DAY 1 | THESSALONIKI - POZNAN - LODGE CHRISTMAS MARKET - WARSAW
Meeting at Macedonia airport, where you will meet our office escort, a guide specialized in this destination. Check-in and direct flight to Poznan airport. Lodz is the third largest city in Poland built in the heart of the country, impressing with its medieval style is a surprise for the visitor. The aristocratic mansions and atmospheric districts charm while the historical monuments stand proudly to "come alive" and remind of the city's long history. On the main street Piotrkowska you will see the imposing textile factory "Manufactura" dating back to the 19th century. Visit to the Museum of Modern Art Muzzeum Ztuki, home to one of the most important collections of modern art in Poland. Take a stroll along Piotrkowska Street, one of the largest shopping streets in Europe. Piotrkowska is home to, perhaps the only one in Europe, the "Great Lodzian Exhibition" with bronze statues placed in topical street locations. As you continue your walk along Piotrkowska, you will notice something that will definitely pique your interest. The reason is the plaques with the names of famous people from the world of cinema and theatre who came from Lodz. Free time in the city's Christmas market. Departure for the city of Warsaw where we arrive in the afternoon at the hotel for rest and free time.
DAY 2 | WARSAW - VILANOV PALACE CHRISTMAS MARKET
We have breakfast and spend the whole day in Warsaw. Heading to the city centre, we admire the magnificent building, the Palace of Culture and Science, one of Stalin's <Seven Sisters of Stalin>, seven buildings built almost identically in the capitals of former Eastern Bloc countries. Sitting gardens, monuments dedicated to old and modern gods of art, fountains, lakes, amphitheatres, paths and bridges. Like other kings, we will walk in the footsteps of the former royal road. We'll start with the Palace of Vilanov, the Versailles of Poland as they are called. We continue with Lazienski Park. Spread over 760 acres of green land, the park represents the best place to listen to the cultural deposit of a city reborn from its ashes. Among the attractions of the famous park, we highlight the Chopin monument, around which musical events are regularly organised. The Palace of Water, a replica of a Roman amphitheatre. Then a visit to the Jewish Museum of Pauline, with the Holocaust Memorial. It is located in the heart of the then Jewish ghetto. The Old Town of Warsaw is of course on the UNESCO World Heritage List . Continuing on, we will see the Royal Palace, the Castle Square Plac Zamkowy, one of the few places that survived the Nazi onslaught, as well as the Wielki Theatre which houses the Opera and Ballet. And passing through a series of major avenues and passing through the post-Stalinist modern city centre will lead us to Castle Square. We then return to Warsaw to leave the bus and enter the heart of the old royal city. The delightful ride, known as the "mile", will bring us in front of Warsaw's greatest monuments and most beautiful buildings. Among those that stand out are the Church of St. Anne and the Holy Cross, the Carmelite Church, the Presidential Palace, the Kazimierz Palace, the historic and luxurious Bristol Hotel, the National Library, Warsaw Castle, while a little further on we will approach the home of the pioneering scientist and Nobel Prize winner, Maria Kozlofka Curie. Free time at the Christmas market in the city, overnight.
DAY 3 | WARSAW - SALT MARSHES VIELITSA - KRAKOW
Breakfast at our hotel and we set off for a salty, underground history with our visit to the salt mines of Bieliczka. We will descend several meters into the earth, walk through underground tunnels, see how the white as they called gold, salt, was mined. Particularly impressive, the carved church in honor of Blessed Kinga, the patron saint of mine workers. The "salt-carved" church has been carved, entirely by the salt miners themselves who even made the chandeliers from salt crystals! Departure for the city of Krakow. Palaces, churches, mansions. Among the baroque and gothic buildings that dominate the city, Krakow displays to the visitor an unparalleled Renaissance status. The richness of the colours, the stained glass, the paintings, the sculptures and even the furnishings testify to the certainty of its aristocratic origins. Check-in at the hotel and overnight.
DAY 4 | KRAKOW- TOUR - CHRISTMAS MARKET
Breakfast at the hotel and start our tour of Krakow. One of the oldest cities in the country, Krakow looks untouched by the devastation of World War II with a historic centre exemplarily cared for. At the same time, it remains one of the largest cultural, artistic and tourist centres in Europe. The city, which experienced its greatest heyday during the Jagellonian dynasty (1386-1572), is particularly proud of its first Polish Pontiff. Charles Joseph Wojtila, the Archbishop of Krakow, was proclaimed Pope of the Roman Catholic Church as Pope John Paul II. We enter the Old Town through the St. Florian's Gate and see and admire the largest Market Square in the country. There, dominated by the Church of Our Lady. The Mariatski Church is the church where the -now- canonized Pope John Paul II served as a long-time vicar, and every hour, from the church's bell tower, a trumpeter spreads the melody of the trumpet throughout the square. A story of self-sacrifice explains why in the centre of the square there is also the Renaissance building of the Sukienice, once a reference point for the textile trade. Free time in the Christmas market of the city, return to the hotel, overnight.
DAY 5 | KRAKOW- AUSCHWITZ
After having breakfast, we start our day today heading to Auschwitz. Where memory and horror meet. At the mere mention of the name, shivers of shuddering goose bumps are generated. More than seventy years after the Russians liberated the hellhole's inmates, Auschwitz is living proof of history that man can commit the most unthinkable atrocities. Today's visit to the horrific concentration camp requires a strong stomach. How else can one 'metabolize' the personal effects, the shoes and clothes of children (many of whom were infants when they were murdered) and a host of other exhibits that shock and awe the visitor to an unimaginable hellhole? The museum, which receives more than 1,500,000 visitors a year, serves as a serious warning about the dangers of totalitarianism and bigotry. In the afternoon return to Krakow where we will have free time in the beautiful historic centre of the city.
DAY 6 | KRAKOW- THESSALONIKI
After breakfast, we leave the hotel and ascend to the impressive Royal Castle on Babel Hill, with its "heavy" Cathedral with the Royal Tombs of the Polish monarchs and the huge Bell Tower. Then, wander through the Jewish neighborhood of Kazimierz, with the seven synagogues used for the filming of the movie "Schindler's List". Tour of Heroes' Square in the Krakow Ghetto where it is one of the most important places intertwined with the history of Krakow and the Jewish community. It was in this square that the Nazis rounded up the Jews before sending them to the Auschwitz and Plaszow concentration camps. In 2005, a monument with 70 chairs (larger in size than normal chairs) was erected in their honour. The work describes both figuratively and literally the situation at the time as there are testimonies that there were children walking around with a chair on their head. Free time for a last walk around the city , transfer to the airport and return to Thessaloniki full of beautiful memories of our trip.
