Poland - 6 Days Plus

In the last century, Poland has seen occupation, religious persecution, communism, and ever shifting borders. Behind this tumultuous history is a richness of culture waiting to be discovered in religious sites and villages. Combining the glories of the past with modern day, the tour ends in Warsaw, a city that has seen it all!

Itinerary

• Day 1: WELCOME TO POLAND: KRAKOW

  Take a stroll along the cobbled streets of the most vivacious city in Poland to enjoy huge Market Square, with its famous Cloth Hall and St. Mary’s Basilica. Next, we’ll head towards Wawel Hill, where we’ll see the Cathedral where most of the Polish kings are buried.

• DAY 2: CZESTOCHOWA, JASNA GORA MONASTERY, AUSCHWITZ:

  Today we visit the Polish monastery in Jasna Gora, architectural marvel, and central to an understanding Polish history. Next to Rome, Fatima in Portugal and Lourdes in France, the Jasna Gora is one of the most important Christian pilgrimage. In the afternoon we visit Auschwitz, a grim reminder of the genocide of World War II.

• DAY 3: WADOWICE, KALWARIA ZEBRYDOWSKA, WIELCZKA SALT MINES, ZALIPIE:

  Wadowice, hometown of Pope John Paul II, gives us a chance to visit his childhood home. Then onto Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a sanctuary built in 1600 to provide pilgrims with a substitute Jerusalem which had been lost to the Muslim Turks. In the afternoon, we travel onto Wielczka Salt mines, a fascinating monument of engineering. In this subterranean universe, comprised of 300 km of galleries hewn in rock and salt deposits, the Nazis tried to establish an aircraft factory in the mines. We also have a chance to visit the village of Zalipie, with colourful painted cottages, with animal, floral and geometric patterns.

• DAY 4: TUESDAY LODZ

  Last century, Lodz was the meeting space of four cultures: Polish, Jewish, German and Russian. The city experienced its heyday in the times of the industrial revolution. It then witnessed the Jewish martyrdom during the WW2 when the Lodz Ghetto was created. Our guided tour will take us down Piotrkowska Street to Poznanski\'s Palace, Israel Poznanski\'s Residence, the Silbersteins\' textile factory, Kronsztadt\'s Palace, Arnold Stiller\'s Residence, the area of the former Lodz Ghetto and the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe.

• DAY 5: WEDNESDAY TEUTONIC KNIGHTS: TORUN AND MALBORK

  Today we travel north towards the Gdansk with a stop at Torun. Taste the local gingerbread or visit the house of its most famous resident, Nicolas Copernicus. Continue northwards for a very short stop in the Ilawa Lake District to see a miracle of 19th-century German engineering: the Ostroda-Elblag Canal. Afterwards, a sightseeing tour of the Teutonic Knights’ Malbork Castle.

• Day 6 THURSDAY GDANSK:

  Today we visit the marvelous Old Town of Gdansk, stopping at the Shipyards where the Solidarity movement came into being in 1980. In the past, Gdansk was the richest Polish city; at present, its old town is a favorite tourist destination in Poland. We also visit Westerplatte, the place where the Second World War started.

• Day 7: FRIDAY WARSAW:

  Our sightseeing will include the very best of Warsaw: the cosy Old Town painstakingly rebuilt from scratch after the WW II, the area of the historic Jewish Ghetto, the busy downtown, and the elegant Royal Route with the Palace on the Water in the Lazienki Gardens. The next stop is the observation deck of the huge socialist Palace of Culture, and one of the newest historical museums in Poland, the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising.

• DAY 8: RETURN TO LONDON

Dates

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