Our departure Day
As a group, we leave from the Charlotte, NC International Airport (CLT), and take an overnight flight to Poland (via Munich, Germany).
Day 1 through Day 3
Arriving in Poland, we will land in the City of Gdańsk - https://www.gdansk.pl/en/about-gdansk, which is the fifth largest city of Poland, with lots of old and new history. Gdansk celebrated its millennium (meaning: 1000 years as a city) about 25 years ago. Now, it is the number one port city of Poland, where the Old mingles with the New. We will stay in the Old Town of Gdansk, the medieval and historic part of the city. We will also visit Westerplatte, the very place where World War II literally began (on September 1, 1939). We will visit the birthplace of Solidarity - workers' movement that led to the collapse of the Communist System, and the Berlin Wall.
Gdansk is a fun city, filled with history, attractions, and... lots of amber. There are hundreds of shops with amber, and any jewelry made of amber, silver and gold.
The second wave of the destruction took place during and after the Warsaw Uprising in August of 1944, and finally in January of 1945 - during the liberation of the city. By then, however, there was not much to liberate… the city was completely in ruins. After the Warsaw Uprising, Hitler was so outraged at the people of Warsaw that he ordered a total destruction, a total demolition of the city once the uprising was defeated. Some 250,000 people (civilians) were killed during the 63 days of the Uprising. But as soon as the war was over, the reconstruction began...
What you see in Warsaw today, was the work of the entire nation after the war – to rebuild the capital, and make it beautiful again.
Day 7
Czestochowa is a “Shrine City”. This is where the famous shrine of The Black Madonna, also known as “Our Lady of Czestochowa" is located.
Czestochowa is sometimes called the "spiritual capital of Poland." It is because of the numbers of visitors and pilgrims that visit there every day of the year.
We will check into our hotel, rest a little, eat, and make a visit to the Shrine itself, which is a short walk from the hotel. After dinner, we can visit the shrine on our own (walk through the park) or just relax in the hotel. It will be a short stop over as the next day we continue on to the mountain resort of Zakopane.
Day 8 through Day 10
The Mountains. We will spend the next two days/three days in the mountains, in the town of Zakopane. https://www.zakopane.pl/en surrounded by the Tatra Mountains National Park
Day 11 through 12
The last two days of our trip - the City of Krakow, and the surrounding area. Krakow, https://visitkrakow.com/ is of ofentimes called "The City of Kings", since most Polish kings resided in Krakow. It was the Capital of Poland for many years, and it was a residence of Polish kings at the same time.
While in Krakow, we visit the "Museum" of Auschwitz-Birenau, a nazi concentration camp from World War II. http://auschwitz.org/en/
As you can probably imagine, this is not a “fun” visit. This is a place where between 1940 and 1944 about 1.3 mln people were put to death, most of them in gas chambers. About 90% of those killed were Jews. Not all those who were killed there died in gas chambers though. Many simply starved to death, or died of forced labor, diseases, individual executions, or medical experiments. Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest, was also put to death there by starvation/ lethal injection. Auschwitz is a “must see” place… but only once in your lifetime.
Other highlights of the Krakow area will include the town of Wadowice, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II, and the Salt Mine in Wieliczka. https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/
Day 13
We depart for the US from the Krakow International Airport