POLAND -GERMANY

POLAND -GERMANY.

THE HISTORY OF NEIGHBOURS WRITTEN DOWN IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF THEIR CITIES

WARSAW · GDANSK · SOPOT · GDYNIA · TORUN · BYDGOSZCZ · POZNAŃ/GNIEZNO · BERLIN · POTSDAM · DRESDEN · WROCŁAW · CRACOV

DAY 1

Arrival in Warsaw. A walk through the city and free time. Drive to the hotel for dinner and overnight.

DAY 2

Breakfast. We start our day witth a visit to the Castle square. We stop for a while to take a look at the King Zigmund III Waza column and the Copper-Roof Palace. After this we continue to the Baroque – classistic Royal Palace i.e. the Huge Apartament, Royal and the Senatorial Hall. Then on to one of the most elegant streets of Warsaw – Aleja Ujazdowska, to visit the antique palaces, multiple headquarters of the embassy, Belveder, the edifice of the Ministery Council, the Ujazdowski park. Dinner and overnight in Gdańsk.

DAY 3

Breakfast. We walk at the Old Town, along the Royal Way. We’ll have an opportunity to see the well preserved tenement houses of the rich city residents i.e. the Artus Manor, the Main City Hall and the Neptune fountain. We stop for a while next to the Crane – an old, medieval harbour crane. We head to the Virgin Mary basilica, with a precious XVI cent. altar.  After this we continue to the XII century St Catherine church. In the church tower is a 50 belled carillon -  the biggest among the three groups of bells in Gdańsk. Next we head to the St Bridget church, where the famous amber Homeland Altar can be seen. Apparently it’s the biggest construction made out of amber in the world. We cend this day with a visit at the statue of the Fallen Shipyard Workers next to the Gdańsk Shipyard – the brith place of Solidarity. Dinner and accomodation.

DAY 4

Breakfast. We start our day with a trip to Sopot – a seaside resort and a health treatment city. Walk connected with sightseeing. We drive through the main street – at the ”Monte Cassino” and continue to the longest jetty in Europe of a wooden construction. We drive to Gdynia and walk around to the Kościuszki square. Next to the waterfront we see ”Lightning” the Polish Ship destroyer and sailing ship going by the name of ”The Pomeranian Gift”. Dinner and accomodation.

DAY 5

Breakfast. We head to Toruń and go sightseeing  at the New and Old Town with an XIII century urban arrangment. After this we continue to the Gothic Town Hall, Artus’ Manor, the ”Under the Star” tenement house, the statue of Nicholas Copernicus, St John Cathedral, Holy Mother Mary and St Jacob Gothic churches, Copernicus’ house and the Curved Tower. In Bydgoszcz we visit the antique garners and the main square. Our next stop is the Mother Mary Sanctuary of the Wonderful Love. Admiring the altar from 1666, baroque stalls and ambon, as well as the rich polychromes. Praying in front of the wonderful image of Mother Mary with the Rose. Our last stop is at the Mill Island – the bydgostian Venice. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

DAY 6

Breakfast. We drive to Poznań*. After this we continue to the reneissance town hall, the clock tower with the famous Poznań goats, the classical Działyński palace and the builders’ houses – the old tenement houses of the stallholders. We then continue to Ostrów Tumski, where Mieszko I of Poland resided. We head to the St Peter and Paul archicathedral basilica. In the undergrounds we’ll see its oldest fragments  i.e. parts of its walls, the baptism basin and the tombs of the first rulers. The side naves of the cathedral is surrounded by multiple chapels, from which the most important part is a XIX cent. Golden Chapel, founded by count Edward Raczyński – the mausoleum of Mieszko I and Bolesław Chrobry. Dinner and accomodation.

DAY 7

Breakfast. We drive up to Berlin and sail with a ship along Spree river. We then continue to the Museum Island, the government district with the headquarters of the German chancelor, the new main railway station and antique bridges, connecting the river coastlines together. We stop for a while at the Pergamon Museum. There we’ll take a look at the interesting exhibits of the hellenic, bailonian, islamic and egyptian art. Driving to Alexanderplatz – the main square of the old Berlin. After this we head to the tv tower – the highest building in Europe – with a sightseeing patio and a restaurant, situated on a rotating ring. Dinner and accomodation.

DAY 8

Breakfast and further sightseeing of Berlin. Our next stop is near the Brandengurg Gate, where we also see the headquarters of the German parliment – Reichstag. We then continue to Potsdam, where we’ll visit the group of parks and palaces – Sanssouci. The Sanssouci Palace was built as a summer residence on the order fo the Prussian king, Feiderick the Great. In the area of the park (UNESCO), other facilities can be found i.e. the Charlottenhof palace, the Neptune Grotto, the Gallery of Paintings, the New Palace, the Church of Peace, the New Hothouse and many more. Dinner and overnight.

DAY 9

Breakfast. We drive up to Dresden, where we’ll see a group of castles Zwinger – an architectual jewel of the city. We head to the Samper galery, which has a rich collection of paintings of the ”Old  Masters”, i.e. Rafaell, Rembrandt, Rebens, Titian, van Dyck, El Greco, Velasquez or Canaletto. Dinner and accomodation.

DAY 10

Breakfast. We start our day with a visit in Wroclaw, with the city hall and the antique tenement houses at the square. Our next stop is Ostrów Tumski. We visit thearchicathedral of John the Baptist from the XIII-XIV century - the first fully Gothic chapel in Poland. We then continue to the statue of John of Nepomuk and then the Tumski Bridge, known as the ”Bridge of Lovers”. We end this day with a visit to the Leopoldian Hall and the Marianum Oratorio, at the edifice of the Wroclaw University. Dinner and overnight.

DAY 11

Breakfast. We head to Cracov : Barbakan, the Florian street and Gate, a clothing market, Adam Mickiewicz statue, the city hall tower, the Holy Mary basilica with the famous Veit Stoss altar, the historical museum situated in the undergrounds of the cracovian marketplace – the place of knowledge about the past of Cracov. Dinner and overnight.

DAY 12

Breakfast. We head to the St Waclaw and St Stanislaw Gothic cathedral on the Wavel Hill. We stop for a while at to the tower where a row of bells can be seen, with the biggest one which is the bell of Zygmund from 1521 – weighing 8 tones. The most beautiful part of the cathedral is a reneissance chapel of the Holy Mother Mary, also called the Zigmunt Chapel. We head to the undergrounds i.e. the necropolis of the Polish kings and national heroes. We then continue to the Royal Castle and the royal chambers. We drive to the Sanctuary of Gods Mercy in Łagiewnik and visit the Assembly of Sisters of the Mother of God of Mercy chapel, as well as the new Gods Mercy basilica and the st John Paul II Sanctuary. Dinner and accomodation.

DAY 13

Breakfast. Drive to the airport in Cracov. Flight back and ending of the pilgrimage.