Depart the USA.

Arrive in Krakow today. Celebrate Mass at a local church and then check into your hotel. Enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Begin the day by visiting Our Lady of Czestochowa, then continue to the Pauline Monastery of Jasna Gora, home to the Black Madonna. Founded in 1382, the Madonna was a gift just two years later. Also, visit the Armory and Treasury at the monastery. Travel back to Krakow and visit St. Mary’s Basilica. Every hour, the trumpet blasts from her tower to remember the fall of the trumpeter who warned the city of a Mongol attack. See Wawel Hill, which 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. Visit the Wieliczka Salt Mines and descend via a stairway into the depths of the earth to see the wonders left behind by the miners, including chapels and chandeliers made from salt, and the famous Blessed Kinga Chapel. 

Walk the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in remembrance of those who lost their lives there. Visit the Martyrdom Museum and then drive to the Divine Mercy Sanctuary and enjoy a talk given by one of the nuns about St. Faustina. Celebrate Mass at one of the chapels here, before visiting the new center, “Have no Fear,” where you may pray by the relic of Saint Pope John Paul II. Return to Krakow for one last night. 

After breakfast, travel to Zakopane, a town in the magnificent Tatra Mountains. Your sightseeing tour of the town will include a funicular train ride to the top of Mount Gubalówka. Here you will enjoy a panoramic view as well as a visit to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, built as a votive offering of thanks to her for saving the Pope’s life after the assassination attempt of May 13, 1981. Karol Wojtyla’s love of the region was fostered in his youth when he used to trek through the mountains with his father and brother. Return to Krakow for overnight. 

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. Celebrate Mass at the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, where the Saint Pope was baptized. Journey to Budapest, check into your hotel, and have dinner and overnight.

Your city tour begins at Budapest’s Great Market Hall, where you’ll discover plenty of delicious food and shopping. Afterward, you’ll visit both the Buda (hilly) and Pest (flat) sides of the Danube River. You’ll see the 19th-century Chain Bridge, which connects the Buda district with Pest, and the UNESCO-designated Castle Hill district, which contains some of Budapest’s most important medieval monuments and museums. Enjoy a dinner cruise on the Danube. Enjoy local food and folklore entertainment as you sail past Buda and Pest’s illuminated historic buildings. 

Return to the USA.