Depart on your overnight international flight.

Meet your driver and guide at the Warsaw airport. Visit the Saxon Gardens, the first royal grounds in Europe to be opened to the public (1727), and home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Continue to the Royal Way and the Holy Cross Church, where the composer Chopin’s heart is preserved in one of the pillars. Wander St. Stanislaw Kostka Church and learn about the Church’s stand against the Communist regime in Poland, and the work and struggles of Blessed Jerzy Popielusko. Check into your hotel for dinner and overnight. (D)

Walk a portion of the rebuilt fortifications of the Barbican. This semicircular military post once protected the Polish Kings. Continue to St. John’s Cathedral, which served as a coronation and burial site for the Dukes of Masovia. Stop at the Royal Palace, once the residence of the Polish kings. Pray in the Church of the Visitation of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the oldest surviving churches in Poland. The cornerstone was laid in 1410. Finish the day in the Old Market Square, taking in the tastes and shopping of Warsaw. Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight. (B, D)

Begin your travel south with a visit to the monastery at Niepokalanow, known as the City of the Immaculate Mother of God. Founded by Saint Maximillian Kolbe in the 1920’s, he and other priests were arrested here for their efforts to shelter Polish soldiers and refugees from the Nazis. Saint Kolbe would die in 1941 in place of another man selected by the Nazis to die. Continue your pilgrimage to the city of Czêstochowa for dinner and overnight. (B, D)

Visit the Pauline Monastery of Jasna Gora, home to the Black Madonna. Founded in 1382, the Madonna was a gift just two years later. Visit also the Armory and Treasury at the monastery. Enjoy some free time before journeying to Krakow for dinner and an overnight stay. (B, D)

Begin the day at St. Mary’s Basilica. The trumpet blast from her tower every hour remembers the fall of the trumpeter who warned the city of a Mongol attack. Wawel Hill sits along the Vistula River. Here, the Royal Palace and Walwel Cathedral stand. Father Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) gave his first Mass here and later served as the Archbishop of Krakow. Enjoy the Market Square, with the Cloth Hall providing opportunities to purchase Polish folk art and jewelry. Return to your hotel for dinner and overnight. (B, D)

Walk the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in remembrance of those who lost their lives there. Then travel to Wadowice, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II, to see the Holy Father's home and the Minor Basilica that he attended in his youth. Continue to the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska sanctuary, often visited by Pope John Paul II. Return to Krakow for dinner and overnight. (B, D)

Enjoy a day on your own in Krakow—those who choose can visit the Wieliczka Salt Mines. Descend via stairway into the depths of the earth to see the wonders left behind by the miners, including Chapels and Chandeliers made from the salt. (The tour of the Salt Mines is included in the price of the tour. Return to Krakow for dinner and overnight. (B, D)

Return home inspired by the people and places of Poland.