Downside Abbey - Pilgrimage to Poland
6-14.07.2015
6.07 Mon, Arrival in Poland.
Arrival in Warsaw by plane. Meeting with the tour leader from
Ernesto Travel and transfer by coach to the hotel in Warsaw.
Check-in at the hotel. Dinner at the hotel or at a restaurant
(depending on the arrival time). Overnight stay in Warsaw.
7.07, Tues Zakopane
8.00 Breakfast at the hotel. Travel to Zakopane.
10.00 Sightseeing in Zakopane: Jaszczurowka, Peksowy Brzyzek,
Villa Atma, Krzeptowki– Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima. The
sanctuary was founded as a token ofgratitude for saving the Pope’s
life after the assassination attempt onn 13th May,1983. [There will
be a mass in the sanctuary]. Visiting the Krupowki promenade.
13.00 Lunch at a traditional Goral restaurant.
15.00 Going up to top of the Gubalowka by cable railway.
Enjoying an amazing view of the Tatra Mountains. Walking
downhill through a passage. Return to Zakopane.
20.00 Dinner at an old-fashioned restaurant in Zakopane combined
with a traditional Goralmusic concert.
8.07, Wed Zakopane – Pieniny and Dunajec – Debno Podhalanskie
– Krakow
7.30 Breakfast at the hotel.
8.00 Departure by coach for Sromowce Wyzne.
10.00 Sailing on traditional wooden rafts down the Dunajec River,
across the Pieninski National Park. [Attention: if rain makes it
impossible to sail rafts down the Dunajec river, a trip to Ludzmierz
etc will be arranged]
13.00 Lunch at a restaurant in Szczawnica.
14.00 Transfer to Debno Podhalanskie. Visiting the wooden Gothic
church: one of the 6 wooden churches in the south of Poland listed
as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
If there is a good weather maybe it will be possible to arrange the
Holy Mass in the Church of Debno Podhalanskie.
15.00 Transfer to Krakow.
18.30. Arrival to Krakow. Check in the hotel.
19.00 Dinner in Krakow. Overnight stay in Krakow.
9.07, Thurs Krakow – the heart of Poland, Kazimierz – the Jewish
district
8.00 Breakfast at the hotel.
9.00 Guided tour of Krakow. The Wawel Hill with the castle
(optional sightseeing inside),its beautiful courtyard and the
Cathedral (sightseeing inside). If possible the Mass inthe St.
Leonard's crypt. Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque
architecture of the Old Town (Stare Miasto), the biggest market
square in Europe (Rynek Glowny), the Town Hall, Collegium
Maius – an ancient building belonging to the Jagiellonian
University, the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), Saint Mary’s Church
(Kosciol Mariacki – sightseeing inside) with Veit Stoss's famous
altar. Walking to the antique
walls of the Old Town through Florianska Gate and to the
Barbican. Sightseeing will include a multimedia presentation about
the story of amber called “Polish Gold”. In 1978, Krakow was put
on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
13.30 Lunch at a restaurant in Krakow.
15.00 Visiting the former Jewish district – Kazimierz. This part of
Krakow was the centre of the Jewish community's religious and
social life until the deportations during the Nazi occupation
(sightseeing inside 1 or 2 synagogues).
20.00 Dinner at the hotel or at the restaurant. Overnight stay in
Krakow.
10.07, Friday Krakow – Oswiecim (Auschwitz-Birkenau) –
Krakow
7.30 Breakfast at the hotel. Check-out from the hotel in Krakow.
8.00 Departure for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.
10.00 Guided tour of the area of the former concentration camp in
Auschwitz-Birkenau.The camp was built by Nazis during the Nazi
occupation of Poland. Today this place is a World Heritage Site of
The UNESCO.
13.00 Lunch at a restaurant. Transfer back to Krakow. Free time in
Krakow. The Holy Mass.
19.00 Dinner. Overnight stay in Krakow.
11.07, Sat Wieliczka – the salt mine
8.30 Breakfast at the hotel.
9.00 Free time.
15.00 Transfer to Wieliczka.
15.30 Guided tour in the Wieliczka Salt Mine – one of the oldest
salt mines in the world.Many famous people have visited this
place, such as Mikolaj Kopernik,Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
Dmitrij Mendeleev, Boleslaw Prus, Ignacy Paderewski, Karol
Wojtyla, etc. In 1978, Wieliczka Salt Mine was listed as a World
Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Holy Mass in the Saltmine
possible.
20.00 Dinner at a traditional Polish restaurant in Wieliczka
combined with a folk music concert.
Overnight stay in Krakow.
12.07, Sun Krakow – Łagiewniki – Wadowice – Kalwaria
Zebrzydowska – Krakow
8.00 Breakfast at the hotel.
8.30 Departure to Lagiewniki.
9.00 'Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy'.
Sightseeing at the Monastery in Lagiewniki. The monastery
features the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy is where Saint Faustina
Kowalska lived and died. This Monastery was proclaimed 'The
center of Divine Mercy' by Pope John Paul II during his stay in
Poland in 2002. On Divine Mercy Sunday (a week after Easter),
thousands of people come there to participate in Masses and pray
in the antique church, where Saint Faustina Kowalska (founder of
the cult of Divine Mercy) was buried.
11.00 Transfer to Wadowice, where John Paul II was born in 1920.
12.00 Visiting the Pope's home and the church where he was
baptized.
13.00 A Mass in the Pope's parish.
14:00 Lunch at a restaurant.
15:30 Transfer to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska.
16.00 Visiting the Bernardine Monastery complex in Kalwaria
Zebrzydowska, the 3rd most famous sanctuary in Poland. The
entire Mannerist complex (including the sanctuary and the park) is
a World Heritage Site of UNESCO.
17.30 Transfer back to Krakow. The Holy Mass possible in all of
the places.
19.30 Diner. Overnight stay in Krakow.
13.07, Mon Krakow – Czestochowa - Krakow
8.00 Breakfast at the hotel.
9.00 Departure for Czestochowa.
11.00 Guided tour of the most important pilgrimage place in
Poland – the Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa with the
miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary called the Black Madonna.
13.00 Lunch.
14.30 A mass in Sanctuary.
15.30 Transfer back to Krakow.
19.00 Dinner at a restaurant.
Overnight stay in Krakow.
14.06, Tues Departure from Krakow and from Poland
x Breakfast at the hotel. Check-out from the hotel in Krakow
y Transfer to the airport. Departure from Poland.
Price:
The group of min 20 people (1 pax free of charge in single room)
Price per person in double room: 675,00 EUR
Single room supplement: 215,00 EUR
Ernesto Travel services:
1. Accommodation:
· 2 nights in the 3* or 4* Hotel with the buffet breakfast in
Zakopane;
· 6 nights in 3* Hotel with the buffet breakfast in Krakow;
2. Meals:
· Full board (from dinner on the 6th of June till dinner on the 13th
of June, always 3
course menu with water and bread)
3. one english speaking tour leader for the whole trip, who will be
partly a guide as well(Lagiewniki, Wadowice, Kalwaria
Zebrzydowska, Zakopane),
4. Sightseeing tours and guides:
· local english speaking guide in Wieliczka Salt Mine;
· local english speaking guide in the Pope's Museum in Wadowice;
· local english speaking guide in Auschwitz-Birkenau;
· local english speaking guide in Czestochowa;
· local english speaking guide in Krakow,
5. Entries:
· Wieliczka Salt Mine;
· Auschwitz-Birkenau (headphones obligatory for groups larger
than 10 people);
· Krakow: St. Mary's Church, Cathedral in the Wawel Castle;
· Wadowice: Pope's Museum;
· Dunajec River rafting - tickets;
· Tickets for the cable car on Gubałówka;
6. Transfers: modern coach for the whole stay in Poland
The price doesn't include:
1. flights;
2. beverages (apart water),
3. travel and health insurance;
4. tips to the driver and guides;
5. Everything, what was not mentioned in