Day 1

Your tour will begin with an overnight flight to Krakow, Poland

Day  2

Upon arrival into Krakow, join your tour director and a professional city guide for a walk in Krakow Old Town (UNESCO). Here we will discover all the highlights of the Main Market Square (the largest medieval square in Europe), the splendid St. Mary's Basilica (with the biggest medieval altar of Europe!), the Cloth Hall  and the Wawel Hill with the magnificent Royal Castle and the Cathedral – the main Coronation church of Polish kings. Also visit  the students’ quarter to see the oldest Polish university – the Jagiellonian University and it’s marvellous courtyard of the Collegium Maius building, where you will especially focus on the places related to John Paul II.  Later in the afternoon, travel to see one of the oldest and biggest Salt Mines in Europe (UNESCO). During the underground tour you will discover treasures of the mine: chambers, lakes, chapels, including famous St. Kinga's Chapel with its magnificent decoration carved in salt. Enjoy your first traditional Polish dinner and your evening walk in the square.

Day  3

Today travel to Lagiewniki, the world-famous Shrine of the Divine Mercy, and the burial place of St. Sister Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of God's Mercy who died here in 1938. Then, stop in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (UNESCO), the second biggest pilgrimage centre of the Marian devotion in Poland. Considered one of the most unique monuments of culture and religiousness, it was built in the 17th-18th c. as the symbolic imitation of Jerusalem. Continue to Wadowice – the birthplace of John Paul II - # 7 Koscielna Street. The home is now a museum and exhibits the Wojtyla family’s former possessions such as family pictures and as well as the personal belongings of Father Karol Wojtyla – skis, a rucksack, a cap, a prayer book and photos from his three visits to Wadowice as the Pope. The building is situated in the town’s heart, near the baroque church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where John Paul was baptized and later confirmed, served as an alter boy and prayed daily. Later visit Auschwitz-Birkenau , the symbol of Holocaust and the Nazi crime. We see  the exhibition in the prisoners' blocks, the Block of Death (no 11), where St. Maximilian Kolbe died, the crematorium and the gas chamber. Then to Birkenau to see the Gate of Death, the wooden barracks and the Victims Memorial.  

Day  4

Experience Czestochowa. Visit the St. Paul's Hermit monastery in Jasna Gora (the Bright Mount), where the miraculous painting of Our Lady, known as Black Madonna is kept. During our guided tour we visit the complex of the monastery: the Holy Chapel with the Black Madonna Icon, decorated with numerous votive gifts, thanksgiving for the graces; the magnificent baroque Basilica, treasury, and the museum, old fortifications with the beautiful Way of the Cross. After the tour you will have time to enjoy some free time – for personal devotions or shopping. Later return to Krakow, free time and dinner. 

Day  5

Buongiorno!  You will arrive into the “Eternal City” of Italy and begin your Italian adventure with a guided sight seeing tour of this amazing city to really discover, see, touch and taste the beauty of Roma.  We will end our day with your first real Italian feast. Buon Appetito!

Day 6

Your day will begin with a guided tour of the Ancient pagan Rome. Tour the breathtaking Colosseum and the Forum where five emperors have left their mark, one being Julius Caesar. See the Arch of Titus, the Palatine Hill and the Arch of Constantine, where the first emperor was converted to Christianity. Continue your day with a to visit to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and marvel at Michelangelo’s statue of Christ. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon at the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.

DAY 7 

Discover the early Christian Rome by descending into the secrets of the catacombs, when Christianity was still seen as a simple cult and its members were executed as pagans. The Cappuccini Crypt, a chapel decorated entirely by human bones, Domitilla or San Callisto Catacombs which was an ancient Christian burial ground and the Church of San Clemente, built over an ancient fourth century church, which was built over an even older Roman house containing Christian artifacts and a pagan temple. 

DAY 8

Depart today for Assisi, best known as the birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi — patron saint of Italy, founder of the Franciscan order, and one of the most popular Catholic saints in history. Here you visit the 13th-century Basilica di San Francesco, which contains the sacred relics of Francis and beautiful frescoes of his life.  Learn about St. Claire the founder of Poor Claire’s and see her incorrupt body. Enjoy the rest of your day in the town of Assisi, with its Roman ruins, winding medieval streets and sacred shrines, which has been a major Catholic pilgrimage destination for centuries. A late day return to Rome.

DAY 9

Enjoy a full day tour of the Vatican, the heart of Rome and the smallest country in the world. St. Peter’s Basilica is without a doubt the grandest of churches. You will discover the beauty of the Pieta, the breathtaking interior work of Bernini, masterpieces by Michelangelo, DaVinci, Raphael, and of course the incredibly restored Sistine Chapel with the magnificent fresco of The Last Judgment.  Explore the underground burial stones with the tomb of St. Peter and Pope John Paul II, and after lunch tour Castel Sant’ Angelo, one of Rome’s longest standing monuments with 2000 years of history.

DAY 10 INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT HOME