Make your way to your local airport where you will board your overnight flight(s) to Warsaw. Your meals will be served on board.

Welcome to Krakow, Poland, city of saints! Upon arrival, make your way to the baggage claim area and collect your luggage. Proceed to the Arrival’s Hall, where you will be greeted by your tour guide and/or driver. Transfer to your hotel. Following check-in at your hotel, your pilgrimage will officially begin with a short walk to the old town square, part of the Krakow World Heritage Site. We will see the Town Hall Tower, the Cloth Hall, the Burgher’s houses, and also visit St. Mary’s Basilica. We enjoy a delicious welcome dinner at local restaurant and have the opportunity to explore and shop in the nearby old town, before retiring for a restful overnight in Krakow.

Our day will begin with breakfast then Mass followed by a short walk to St. Francis Basilica. Here, Stanisław Wyspiański designed eight gorgeous stained glass windows, including the controversial, iconic centerpiece, ‘God in the Act of Creation’ – arguably the greatest modern stained glass window in the world. Franciscan friar Maximillian Kolbe led his first services at this church. We will continue our walk to the Jagiellonian University, and tour where Pope JP II attended from 1938-1939, when it was closed by the Germans, after the Nazis arrested 183 staff members, in an operation to eradicate Polish intellectual elites. We will have time to get lunch at a cafe, before we walk along the tree lined Planty pathway to the Wawel Castle and Wawel Hill, considered the most culturally and historically important site in Poland. Here we take tour of the beautiful Cathedral and the Coronation Chapel. At the cathedral, you will also have time to pray at the tomb of St. Stanislaus, the patron saint of Poland.

We will visit the museum house, JP2 Archdiocesan Museum. Karol Wojtyła (later JP II) lived here as a young priest, then bishop and finally cardinal for 17 years, between 1951 and 1967. The museum’s collection consists of personal objects, exhibited in the former rooms where he lived. Then, we will walk back on the Planty, to the old town square, where we will have a chance to shop on our own, before returning to our nearby hotel to enjoy a beautiful dinner. Overnight in Krakow.

After breakfast, we depart by bus early, for a short drive to Lagiewniki, where St. Faustina passed on Christ’s message of Divine Mercy. Here, we celebrate Mass and visit the Shrine of Divine Mercy containing images of the Merciful Jesus, relics of St. Faustina, her convent chapel and tomb. In addition we will be able to shop at the large gift shop and pray at the adoration chapel. Later, we will visit the nearby JP2 Center and see the cassock that JP2 was wearing during the assassination attempt. We reboard our bus for a short ride to Wieliczka, Europe’s oldest salt mine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes an “underground cathedral” carved entirely from salt. We return to Krakow to enjoy dinner at the local restaurant before resting up for the next day of activities. Overnight in Krakow.

Following breakfast, at 8:30, we take a short drive to Auschwitz, where we tour the WWII Nazi concentration camp. It will be a somber visit, recalling the atrocities that took place here. Additionally, we will see the cell that imprisoned St. Maximilian Kolbe, and visit the Martyrdom Museum. After this reflective day, we return to Krakow for Mass and an afternoon at leisure to enjoy the old town and nearby churches on our own. Enjoy dinner at local restaurant and last overnight in Krakow.

At 7:30 am, after breakfast, we depart for our scenic ride to Prague, the city of a thousand spires. Along the way, we celebrate Mass at Wadowice birthplace of Karol Wojtyla (Pope JP II). Here we visit the Family House of the Holy Father John Paul II Museum, located in the former family home of Pope JP II. The museum contains an extensive collection of furniture, photos, and memorabilia providing a detailed story of his early life and family. We continue our scenic drive to Prague and make another stop along the way at Olomouc, a stunning well preserved 11th century city. Here we take a lunch break, visit the cathedral and see the Holy Trinity Column, listed by UNESCO, adorned with religious sculptures. We continue to Prague where we have an evening dinner at a local restaurant before resting overnight in Prague, for our next day of activities.

After breakfast, take a short bus ride to the Church of Our Lady Victorious, home of the famous Child Jesus statue called the Infant Jesus of Prague. The statue, a 16th-century depiction of infant Jesus holding a globus cruciger, (an orb and cross), was donated to the Carmelite friars in 1628. Following Mass, we will take a church tour and have time to stop at the church gift shop. From the Church, we begin our walking tour. We stop along the way to tour the monumental interior of the baroque St. Nicholas Church and continue. along the Royal Route to the beautiful Castle district. We take a Prague Castle tour and visit St. George Basilica and St. Vitus Cathedral and its reliquary at the Chapel of the Holy Rood. While in the Castle District, we will also visit the Loretto House. This Marian pilgrimage site with the Baroque Church of the Nativity and a replica of the Holy House is surrounded by cloisters and chapels. In the tower there is a 27-bell carillon that plays the Loretan Marian song. The Loreto treasure includes the famous “Prague Sun”, a monstrance encrusted with 6,222 diamonds. We continue our walk to the iconic Charles Bridge crossing the Vltava River and adorned with many baroque statues. From here, we enjoy breathtaking views of the magical Prague Castle and see more of the historic city. We view the famous Astronomical Clock in old town and walk to nearby Wenceslas Square, one of the main city squares in new town, named after Saint Wenceslas, the patron saint of Bohemia. It is part of the historic center of Prague, a World Heritage Site. Dinner and overnight in Prague.

We start our day with Mass at the Strahov Monastery, and then tour the monastic cloisters, the Paradise Courtyard, the Chapter Hall, library (inside tour pending confirmation), the Romanesque halls, and the two monastic refectories — the winter and summer. After our Monastery tour, we depart Prague for a side trip to nearby Kutna Hora, a World Heritage Site with a rich mining history, beautiful churches and unique attractions. We start our tour with a short film about the history of Sedlec and Kutná Hora and a tour of the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist. After our church visit, we will see the gothic town fountain and the Column of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, built in memory of the victims of the plague. We will visit the Church of St. Barbara, the jewel of Kutná Hora. This Gothic masterpiece is dedicated to the patron saint of miners and uses frescoes to depict life during medieval times and coin making. Time permitting, we will visit the Italian Court (Royal Mint), a museum dedicated to coin minting, with an extensive collection of Kutná Hora coins and exhibits that re-create working conditions. We return to our Prague hotel for farewell dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, transfer to Prague airport for return flights home.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.