Divine Mercy Pilgrimage Tour

DIVINE MERCY PILGRIMAGE TOUR ( 9 days / 8 nights )

St. Sister Faustina Kowalska

WARSAW (3) – CZESTOCHOWA (1) – KRAKOW (2) – ZAKOPANE (1) – KRAKOW (1)     

Day 1 – WARSAW ( D)

• Arrival Warsaw, transfer to the hotel, check in
• Holy Mass at St. Jacob church where Faustina went and prayed after her arrival to Warsaw Then visit to Stanislaw Kostka Church where Father Jerzy Popieluszko, murdered by agents of the communist secret police in 1984 is buried
• Welcome dinner, overnight in Warsaw

Day 2 – WARSAW – ( B, D )

• After breakfast sightseeing of Warsaw including Old Town with Barbican Walls, Castle Square,   entrance to St. John’s Cathedral and Holly Cross Church, drive along Royal Route from Old Town to Belvedere Palace and Lazienki Park. Visit the Royal Castle interiors.
• In the afternoon visit and Mass at the Congregation of the Divine Mother of Mercy on Zytnia Street where Faustina entered the convent.
• Dinner and overnight in Warsaw
• Optional : folklore show during dinner or Chopin Piano Concert in one of Warsaw’s palaces

Day 3 – WARSAW – Plock– Sierpc – WARSAW ( B, D )

• After breakfast departure for Walking tour of Old Town, visit the cathedral church with sarcophagus of Polish kings , the Benedictine Abbey and the house of the congregation where St. Faustina lived, worked and get her first message of Divine Mercy (1931)
• Optional : visit to Art Nouveau Museum to see the largest collection of Art-nouveau exhibits in Poland
• On the way back to Warsaw visit open-air heritage park in Sierpc – the museum of Mazovian countryside presenting over 80 traditional architectonical examples. Possibility to see folklore show on Sundays in summer season.
• Dinner and overnight in Warsaw

Day 4 – WARSAW – Niepokalanow- Glogowiec – Swinice Warckie – CZESTOCHOWA ( B, D )

• After breakfast departure for Niepokalanow – small village near Warsaw, famous for the Franciscan Monastery founded in 1927 by St. Maksymilian Kolbe, a missionary and a martyr of the Auschwitz death camp, canonized by pope John Paul II. Sightseeing of basilica, chapel, Maximilian Kolbe room, panorama of millennium, papa-mobile museum.
• Transfer to Glogowiec – the birthplace of sister Faustina, visit her family house to see family photos and souvenirs. Continuing to Swinice Warckie – village where she was baptized ( there is a portrait of St. Faustina in the local parish church ) and her parents were buried on the local cemetery.
• Departure for Czestochowa
• Check in and dinner at the hotel in Czestochowa
• Evening Holy Mass in the Chapel of the Black Madonna in Jasna Gora sanctuary, overnight

Day 5 – CZESTOCHOWA – KRAKOW ( B, D )

• After breakfast guided visit Jasna Gora Monastery – the destination of numerous pilgrimages of Poles and Roman Catholics of other nationalities to admire Miraculous Painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary ( Black Madonna ).
• Drive to Krakow
• After arrival half day tour of Krakow including places connected to John Paul II. Apart from standard city attractions the route includes St. Florian Church – the first church in Krakow where Karol Wojtyla was a curate, St. Mary’s Church with a memorial plague commemorating the White March that took place in 1981, Collegium Novum of Jagiellonian University where Karol Wojtyla lectured in theology after WWII, the Archbishop’s Palace on Franciszkanska 3 where he lived for a number of years with famous “papa’s window” and Archdiocese Museum.
• dinner at local restaurant in Krakow with folklore show, overnight in Krakow

Day 6 – KRAKOW – Wieliczka – Lagiewniki – KRAKOW ( B, D )

• After breakfast departure for Wieliczka
• Visit Wieliczka Salt Mine with local guide – miner, unique tourist underground route leading thru chapels (St. Kinga’s chapel ), salt caves and underground lakes. World-famous attraction listed as a UNESCO heritage
• In the afternoon visit to the Sanctuary of St. Faustina in Lagiewniki ( Shrine of Divine Mercy ) in the suburbs of Krakow. The church consecrated by John Paul II during his last pilgrimage to Poland in 2002 is one of the largest pilgrimages centres. Participating in the Holy Mass
• Dinner at the local restaurant, overnight in Krakow

Day 7 – KRAKOW – ZAKOPANE ( B, D )

• After breakfast departure for Zakopane
• On arrival sightseeing of Zakopane – the winter capital of Poland and Tatra mountains and John Paul II favourite place for trekking and hiking during summer and skiing in winter.

Visit Our Lady of Fatima church – a votive church ( thanksgiving for surviving the Ali Agca’s attempt on his life ), walk along famous Krupowki Street and old part of the town with wooden houses in Zakopane’s architecture style, funicular train ride to Gubalowka Hill to admire the panorama of Tatras, visit Wooden Church and Old Cemetery etc

• In the afternoon walk or horse-carriage ride to Hala Kalatowki with en-route visit to hermitage of Holy Albert Chmielowski and Albertine convent
• Dinner at a local restaurant-highlanders’ inn with local specialities and folklore show
• Overnight in Zakopane

Day 8 – ZAKOPANE – Kalwaria Zebrzydowska – KRAKOW ( B, D )

• After breakfast departure for Krakow
• En route – raft trip along Dunajec River ( available in summer season from May till September ) across the Pieniny National Park
• Stop in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska – a pilgrimage sanctuary 17^th century complex with Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels and 41 chapels and stations of the cross on the hill recreating the Jerusalem from the times of Christ. As a young boy John Paul II went on many pilgrimages to the sanctuary.
• Arrival Krakow
• Dinner and overnight in Krakow

Day 9 – KRAKOW ( B )

• After breakfast transfer to the airport for the departure flight