Poland`s secret treasures
Description
Day 1: Flight to Warszawa
Today you will look around Warszawa. Nowadays, Warszawa is a modern European metropolis with almost 2 million inhabitants, making it the biggest city in Poland. During your tour you will see the Old Town, St. John’s Cathedral, the Royal Castle and the elegant Royal Way. The highlight of your visit will be a tour of Wilanów. The 45 hectares of Wilanów Park feature gardens in various styles: a two-level Baroque garden, a neo-Renaissance rose garden, an English landscape garden and an English-Chinese landscape garden. A major compositional element of the park is water, both natural bodies of water, such as Lake Wilanów and the Służewiecki Stream, and an artificial pond built by the King of Poland, which give the park a specific micro-climate and romantic air.
In the afternoon you will visit Łazienki, the most attractive park in Warszawa city centre, which includes the neoclassical Łazienki Palace built on a lake. The park also contains an orangery, Myślewicki Palace, the Observatory and a Greek-style amphitheatre. Make sure you have some nuts on you when you walk through Łazienki as the Park’s squirrels, friendly to humans, will come up to you begging for a nibble.
Overnight stay in Warszawa.
Day 2: Warszawa - Nieborów -Arkadia - Żelazowa Wola – Warszawa (145 km)
Today you will head for Nieborów and the Gardens of Arkadia.
The neoclassical and rococo interiors of the Radziwiłł residence contain collections of paintings, sculpture and furniture. The palace is surrounded by a Baroque garden designed in the 1760s in the French style, according to the principles of the Le Notre school of gardening in France. An avenue of linden trees stretching for 4 miles leads from Nieborow to Arkadia, the most beautiful garden in Poland. The garden was built in 1778 for Princess Helena Radziwiłłówna as a great romantic park with Gothic buildings. The park’s pavilions were designed by the best architects and the sculptures that Princess Helena brought back from her travels bestow upon the park a unique feel and allure.
A little further on you come to Żelazowa Wola, en estate around 50 km from Warszawa. The house was the birthplace of Frederic Chopin and is nowadays a museum. Here you will find family portraits and documents, such as several of the famous composer’s manuscripts. During the journey you will also have a chance to admire the harmonious landscape of Mazowsze with its marshy meadows and rivers, a landscape reflected in Chopin’s music.
Overnight stay in Warszawa.
Day 3: Warszawa - Kozłówka - Baranów Sandomierski (324 km)
Departure from Warszawa.
Today you will see the Baroque castle and garden of Kozłówka. The palace interiors house collections of art, sculpture, graphics and drawings. Right next to the castle is a 19 ha park. The central part of the park is a French garden replete with flower beds and a fountain. The remaining part is an Italian garden with paths shaded by pine, spruce, poplars and hornbeam.
Next on your route is Baranów Sandomierski Castle, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture. Set in the lowlands of the Vistula Valley it was once referred to as “Little Wawel”. One curious feature of the castle is its courtyard, which is set at first floor level. The reason for this architectonic arrangement was frequent flooding from the river. The water would reach the castle but not flow into the courtyard. The castle parkland is noteworthy for its original trees – Liriodendron tulip trees, which in May and June bloom with tulip-like flowers.
Overnight stay in Baranów Sandomierski.
Day 4: Sandomierz - Łańcut - Kraków (313 km)
Today we leave for Kraków. On the way you will visit Łańcut Castle, whose interiors are among the most beautiful in Poland. Its ancient park goes back to the beginning of the 18th Century. Nowadays a winter garden has been created in the castle’s historic orangery together with a permanent exposition of plants and animals.
During your visit to the castle you will drop into its orchid house, home to various species of orchids: terrestrial, lithophytic and epiphytic.
Our afternoon tour of Kraków will begin on the Market Square where you will see St. Mary’s church and the Sukiennice Cloth Hall. You will then head to the city’s surviving gate and the Barbakan. Later you will move onto Wawel, where you will visit the Cathedral and the Royal Chambers.
In the afternoon you can spend some time either in one of Kraków’s monastery gardens or in a private garden.
Overnight stay in Kraków.
Day 5: Kraków – Wieliczka – Kraków (26 km)
In the morning you will be given a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine.
This incredible place was once described as being as remarkable as the Pyramids and more useful. Wieliczka has close to 300 km galleries and approximately 3,000 chambers underground. Your tour of this UNESCO-listed site, conducted by a local guide, will start off 65 m below ground and pass through rooms, corridors and chambers to a depth of 135 m. During this fascinating journey you will see underground lakes with various changing colours, wonderful chapels, such as the famous St. Kinga’s Chapel, and original mining tools and equipment.
In the afternoon you will pop into Kraków’s botanical garden. This is a very well preserved garden with early Baroque features and Anglo-Japanese stylistic influences. You will see 5,000 species of plants, including specimens from the 18th and 19th Centuries, greenhouse and exotic varieties and the great palm house built in 1882. You will also see the marvellous 500-year old oak of the Jagiellons.
Later on in the day you will step into the archaeological museum garden within sight of Wawel Castle – the former seat of the Kings of Poland.
Overnight stay in Kraków.
Day 6: Kraków – Ojców Park – Wrocław
Today you will take a day trip to Ojców, during which you will visit Pieskowa Skala Castle and enjoy the exquisite natural beauty of Ojców Park. The eroding effects of underground water on soluble limestone has forged a unique landscape here: deep, steep-sided ravines and rocks take on astonishing shapes, such as the Cudgel of Hercules, the Stone Wanderer and Diotima`s Needle. Combined with the stunning ruins of its Gothic castle and its densely wooded slopes, this moody place conjures up images of those wonderfully spine-tingling Eastern European fairy-tales.
Overnight stay in Wrocław.
Day 7: Wrocław
In the morning we offer you a tour of Wrocław. Situated on 12 islands and boasting over a 100 bridges, Wrocław is known as the Polish Venice.
Our tour begins with Ostrów Tumski Island, the oldest part of Wrocław and the home of the city’s 18th Century cathedral. You will likewise see the Baroque university building and its magnificent Aula Leopoldina.
In the afternoon you will visit the city’s Japanese garden, designed and maintained according to the rules of Japanese gardening art. The garden includes 26 species only found in Japan and 28 appearing exclusively in Japan and East Asia. No less wonderful is the botanical garden with its wonderful array of flowers, orangery, and the biggest cactarium in Poland.
Overnight stay in Wrocław.
Day 8: Wrocław
Departure.
Similar tours
Copyright © JAN-POL 2006 | Wykonanie INVENTOR Multimedia