Overview & Itinerary
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Accommodation
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Highlight
Experience a deeply spiritual pilgrimage through Poland, centred in the historic city of Kraków. Walk in faith as you visit sacred sites including the Divine Mercy Shrine in Łagiewniki, where St. Faustina received the message of Divine Mercy, and the revered Jasna Góra Monastery, home to the miraculous icon of the Black Madonna. Reflect on the life of St. John Paul II in his birthplace of Wadowice, and celebrate Mass in meaningful and prayerful settings throughout your journey. A visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau offers a solemn moment of remembrance and reflection, while Kraków’s many churches and sacred landmarks enrich this faith-filled experience. The pilgrimage concludes with the remarkable Wieliczka Salt Mine, home to the beautiful underground Chapel of St. Kinga, a testament to devotion and craftsmanship.
Day 1 – Arrival in Krakow - Tour of Krakow
Meeting with courier and transfer to Hotel – Meet English speaking guide at the hotel reception.
Tour of Krakow.
Krakow – Having escaped destruction during World War II, the city uniquely retains its charming medieval shape. The central Market Square – the largest in Europe – is where several of the city’s architectural and cultural landmarks can be found, and also where the life of the city focuses. In the middle of the square there is the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice, 14th c.), today hosting a gallery of Polish paintings on the first floor, and there is a market selling local artefacts and souvenir on the ground floor. Opposite the Cloth Hall is St. Mary’s Church, world-famous for its altar carved by Wit Stwosz. Krakow is also a university centre with the Jagiellonian University founded in 1364 – one of the oldest in Europe. Collegium Maius – the oldest university building, today the University Museum, is located near the Market Square. The Royal Route leads along Grodzka Street up to Wawel Hill from which the Royal Residence and the Cathedral overlook the Vistula River. Wawel Castle is an interesting example of Renaissance architecture, which houses one of the largest collections of tapestries in Europe. The Cathedral was the coronation place of many Polish kings, and their last resting place. Other must-see monuments include Barbican, Florianska Gate, and numerous churches, each rich in history.
Day 2 – Krakow – Czestochowa - Krakow
After breakfast. we departure towards Czestochowa.
Sightseeing of Jasna Gora Monastery with local English speaking guide.
Czestochowa
Jasna Gora, a place of pilgrimage for thousands every year, is the most important Marian shrine in Poland. The focal point is the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin with its miraculous icon – the Black Madonna, but the museum with its Treasury and the Arsenal are also well worth a visit.
Overnight in Krakow
Day 3 – Auschwitz – Wadowice
Departure towards Auschwitz Birkenau museum
Visit of the museum with English speaking guide
Auschwitz-Birkenau – Museum of Martyrdom. Witness here one of the most memorable lessons of modern European history. The visit includes a film showing the camp’s liberation and you’ll see the flower strewn Death Wall, the national memorials, the rail line, ramp and remains of the hundreds of barracks, a moving testimony to the number of lost lives through Nazi activities across occupied Europe.
Visit cells for certain prisoners as well as the cell which housed Maximilian Kolbe who later was canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II. Kolbe was a Franciscan monk and the founder of the monastery in Niepokalanów. During WWII, as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp, he saved the life of another prisoner.
After the tour depart for Wadowice – the town of Wadowice is the birthplace of Karol Wojtyla. Here we shall visit the museum, dedicated to the life of the Pope John Paul II and other places closely linked to his presence in this area. Guided tour of the Museum.
Celebrate mass at Wadowice Basilica
Day 4 Kraków-Łagiewniki - Wieliczka-Krakow
After breakfast depart by coach to visit the new Basilica of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki that seats 4000 people and was consecrated by Holy Father in 2002. The central focus of the shrine is the tomb of St Faustina and the miraculous image of Our Merciful Lord.
Mass in the Chapel celebrated by your priest. After the mass one of Divine Mercy Sisters will have a lecture for the group regarding the history of Convent and St Faustina Kowalska.
You will be given time to pray in the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy where St Faustina lived for the last years of her life and where she received some of the apparitions of Merciful Christ.
In the afternoon excursion to Wieliczka.
Excursion to Wieliczka Salt Mine
This unique phenomenon was once described as being ‘as remarkable as the Pyramids and more useful’! Rooms, passages, great chambers, underground lakes of remarkable colours and chapels with superb statues – all carved from salt. Today this is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage monument and one of the most renowned attractions in the Krakow area.
In select passages and rooms of its nine levels, explore grottoes full of crystalline carvings, deep subterranean lakes and the impressive Chapel of St. Kinga.
St. Kinga lived in the 13th century, she was a Hungarian princess. The legend says that after marrying a Polish prince, the only present that she wanted to receive was salt. The king of Hungary gave her his richest mine, and Kinga dropped her engagement ring into its shaft. After coming to Kraków, the contemporary capital of Poland, the engagement ring was re-discovered in Wieliczka, in the first clump of salt that was extracted from there. This was the beginning of the miraculous history of the Wieliczka salt mine. St. Kinga, beatified by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690 and canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1999, is still the patron saint of the Wieliczka salt mine.
