The abbreviated tour schedule is what it is - the schedule of our activities. It will give you an idea about what we do on the trip, how we spend time, and when we move to the next place.

This schedule will periodically be updated as we get closer to the trip. So obviously, it is not the final version of it. If you click on the detailed tour schedule, it will give you just more details - in more of an essay format. Since these schedules are not finalized yet, I suggest you not print them quite yet.
The detailed schedule is not posted here yet, but check in a couple of days... it should be here.

 

Monday, June 8 -- Departure Day We depart from Charlotte on Lufthansa Airline flight # 429, leaving Charlotte at 6:30 PM, connecting in Munich, arriving in Gdansk

Tuesday, June 9

• 12:30 PM: Arrival in Gdansk (the Lech Walesa International Airport)
• Visit to the “Birthplace of Solidarity”;
• Transfer to our hotel; check-in; free time in the Old Town
• 5:30 Dinner; location TBD
• Our FIRST Night in Gdansk – Hanza Hotel

• 9:30 – 12:30 Guided Walking Tour of the Old Town; visit some of the “highlights of Gdansk”; free time for shopping and site seeing
• Dinner on our own
• Second Night in Gdansk

• Leaving for Westerplatte (where on September 01, 1939 the first shots of WW II were fired; WW II Monument);
• Coninue on to (Teutonic Knights City of) Malbork
• A stroll through the Castle of the Teutonic Knights in Malbork;
• Continue on to Pelplin; Gothic Cathedral; possibly a 20 minute organ concert
• Dinner on the way back to Gdansk
• Our third Night in Gdansk

• 9:00 Leaving for The Capital City of Warsaw
• 3:00 PM Arrival in Warsaw; check-in, free time to explore the Old Town of Warsaw (eat, drink, shop, explore, be merry, make friends)
• 5:30 Dinner; location TBD
• Night in Warsaw – Hotel Sofitel Victoria (2 nights) (011) 48. 22. 657.8130

• 9:45 leave the hotel for our Guided tour of the Royal City of Warsaw – Royal Castle, Old Town, lots of history, culture, monuments…
• Dinner on our own
• Free time to explore, shop, socialize…
• Second night in Warsaw – Hotel Sofitel Victoria

• Sunday June 14

• 9:30 Check out; Visit to the Jewish Ghetto Memorial; and/or the Royal Lazinki Park
• Leaving for Mountain Resort of Zakopane
• On the way: Shrine of the Black Madonna in Czestochowa 
• 5:00 Dinner at Hotel Mercure’s Restaurant
• SUNDAY MASS; some free time to visit/pray at the shrine
• Overnight in Czestochowa; Hotel Mercury

• 9:00 Leave for the Auschwitz Concentration Camp Museum
• Visit to Auschwitz
• Leave for Wadowice – the birth place of Pope John Paul II (church/town)
• Dinner in Wadowice
• Continue on to Zakopane
• Check-in to our hotel

• Tuesday, June 16

• Walk through the “Krupowki Promenade” down to the cable car (rail trolley) station; optional excursion to the Hill of Gubalowka. (You may choose to simply stay on Krupowki Street or at the AWESOME flea market at the foot of Gubalowka Hill).
• Free time for shopping and site seeing; enjoy local culture, arts and crafts; return to hotel
• Cable car (suspended gondola) to the Summit of Kasprowy Wierch
• Gondola ride to the summit
• Return to Zakopane;
• Dinner at Restaurant at a regional inn in Zakopane; free time in town, or simply return to the hotel. The hotel has a beautiful spa and swimming pool; you may want to take advantage of it
• Night in Zakopane

• 9:00 (leave hotel by bus) for our excursion on horse-drawn wagons AND 3 MILE ROUND TRIP HIKE into the Tatra Mountains National Park and Lake Morskie Oko. This is an optional tour as it involves a 1.5 mile uphill hike towards Lake Morskie Oko; and the same distance to return (by downhill now)
• Some hiking options…
• Return to Zakopane; free time to shop, or have a drink
• 6:00 PM Dinner/regional cultural evening at “Bakowo Zohylina” regional Inn
• Night in Zakopane

• 10:00 Leaving for Krakow
• Wieliczka Salt Mine tour
• Dinner/Regional Cultural Evening (Krakow Region) at Halit Restaurant
• Arrival in Krakow; Hotel Stary (3 nights)
• Free time in Krakow; enjoy the “jewel of Poland” - most beautiful city in Poland (and the most popular tourist destination, too)

• Free time in the morning; (explore the Old Town on your own (visit the many churches, historic sites, shops, arts and crafts; walk by the river, etc.)
• Guided Tour of Historic Krakow; Jewish town of Kazimierz, Wawel Castle, Main Market Square
• Dinner at Hawelka Restaurant (our “last supper” in Poland)
• Night in Krakow – Hotel Stary

• Departure for the airport in Krakow; leave for the US