Depart on your overnight international flight.

Meet your driver and guide at the Warsaw airport. Visit the Saxon Gardens, the first royal grounds opened to the public in Europe (1727), and home to its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Continue on 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 Popieluszko. 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, 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 Niepokalanów, 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 on to the city of Czestochowa, for dinner and an overnight stay. (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. Also Visit the Armory and Treasury at the monastery. Enjoy some free time before journeying to Krakow for dinner and overnight. (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. Walwel Hill sits along the Vistula River. Here the Royal Place 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)

Celebrate Mass at the Convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (now part of the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy), the home and burial place of St. Faustina. Travel to 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. (tour of the Salt Mines is included in the price of the tour). Return to Krakow for dinner and overnight. (B, D)

This morning, fly to Dubrovnik and then transfer to Medjugorje. Time permitting, spend time around the Shrine of Our Lady. Check into your hotel for dinner and overnight. (B, D)

Breakfast at the hotel. With a private bus and Tour Leader, you will be transferred to the Apparition Hill. This mountainous hill is where the visionaries first encountered Our Lady. At the base of this hill is a Blue Cross where Our Lady appeared to the children while they hid from the communist police in the early days of the apparitions. Mirjana also had public apparitions at this holy site on the second of every month. While climbing to the top of Apparition Hill, pilgrims are invited to recite the Rosary, pausing five times to pray each decade of the Rosary in front of huge bronze reliefs depicting each mystery. At the top of the hill, there is a statue of Our Lady in the exact location of her first apparition. Enjoy private time for prayer in this holy place. Free time for lunch (not included) and for prayer in this holy place. Afterward, we visit and pray at the Statue of the Risen Christ: The bronze statue of the Risen Christ, located on the grounds of St. James Church. This statue miraculously seeps droplets of water out of Christ’s right knee. Many pilgrims sit and pray on the benches surrounding this statue. At the end of the day, transfer back to the hotel. Dinner and overnight in Medjugorje. (B, D)

After breakfast, we will transfer to Dubrovnik, also known as the Pearl of the Adriatic. Meet our local guide who will take us on a walking tour of the Old City. It will begin at St. Blaise Church, the Patron Saint of Dubrovnik. Continue to the Gothic and Renaissance style Rector’s Palace. Next, we will stroll by the iconic Bell Tower Clock and Orlando’s Column. To the left of this column, we will see the Sponza Palace. In the sixteenth century, members of the Academia dei Concordi met to discuss literature and to this day, the palace is the most important cultural institution of Dubrovnik. Lastly, we will visit the Dominican and Franciscan Monasteries. The location of the Dominican Monastery is strategically placed at the most sensitive point of Dubrovnik’s defense barriers. Dinner and overnight in Dubrovnik. (B, D)

Return home inspired by the people and places of Poland and Medjugorje.