Programme

Full details of what we done each day are shown here.

Saturday 13th February

Morning

Arrive at Stansted Airport at 4am (yes 4am!!).  Flight departs at just after 6am with us arriving at the Hostel around 10am Polish time.

Afternoon

We go on a walking tour of Krakow...

Major sights, history of Poland, fun facts, unusual symbols and traditions - all included in an entertaining walk with a professional and knowledgeable city guide.

The CITY : Wawel hill, Royal castle and cathedral, Old town, Jagiellonian University district, Planty Park, Main Market square, St. Mary's basilica, Leftovers of fortifications

Evening

After an early start and no time to rest once in Poland, the options for the evening are an early night, relax in the Hostel, go for a walk into the City to see the night sights or ice skating (if have appropriate ID ad willing to pay the fee).  There may also be teh chance to meet up with Polish Scouts.

Sunday 14th February

Morning

A tour of Nuwa Huta...

The Berlin Wall may have fallen, the Iron Curtain cracked, but many of Communism's most famous legacies are alive and well in Krakow. Visit the district of Nowa Huta, "Stalin's gift to Krakow", and discover a centrally-planned Socialist city, complete with steel works and tenement houses built in the Renaissance style of the Soviets. This unique district was meant to be a model communist city, but later came to be one of the centres of revolution and resistance within Poland, leading to the eventual overthrow of the Communist government. During our in-depth guided tour, you will travel back in time, to experience the wonders of this one-of-a-kind city. Not only will discover how the average Pole lived, worked and played under Communism, but stories and anecdotes from your Crazy Guide will bring the "good ol' days" back to life!

The visit includes a trip to a Communist-era restaurant and a guided visit at a private museum. You’ll get a first hand taste of everyday life in Poland during the 1970s in the exclusive and unchanged genuine Communist apartment. This deluxe tour also includes the rare opportunity to eat pickled cucumbers and toast the “good ol’ days” with our close friend, and Communist relic, Mr. Vieslav. Plus you will even be allowed to try your hand at driving the trusty Trabant!

Afternoon

After lunch its back on another tour...

During this tour we will take you to the district of Kazimierz - now becoming the artistic centre of Krakow filled with designer café’s. The trendy location surrounded by buildings that witnessed shocking Holocaust history is also the place where before World War II, Jewish culture flourished for centuries and a film set for Steven Spielbergs Oscar winner. Then, we continue to the district of Podgórze to see Schindler's factory and the surviving remnants of the second World War ghetto.

Kazimierz: Wolnica Square, former Jewish district with synagogues, old meat market

Podgórze district - former main ghetto square, leftovers of the ghetto wall, Oscar Schindler's factory.

Evening

Time to relax in the Hostel or again, ice skating (if have appropriate ID ad willing to pay the fee).

Monday 15th February

Morning/Afternoon

An early start as we visit Auschwitz...

A Visit to Auschwitz Birkenau state museum is a mindset changing experience. It is a place that everybody should visit. The biggest Nazi concentration camp for prisoners of various nationalities. Since 1942 it was a centre for extermination of European Jews. A visit to State museum KL Auschwitz- Birkenau is a personal experience that should not be rushed and should be treated with proper respect. 

The visit to Auschwitz I with a local Museum guide will take about 2 hours and than we will have half an hour to either rest or go back to the parts of the exhibition that impressed you the most and experience them in privacy. Then we will drive to Birkenau - 10 times bigger than Auschwitz I - to see the monstrosity and the scale of the Nazi "Final solution" plan. After about 1 hour tour you will also given some free time to see the place on your own.

It is not an easy experience! 

Evening

A meal out with Polish singing and Dancing at a nearby Restaurant

Tuesday 16th February

Morning

On the way to the airport we stop at the Salt Mines...

Imagine the network of amazing underground chambers, drilled out from the inside like eggshells, connected with a web of richly illuminated underground corridors, filled with backlit sculptures made out of translucent salt.

Imagine biggest underground cathedral cut directly in a rock of salt. Crystal chandeliers glowing around - Fairy tale? 
Miracle? - no , in opinion of the 18th century traveller - it is the Wieliczka SALT MINE " less magnificent than Egypt's pyramids, but much more useful.“

Your only chance to experience the taste of salt 130 metres underground. 

Afternoon\Evening

Travelling back home, we will arrive back at Stansted at approximately 5pm UK Time.