Join Grace Magbaleta on a Pilgrimage To...

Poland & Medjugorje

Warsaw, Niepokalanow, Czestochowa, Auschwitz, Lagiewniki,

Swinice Warckie, Wadowice, Zakopane, Krakow, Medjugorje & Dubrovnik

September 20—October 4, 2009

$3,299 per person from Seattle

Spiritual Director: Fr. Vic Olvida

Group Coordinator:  Grace Magbaleta

YOUR TRIP INCLUDES:

Round-trip air from Seattle to Croatia   

13 nights in 4-star hotels as follows: (or similar)

        Sep 21 – 23          ~ 2 nights: Radisson SAS, Warsaw
        Sep 23 – 24          ~ 1 night:   Mercure Patria, Czestochowa
        Sep 24 – 25          ~ 1 night:   Kasprowy, Zakopane
        Sep 25 – 28          ~ 3 nights: Radisson SAS, Krakow

        Sep 28 – Oct 03    ~ 5 nights: A modern home/hotel with private baths in Medjugorje

        Oct 03 – Oct 04     ~ 1 night:  Hotel Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik
Breakfast and dinner daily
All transfer by private motor coach
Sightseeing tours and entrance fees
Local guides and tour escorts
Luggage handling and hotel taxes
Mass daily
Flight bag & portfolio of all travel documents

Not Included: AIRPORT TAXES, SECURITY FEES & FUEL SURCHARGES (approx. $500-600 pp subject to change), Lunches, Drinks with dinners, Travel Insurance optional at $129-$225 Tips to your guide & driver (Euro 6-8 per day). Items of a personal nature.

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Sample Day by Day Itinerary:

September 20 – USA - Warsaw     Board a transatlantic flight bound for Poland. Dinner served on board.

September 21 - Warsaw     Your tour director is at the airport to warmly greet you and soon you're comfortably settled at your hotel.  Upon arrival Mass at St. James Church, the church St. Faustina went when she arrived in Warsaw. The rest of the day is to relax. This evening enjoy welcome dinner and a show at a local restaurant.

September 22  - Warsaw      After breakfast we visit all the landmarks of Warsaw: Old Town, Market Square, the Barbican, the Warsaw Ghetto monument, Lazienki Park, the Chopin statue, and the magnificently restored Royal Castle. Visit and  Mass at Visit 3-9 Zytnia  Street where Faustina entered the convent. Dinner and overnight.

September 23  - Warsaw - Swinice Warckie -Niepokalanow- Czestochowa      After breakfast, we travel to Czestochowa, with a stop in Swinice Warckie to visit the parish church St. Casimir where St. Faustina was baptized Helen Kowalska. Continue to Niepokalanow, see a franciscan Monastery founded by St. Maximillian Kolbe and home of Basilica of Virgin Mary.  Next stop is the site of Poland's greatest pilgrimage shrine, Our Lady of Czestochowa.  Dinner and overnight

 
September 24 - Czestochowa - Wadowice - Zakopane     

Mass and Visit Jasna Gora Monastery with the Black Madonna picture. One of the most important places of religious worship in the Christian world, with tradition of pilgrimages that goes back to the 14th century. Our Holy Father has frequently visited Jasna Gorna Monastery, known as the Shrine of the Black Madonna. We celebrate Mass at the Pauline Monastery and venerate the priceless treasures contained within, including the Miraculous Icon.  Next travel to Zakopane, with a stop along the way in Wadowice, the birthplace of Karol Wojtyla. Visit the house where the Pope, John Paul II, was born. It has since been turned into a shrine-like museum. We will also visit the church he was attended and was baptized as a child. Next we continue on to Zakopane, a resort village nestled in the splendor of the Tatras region. This afternoon we  take a cable car ride to the nearby mountaintop for extraordinary views. Dinner and overnight.

September 25 - Zakopane - Krakow  Before we leave beautiful Zakopane,  for the great city of Krakow, we invite you to follow a short  distance on one of John Paul II's walking trails of the Zakopane region, a beautifully situated place within Tatras Mountains in the valley between Gubalowka and Giewont.  Zakopane and its vicinity is something of a mountain folklore reserve, with many pearls of typical wooden architecture. Horse-drawn carriages will take you to Kalatowki (optional). Admire picturesque landscapes of Polish highest mountains and visits the Hermitage of St. Brother Albert, founder of the Albertines Order. A short walk along colorful Krupowki Street for some last minute shopping in the local bazaar.  On route to Krakow we will stop at the Tieliczka Salt Mines. Upon arrival in Krakaw, settled in, then perhaps a short stroll in the old city before or after your dinner.

September 26 - Krakow - Auschwitz - Krakow     After breakfast we explore Market Square and hear the silver trumpet of the bugler from St Mary's Tower. Within the Cathedral you may pray before the extraordinary Wit Stwosz altar. The surroundings of the square have remained unchanged for almost 700 years and contain buildings of historic value such as St. Mary’s Church with the famous wooden altar, the Town Hall Tower, the Cloth Hall and the burgher’s houses. Tour the Cathedral, Coronation Chapel and the Royal Chambers where a superb collection of Arras tapestries is on view.  In the afternoon we go to Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi concentration camp. We will see the cell that imprisoned St Maximillian Kolbe and the Martyrdom Museum recalling the horrors of the Holocaust. Return to Krakow for dinner and overnight.

September 27 - Krakow - Full Day Visit to Lagiewniki     After breakfast we depart for our day's excursion to Lagiewniki. The capital of the Divine Mercy. It was here that originated the message of the Divine Mercy, which Christ Himself wished to pass on to our generation, through the mediation of St. Faustina. The Sanctuary houses grace-working image of Merciful Jesus and the relics of St. Faustina. We will visit the Shrine of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina's convent chapel, and we will visit St. Faustina's Tomb. Return to Krakow for our farewell dinner.

 
September 28 - Krakow -  Medjugorje Depart Krakow for flights  via Zagreb for your flight to Medjugorje.  Upon arrival, you'll be greeted by a tour guide and/or driver who will then take you on the 2 1/2 hour drive by private coach to the village of Medjugorje. Guide will be with your throughout your stay. Once there, you'll meet your fellow pilgrims and your spiritual leader and be introduced to your host family in whose modern and comfortable house you will be staying for the next four nights.

September 29 – October 02  Medjugorje  Experience the beauty and peace of this simple village. During your stay in Medjugorje you will have the opportunity to share faith with pilgrims from all over the world. Our local guide will accompany us throughout your stay.  Here are some of the activities you'll be sharing with our fellow pilgrims: Each morning at 10am we assemble at St James Church for the English-language Mass (Feast days and Sundays English Mass is at Noon). Follow the path up Apparition Hill where the visionaries first encountered Our Lady. Touch and pray before the cross that commemorates the spot where Mary first appeared to the visionaries.  Each evening at 5pm, we will join the villagers and pilgrims to pray the rosary. The apparition takes place at 5:40pm, and then stay on for Croatian Mass. Don't miss on Tuesdays and Saturdays Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and on Fridays Veneration of the Cross in the Church. Each evening during Croatian Mass, there is the Blessing of the Sick and blessing of the items you have with you.  We will have a visit to Tihaljina during the tour. Our guide will arrange meetings with the visionaries at their own homes provided that they are in Medjugorje during your trip, and pending their availability. We will have the opportunity to climb Krizevac Mountain, where in 1933 the villagers built a 30' high cross on the anniversary of Jesus' crucifixion. Visit and pray at "Blue Cross", which is a place of great healings and graces- a very special place at the base of Apparition Hill.  

October 03  - Medjugorje - Dubrovnik     

Departure from Medjugorje for Dubrovnik.  Free time in Dubrovnik to explore or shop on your own.  Overnight in Dubrovnik.

October 04  - Dubrovnik  - Seattle     

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, we leave by motor coach for Dubrovnik Airport for return flights home.

 For more information contact:  Grace Magbaleta email: gmagbal@hotmail.com

Or to book contact:  Kristin Shea from 206 Tours  kristin@206tours.com 800-206-8687