Shrines of Central Europe

Day 1 Arrival
Day 2 Krakow tour • Wieliczka Salt Mine • overnight in Krakow
Morning: Krakow Old Town walk. Krakow, the former capital of the Polish Kingdom used to be the city of churches, monasteries and Saints. During our tour we discover its unique heritage. We see Wawel Hill with the Royal Castle and Cathedral , the Main Market Square – the largest medieval square in Europe, the Cloth Hall and St. Mary’s Church, home to the largest medieval altar in Europe.
Afternoon: We visit one of the largest medieval Salt Mines in Europe. During underground tour we see the chambers, tunnels, chapels among them the most beautiful one – St. Kinga’s Chapel with all decoration curved in rock salt.
Day 4 Auschwitz – Birkenau Museum • Czestochowa • overnight in Krakow
Morning: We visit the largest shrine in Poland – the Monastery of Jasna Gora, the home of the miraculous icon known as Black Madonna. We see a complex of monastic buildings and a Chapel with the miraculous image, surrounded by walls covered with countless votive offerings – poignant evidence of human faith. After the tour a Holy Mass. Transfer to Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.
Afternoon: We visit Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, the site of the largest concentration and extermination camp built by the Nazis during WWII. It became a symbol of the Holocaust, Nazi crimes and forced labor. During the tour we see the former prison blocks and barracks, the crematorium at Auschwitz and the camp site at Birkenau with infamous the Gate of Death, wooden barracks and the Memorial.
Day 5 Divine Mercy Shrine • Kalwaria Zebrzydowska • Wadowice • overnight in Krakow
We stop in Wadowice, the birthplace of St. John Paul II, where we see his Family House and the Basilica where he was baptized. Afterwards we visit Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (UNESCO), a complex of more than 40 chapels and small churches built in the 17th – 18th centuries as a symbolic replica of Jerusalem for pilgrims who could not take a trip to the Holy Land. Then we continue to Lagiewniki – Divine Mercy Shrine, where St. Sister Faustina lived and died, today one of the largest places of worship in the world. Here we see the Chapel with the tomb and relics of St. Sister Faustina and the miraculous Divine Mercy image. Here we enjoy a Holy Mass.
Day 6 Velehrad Shrine • Kutna Hora • overnight in Prague
We visit the Velehrad Monastery, the spiritual heart of the Czech Republic commemorating SS. Cyril and Methodius, who arrived in this area in 863 and spread Christianity among the Slavs. They conducted their services in a Slavic language, for which Cyril created a new alphabet (Cyrillic). Afterwards we stop in Kutna Hora, a beautiful medieval town. Here we see the magnificent Gothic Church of St. Barbara and the unique ossuary – a Baroque chapel built of human bones, to commemorate the victims of the epidemic.
Day 7 Prague tour • free time • overnight in Prague
We discover Prague: Old Town Square, Hradczany with the Royal Castle, the Cathedral and picturesque Golden Lane where medieval alchemists used to live. We walk around cosy Mala Strana with tiny streets and art galleries. Here we see the miraculous wax figure of Jesus known as the Child of Prague ( Church of Our Lady Victorious), the most important place of worship in the city. We also visit Loreto with a copy of a house believed to be the Virgin Mary’s house that was miraculously transported from Nazareth to Loreto, Italy.
Afternoon: free time. Holy Mass in one of the Prague’s churches.
Day 8 Departure
Photo above (Prague) by CzechTourism.com