Abbreviated Tour Schedule

                    Abbreviated itinerary for our August 24 - September 05 trip to Poland
 
Monday, August 24 -- Departure Day

We depart from Charlotte on Lufthansa Airline flight # 429, leaving Charlotte at 6:30 PM, connecting in Munich, arriving in Gdansk

Tuesday, August 25
 

• Arrival in Gdansk (the Lech Walesa International Airport)
• Visit to the “Birthplace of Solidarity”;
• Transfer to our hotel; check-in; in the Old Town
• Dinner in one of the Old Town’s restaurant;
• Our FIRST Night in Gdansk – Hanza Hotel

Wednesday, August 26
 

• Guided Walking Tour of the Old Town; visit some of the ”; free time for shopping and site seeing;
• Dinner on our own; free time
• Second Night in Gdansk

Thursday, August 27 Optional All Day Tour:
 

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

 
Friday, August 28
 

• We leave for The Capital City of Warsaw
• Arrival in Warsaw; check-in, to explore the Old Town of Warsaw (eat, drink, shop, explore, be merry, make friends J )
• Dinner at one of the restaurants in the Old Town; free time

• Night in Warsaw – Hotel Sofitel Victoria (2 nights)

Saturday, August 29
 

• We leave the hotel for our Guided tour of the Royal City of Warsaw – Royal Castle; Royal Lazienki Park, Old Town;
• Dinner on our own;
• Free time to explore, shop, socialize…
• Night in Warsaw – Hotel Sofitel Victoria

Sunday, August 30
 

• We leave for the Mountain Resort of Zakopane
• On the way: Shrine of the Black Madonna in Czestochowa
• SUNDAY MASS;  some free time to visit/pray at the shrine
• Dinner together
• We continue on to Zakopane; arrival in Zakopane; check-in
• Night in Zakopane - Hotel Mercury Kasprowy – 3 nights 

 
Monday, August 31
 

• Visit to the “Krupowki Promenade” and walk 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 on our own
• We go to Kuznice (by local transportation) for the cable car (suspended gondola) to the Summit of Kasprowy Wierch
• Gondola ride to the summit;
• Return to Zakopane;
• Dinner at one of the local regional inns; free time in “downtown” Zakopane, 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

 
Tuesday, September 01
 

• We leave hotel by bus for our optional excursion. We travel on the bus for about 45 min, and then 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; to shop, or have a drink J
• Dinner/regional cultural evening at one of the regional inns
• Night in Zakopane

Wednesday, September 02
 

• We leave for Krakow
• Visit to the Wieliczka Salt Mine
• Dinner/Regional Cultural Evening (Krakow Region) at Halit Restaurant
• Arrival in Krakow;Hotel Radisson Blue
• free time in Krakow; enjoy the “jewel of Poland”

 
Thursday, August 03

Optional All Day Tour (the tour is optional, but highly recommended). If you do not care to see Auschwitz, you may choose to stay in Krakow, and just enjoy the day on your own; plenty to see and to do)

• We leave for Auschwitz (time for light lunch/snack before we enter museum)
• Guided tour of Auschwitz – Birkenau “museum”
• Leave for Wadowice – the birthplace of Pope John Paul II; visit to the church
• Dinner together in Wadowice
• Return to Krakow;
• Night in Krakow – Hotel Radisson Blue

 
Friday, August 04
 

• Some 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 together
• Night in Krakow – Hotel Radisson Blue

Saturday, August 05
 

• Departure for the airport in Krakow
• Leave for the US

 
 
We will have breakfast in our hotels each and every day of our trip. Lunches – on our own. And we will eat together 9 of the 11 dinners. Two dinners are on our own. See above.
Some of our hotels will have an indoor swimming pool, and/or a SPA (or both). So don’t forget your bathing suit if you want to take advantage of them.

The details (times, etc.) of this schedule are still being worked on. So they will get updated as we go along.