakopane, nestled high up in the Tatras Mountains. We will celebrate HOLY MASS in the Jaszczurowka Chapel, which was visited several times by young Karol Wojtyla (Pope St. John Paul II), as it lies the walking paths where he often finished his walks for prayer and reflection. Afterwards in Zakopane, walking along colorful Krupowki Street, the central mall lined with restaurants, cafes, boutiques, and souvenir shops. Lunch on your own. You will also take a cable car ride to the highlands of Mount Gubalowka for a stunning view of the Tatras Mountains and Zakopane. At the end, we visit the Shrine of the Holy Virgin of Fatima, constructed in 1999 in gratitude for Pope John Paul II’s survival of an assassination attempt. Return to Krakow. Dinner in hotel & overnight

Day 10: Krakow - Kalwaria Zerzydowska -Wadowice – Lagiewniki

Breakfast in hotel. Meet our local guide and departure for Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, one of Poland’s most important Catholic sites, where is located the Passion and Marian sanctuary on a hill, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Karol Wojtyla often walked the Calvary paths and prayed to Zebrzydowska Blessed Mother. Then, transfer to Wadowice, the birthplace of Pope St. John Paul II. We will celebrate HOLY MASS in Wadowice in Basilica where Karol Wojtyla was baptized. Then, we visit the house where he was born, today transformed in impressive museum (visit with the English audio guide). Lunch on your own. Return to Krakow to Lagiewniki district, where two important religious sanctuaries stand. Visit the Shrine of Divine Mercy, consecrated by St. Pope John Paul II during His last pilgrimage to Poland in 2002. Nearby, there is the “Do Not Be Afraid Center“ with the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II. In the Priest Chapel with the reliquary of the blood of the Polish Pope placed on the slab from the tomb of the Holy Father from the Vatican Grottoes of St. Peter Basilica in Rome.

Dinner in hotel & overnight.

Day 11: Krakow- USA

Transfer to Krakow airport for flight back to the USA.

Return home with memories of a wonderful pilgrimage in our hearts.