Monday, August 29 -- Departure Day 

Tuesday, August 30

• 12:30 PM: Arrival in Gdansk (the Lech Walesa International Airport)
• Transfer to our hotel; check-in; free time in the Old Town
• 5:30 Dinner at Gdanska Restaurant;
• Our FIRST Night in Gdansk – HANZA HOTEL

• 9:30 – 12:00  Our Walking Tour of the Old Town; visit some of the “highlights of Gdansk”
• Free time for shopping and site seeing (there are many points of interest, museums, shops, etc. that we can just enjoy on our own)
• Dinner on our own; lots of options in the city

• Free time in the morning…
• 12:00 noon: We leave for Cape Westerplatte (where on September 01, 1939, the first shots of WW II were fired; and we continue to the Beach Resort of Sopot
• We continue on to Legowo; dinner together in one of the local restaurants
• Return to Gdansk; free time – enjoy the city at night

• 9:30 Leaving for The Capital City of Warsaw
• On the way: we stop in Malbork – Medieval Castle of the Teutonic Knights
• 4:00 PM arrival in Warsaw; (possible visit to the Royal Lazienki Park)
• Check-in to SOFITEL VICTORIA HOTEL (for two nights)
• 5:30 PM Dinner at Literatka Restaurant; free time to explore the Old Town of Warsaw (eat, drink, shop, explore, be merry, make friends J )
• Our first night in Warsaw

• 9:45 we leave the hotel for our Guided tour of Warsaw – Royal Castle, Old Town, and beyond; free time after our tour
• Dinner on our own; lots of options in the city
• Free time to explore, shop, socialize, rest…
• Second night in Warsaw

• 9:30 Departure from Warsaw;
• Possible short stop by the Jewish Ghetto Memorial and/or Lazienki Park 
• Leaving for the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Czestochowa; Sunday Mass
• 5:00 Dinner at Hotel Mercure’s Restaurant
• Overnight at Czestochowa; HOTEL MERCURY PATRIA 

• We continue on to the Mountain Resort of Zakopane
• Arrival in Zakopane, (maybe have some free time before check-in);
• Hotel Stamary (two nights)
• 6:00 Dinner at Sabala Restaurant – with a little taste of local culture, music, and dance (regional folklore)
• Our first night in Zakopane

• 9:30 We leave the hotel (on locally provided transportation) for the cable car (suspended gondola) to the Summit of Kasprowy Wierch
• Gondola ride to Kasprowy Wierch (we have up to 1,5 hours on top of the mountain)
• Return to Zakopane; free time (visit the “Krupowki Promenade”; walk down to the cable car (trolley) station; possible ride to the Gubalowka Hill. You may choose to simply stay on Krupowki Street or at the AWESOME flea market at the foot of Gubalowka Hill
• Be back in the hotel by 5:30
• 6:00 PM Dinner at Chata Zbojnicka
• Second night in Zakopane

• 10:00 Leaving for Krakow
• 1:10 PM Wieliczka Salt Mine tour with dinner inside the salt mine (some 400 feet underground)
• Arrival in Krakow; 
• HOTEL STARY (3 nights)
• free time in Krakow; enjoy the “jewel of Poland”

• 9:30 Leave the hotel for our bus ride to Auschwitz
• 11:30 Visit to the former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz Birkenau
• Visit to Wadowice – birthplace and hometown of Pope John Paul II
• 4:00 Dinner in Wadowice
• Return to Krakow; free time in the evening 
• Second night in Krakow

• Guided Tour of Historic Krakow; Main Market Square Wawel Castle
• Free time; (explore the Old Town on your own (visit the many churches, historic sites, shops, arts and crafts; walk by the river, etc.)
• 5:30 Dinner at Hawelka Restaurant (our “last supper” in Poland J)
• Third night in Krakow

• Early morning departure for the airport in Krakow; leave for the US