Arrival to Warsaw
Arrive to Warsaw and meet at the Warsaw airport/the train station with your personal driver who will take you to the selected centrally located hotel in Warsaw. Rest of the day free for leisure.
Recommended activities: viewing terrace on the 31st floor of the Palace of Culture and Science, museums: Warsaw Uprising, Fryderyk Chopin, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Wilanow Palace.
Overnight in Warsaw.
Introductory city tour of Warsaw
Morning:
You will see the highlights of the city, like the Old Town with its market square, St. John’s Cathedral, the Royal Castle and Lazienki Royal Park with the Palace on the Water, as well as the visited places during the first pilgrimage to Poland on July 2nd, 1979: Pilsudski Square (previously Victory Square), St. Anne’s Church and Palace of Bishops of Krakow in Miodowa Street.
Afternoon:
After lunch break, you will discover another part of Warsaw, Zoliborz where the church of St. Stanislaus Kostka – with the tomb of the beatified Jerzy Popieluszko – is located. Later on, look into a museum dedicated to Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish Catholic priest, associated with the Solidarnosc movement. Looking for other activities? We are able to arrange on special requests the brief visit in Temple of Divine Providence with its multimedial Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszynski.
Evening:
Free time and overnight in Warsaw.
Warsaw - Krakow
Morning:
We will arrange a transfer to the main railway station, where you will board the express train to Krakow. The journey should not take more than 2,5 hours. After arrival to Krakow, our local driver will welcome you at the arrival platform and transfer you to the centrally-located hotel.
Afternoon:
You will meet our local guide at the hotel’s lobby to start a half-day dedicated guided tour where you will have a chance to see places connected with life of Karol Wojtyla: 10 Tyniecka Street where he moved to from Wadowice in 1938, the house of Kanonicza Street where he lived as a bishop, and the Bishop’s Palace at 3 Franciszkanska Street with the famous window from which he greeted young people everytime he returned to Poland. The church of St Stanislaus Kostka where he celebrated his first public mass and St Florian’s Basilica, his parish church in 1951-1958 are also included in the programme. At the end of the tour we will take you to the Archdiocesan Museum which displays a collection of sacral works of art, often withdrawn from worship, from the 14th to the 18th century. The museum’s objective is to hold on permanent display and make visitors familiar with the artistic legacy of the Cracow bishopric.
Evening:
Free time and overnight in Krakow.
Czestochowa
Morning:
Departure 130 kilometers to the north to Czestochowa and visit the Jasna Gora Monastery, one of the most important pilgrimage centre in Europe. The objective will be to get familiar with its history and treasures like the miraculous image of the Black Virgin. In 1930 Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II) came with his father to Czestochowa for the first time and prayed to the Black Virgin. As Pope he has visited Jasna Gora seven times. Return to Krakow in the afternoon.
Evening:
Free time and overnight in Krakow.
Wadowice, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska & Lagiewniki
Morning:
You will travel to Wadowice, the hometown of John Paul II, to see the Basilica of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the place of Karol Wojtyla’s baptism, followed by the visit in the house where Karol Wojtyla was born, presently organized as a museum. After finishing the walk, take some rest in the market square and try the Pope’s favourite cream cake called kremowka.
Afternoon:
Our next stop is the Passion-Marian Sanctuary in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List with the following motivation: ‘Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a cultural site of great beauty and of spiritual importance. Its natural setting, which contains some symbolic places of worship related to the Passion of Jesus Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary, has remained almost unchanged since the 17th century’. Later on we will visit one of the Krakow’s district, Lagiewniki with its spectacular Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy, consecrated by John Paul II in 2002. The place is modern, built after the beatification of St. Faustina, connected to the convent where she spent the last years of her life and where she died on October 5, 1938. The church with the most famous image of the Merciful Jesus painted on the basis of the vision of St. Faustina, is also the resting place of her relics.
Return to the hotel in late afternoon.
Evening:
Free time and overnight in Krakow.
The end of the tour or the continuation
Depending on your departure time, our driver will take you to the Cracow airport or to the train station. If you wish to stay a little longer in Krakow or continue your trip to other destinations, we will be more than glad to help you with the additional services. We recommend the exploration of missing places dedicated to John Paul II:
1. Krakow – Jagiellonian university, Wawel Castle with Sigismund Tower, Franciscan Church with stained glass windows, Blonia Park best known for great Masses celebrated by Pope in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1997 and 2002, and Zakrzowek.
2. Zakopane with his beloved Tatra Mountains, Jaszczurowka church, old cemetery in Peksowy Brzyzek and Morskie Oko Lake
