Mysterious Nights In Castles And Palaces

Day 1
WARSAW, Welcome Dinner

Group’s arrival in Warsaw.
Meeting your Mazurkas Travel tour escort at the airport and transfer to your hotel.
Short orientation walk through the Old Town and welcomes dinner at POLKA restaurant.

Day 2
WARSAW, Breakfast & Lunch

Morning sightseeing tour of Warsaw including: the Royal Route with aristocratic residences and famous statues, Old Town with Castle Square, king Sigismund’s Column, St. John’s Cathedral, the Old Town Market Square.
Visit to the Royal Castle – the residence of first Polish Parliament. Rebuilt after the W.W. II some of its 300 rooms can be visited. All are furnished and decorated as it was ages ago. There is the magnificent Knight’s Hall with six large paintings by Marcello Bacciarelli and the largest and most impressive of all the chambers is the Ballroom.
Highlight – the Canaletto Room with 23 paintings of Bernardo Bellotto where you will see paintings presenting Warsaw in the end of the 18th century.
Drive through the beautifully renovated Royal Route.
En route lunch at a charming Belvedere Restaurant located in the Old Orangery of the Royal Lazienki Park & Palace.
Visit Wilanow – a park-and-palace complex that served as the royal summer residence for King Jan III Sobieski, the famous conqueror of Turks in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. See the beautiful interiors – dozens of rooms fitted out with period furniture and decoration in various styles including the Grand Dining Room and Gallery of Polish Portraits, which boasts an extensive collection from the 16th to 19th centuries. Palace is beautifully surrounded with two-level Baroque Italian garden and Anglo-Chinese park.

Day 3
WARSAW-PULTUSK-MALBORK-KRAG, Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner

A morning departure for Pułtusk, visit to the 14th century castle, built to serve as a bishop’s residence. Now the seat of the Polonia House – a center for the Polish expatriate community. The town of Pułtusk boasts the longest Market Square in Europe, a Gothic collegiate church and the Baroque Jesuit church dating from the 18th century.
Continue your drive to Malbork.
Lunch at the local restaurant located in the wing of the Malbork Castle.
Afterwards, visit the huge Gothic castle dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, where the Teutonic Knights once ruled. It is a magnificent example of medieval fortifications with its powerful defense walls, towers and gates.
Drive to Krag Castle – The largest 15th Century Knight’s Castle in Pomerania. It is built on oak piles, like the buildings in Venice and is the only castle on water in Poland. Overnight at the Krag Castle.

Day 4
KRAG – GDANSK/GDYNIA/SOPOT – KRAG, Breakfast & Lunch

Full day excursion to the Tricity – Gdansk/Gdynia & Sopot.
Morning visit to TOWN HALL – a very valuable monument of the city, with Gothic and Renaissance elements. The initial building was reputedly put up in 1330, but it then grew and changed sight in the end of 16th century. The ground floor contains of the main official and entertainment rooms: the Christopher Chamber, the White Hall, the Winter Chamber of the Council, and the wonderful Red Hall – the Summer Chamber of the Council.
Highlight – the showpiece is the Red Room in the Dutch Mannerist style from the end of the 16th century with the large richly carved fire-place, a marvelous portal and the exuberantly ornamented ceiling with 25 paintings dominated by the oval centre-piece entitled „The Glorification of the Unity of Gdansk with Poland”.
Afterwards, visit to ARTUS COURT – a building used for Hanseatic League meetings, the most beautiful court in all the Hanseatic cities. Built at the end of the 15th century on the site of an earlier one, the court was given its monumental facade by Abraham van den Black in the 1610s.
Highlight – the Renaissance tiled stove, standing in the northern corner of the hall and almost touching the vault. This is the highest tiled stove in Europe. It is also amazingly beautiful, with a wealth of decoration in bas-relief and colour portraying rulers, allegorical figures, coats of arms.
Lunch at a local restaurant POD LOSOSIEM.
Afternoon drive to Sopot – a famous Polish seaside resort with beautiful pier, the longest wooden pier in Europe.
Drive back for overnight to Krag Castle.

Day 5
KRAG – GOLUB-DOBRZYN – CZERNIEJEWO, Breakfast & Dinner

After breakfast departure for Czerniejewo.
En route stop in Golub-Dobrzyn to see the famous castle, former residence to Teutonic Knights. The castle consists of massive Gothic brick base with a more refined Renaissance superstructure added in the 17th century.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
Arrival in Poznan.
Afternoon tour of the city which was the de facto capital of Poland in the early years of the state. The middle of the Old Town’s square has gradually changed over the centuries, and the buildings that were accommodated here make up a haphazard collection dating from different periods. See the Old Town’s unquestioned architectural pearl – the Town Hall – topped with a 61-metre-high tower.
Afterwards, drive to Czerniejewo with a neo-Classical palatial complex, built between 1771 and 1780 and subsequently expanded, in a beautiful park. Accommodation at the palace rooms.
Picnic dinner.
What could be more romantic and relaxing than an evening ride in a horse-drawn carriage, during harvest season, inhaling the scents of the clean country air? Open-air attractions. Unforgettable barbecues, combined with folk music spiced up with rare cuisine and beverages prepared according to old recipes which have withstood the test of time.

Day 6
CZERNIEJEWO – KORNIK – ROGALIN – CZERNIEJEWO, Breakfast & Dinner

Drive to Kornik to see the castle, initially Gothic, then rebuilt and extended, now a neo-Gothic residence from the mid-19th century with well preserved authentic interiors. It was remodeled by K.F. Schindel in order to contain the owner’s collection of national and historical memorabilia, works of art and library. The Castle-Museum houses collection of period furniture, Polish and foreign paintings, sculpture, military objects, porcelain, tapestry, medals and decorations.
Afterwards, drive to Rogalin Palace – the Rococo and neoclassical palace was built and remodeled from 1768 till the end of the 19the century by such royal architects are D. Merlini and J.C. Kamsetzer. Behind the palace is a small French garden, arranged in the 18th century. Further extends a landscape park with ancient oak trees. The main house has some fine period interiors, while the wings are used for temporary displays of some of the Raczynski Family (former owner) collection. In the coach house by the front courtyard are a dozen or so old coaches, including Poznan’s last horse-drawn cab.
Drive back to Czerniejewo for dinner and overnight.

Day 7
CZERNIEJEWO – PIESKOWA SKALA – NIEPOLOMICE, Breakfast & Lunch

Departure in direction of Krakow.
Stop in Pieskowa Skala to see the 14th century castle with the spectacular 16th century fortress. It is the best preserved castle in the upland and the only one with more than bare walls.
Lunch at the castle’s restaurant.
Drive to Niepołomice – The Niepołomice Castle is an exceptional place. A place where kings used to stay, where the clang of the Polish amours and weapons can still be heard and where Renaissance music is carried by the wind. This is the only hotel in Poland located in a Royal Castle.
Dinner and overnight at the Niepolomice Castle.

Day 8
NIEPOLOMICE – KRAKOW – NIEPOLOMICE, Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner

Morning cities tour including WAWEL ROYAL CASTLE – the residence of Polish kings and the ROYAL CATHEDRAL – the coronation church.
See the magnificent chambers of the Royal Castle and admire the tapestry collection of King Sigismund Augustus that includes 138 tapestries of various size and character. A visit to the Cathedral, the place of the cult of St. Stanisław and of St. Jadwiga, the Queen of Poland. It is also a true national Pantheon of Polish kings.
Highlight: The most valuable items are the magnificent tapestries – probably the largest collection of its kind in Europe. The collection contains some 360 tapestries arranged in series which illustrate Biblical themes such as: Adam and Eve in Eden, The Story of Noah and The Building of the Tower of Babel.
Lunch at a local restaurant WESELE.
Afterwards, walk through Old Town with the Main Market Square with magnificent houses and palaces. In the middle of the square is the Cloth Hall built before 1349, but altered in the 16th century. Inside are many shopping stalls and on the first floor is the National Museum which has a collection of Polish sculptures and paintings from the 18th to the 20th century. Also in the square is the magnificent extensive Gothic Church of Our Lady with the famous wooden altar created by Wit Stwosz.
Afternoon drive to Wieliczka Salt Mine – the oldest salt mine in Europe. See the underground world of salt carved by many generations of Polish miners: salt chambers, monuments and salt lakes.
Dinner at a Wieliczka Castle set by the salt mine.
Drive for overnight to Niepolomice.

Day 9
NIEPOLOMICE – LANCUT – SIENIAWA, Breakfast & Lunch

In the morning, departure for Łańcut Castle which is a historic monument of the highest international standing. It was erected between 1629 and 1641 by Stanisław Lubomirski in early-Baroque style as a residence of the palazzo in fortezza type. It was rebuilt between 1889 and 1912. The castle belonged to the Potocki family from the beginning of the 19th century up to 1944. It was turned into a museum following World War II.
For accommodation and dinner drive to Sieniawa Palace built in the first half of the 18th century and later rebuilt in late-Baroque style. It served as a seat of Czartoryski ducal family. It was visited by Alexander I, the Tsar of Russia, and by General Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish and American national hero.

Day 10
SIENIAWA – BARANOW SANDOMIERSKI – WARSAW, Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner

A morning departure for Baranów Sandomierski Castle – one of the most magnificent residences of the Renaissance. Originally erected between 1591 and 1606, and subsequently reconstructed around the end of the 17th century by Tylman van Gameren.
Continue your drive to Warsaw.
Upon arrival accommodation at your hotel.
Farewell dinner at Dom Polski restaurant.

DAY 11
WARSAW, Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant and departure.