Before becoming the Pope, John Paul II was the Archbishop of Krakow, and as a result many people make pilgrimages to Krakow to see places connected with his life: 10 Tyniecka Street where he moved to from Wadowice in 1938 as an 18-year-old student, the houses in Kanonicza Street where he lived as a bishop, and the Bishops’ palace at 3 Franciszkanska Street with its famous window from which he greeted young people any time he returned to Poland, the Church of St Stanislaus Kostka where he celebrated his first public mass and St Florian’s Basilica, his parish church in 1951-1958. You will be accompanied by a personal guide.

Afterwards you will have a private half-day trip outside Krakow – first to the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, dedicated to St Faustina Kowalska and formerly the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska – a beautiful Baroque pilgrimage site dear to Pope John Paul II and a UNESCO landmark. You will visit the baroque Bernardine monastery and the fascinating Via Dolorosa (the Stations of the Cross) – a long sequence of chapels set in the countryside and a UNESCO landmark.

Eventually, you will arrive in Wadowice, 4 kilometres from Kalwaria where you will see his family home in Koscielna Street where he was born (it is a question of luck if you can see the small museum, there are long queues and no advance bookings help), the parish church, the pastry shops with sweets he liked as a boy and the area where he used to play football. Your guide will accompany you also during the excursion part of this trip.