Faith Based: Central European History

Central European History
Discover Berlin’s war-ridden past, tour Prague’s extravagant palace, and visit Krakow’s Rynek Glówny—Europe’s largest Medieval town square—with Ontario Catholic School's curriculum connection notes.
Learn more
-
Day 1 Overnight Flight to Germany (Berlin)
Day 2 Guten Tag Berlin
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Berlin City Walk
AlexanderplatzBebelplatzHackesche HöfeNikolai QuarterMuseum Island
Details: Nikolai Quarter
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grace 11 & 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer, Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived // Grade 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 2. Sacrament, Prayer and Sacramental Life 3. Living out Prayer and Sacrament
Day 3 Berlin landmarks
Berlin guided sightseeing tour
Checkpoint CharliePotsdamer PlatzBerlin WallBrandenburg Gate
Details: Berlin guided sightseeing tour
Join a professional, licensed tour guide as you discover one of the most historical cities in Germany. Although nothing remains of the mortar and cement-block barrier between East and West Berlin, the Berlin Wall (built in 1961; destroyed in 1989) is still a main “site” in Berlin. View the well-known Brandenburg Gate, once a main gate hidden behind a 10-foot barrier and now known for celebratory dancing on its flat top during the reunification. Travel to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the most famous border crossing point. Checkpoint Charlie, once a wooden guard hut, was the most (in)famous border-crossing point between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. All that remains of the checkpoint itself is a skeletal watchtower and a memorial of attempted escapees. Follow your guide as they lead you through the museum’s accounts of the most ingenious of these escape attempts— even a few by hot air balloon.
Details: Topography of Terror visit
The Topography of Terror in Berlin is a museum and historical site that chronicles the crimes of the Nazi regime, particularly those committed by the Gestapo, SS, and Reich Security Main Office. It offers exhibitions, educational programs, and includes historical remnants like a section of the Berlin Wall to provide a thorough understanding of this period.
Details: Jewish Museum visit
Located on the line that once separated East and West Germany, this stirring museum was built in the shape of a warped Star of David and focuses on the realities of Jewish life in Germany, from ancient times up to the horrors of the Holocaust.
Day 4 Berlin--Warsaw
Travel to Warsaw by train
Warsaw city walk
Day 5 Warsaw landmarks
Warsaw guided sightseeing tour
Old ghetto visit
Jewish Institute visit
Pawiak Prison visit
Details: Museum of Warsaw Uprising visit
Visit this moving memorial museum dedicated to honoring the brave Polish soldiers who fought against Nazi occupation in Warsaw and the innocent civilians who lost their lives during the battle. Hear first-hand accounts of those dark days, visit the virtual memory wall with the names of thousands of soldiers and civilians who lost their lives and see actual weapons, video footage and pictures from the uprising.
Day 6 Warsaw--Krakow
Travel to Kraków
Details: Krakow guided sightseeing tour
Untouched by bombing during World War II, Krakow has maintained much of its delicate beauty and rich history. (UNESCO has declared the entire city one of the 12 most significant historic sites in the world.) Its magnificent airy castle, built by Sigismund the Old in an Italian villa style, was the seat of Poland's royal government. The Rynek Glówny, medieval Europe's largest town square, dealt with more mundane concerns, and the market stalls and merchants that still congregate here carry on the old traditions.
Details: Wawel Hill, Wawel Castle & Cathedral
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer, Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived // Grade 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 2. Sacrament, Prayer and Sacramental Life 3. Living out Prayer and Sacrament
Details: St. Mary's Basilica
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived, Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer
Details: Kazimierz Jewish Quarter
Explore the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter, the main cultural center of Polish Jewry with its unique Oriental atmosphere. Its soul perished during the traumatic events of the Second World War, but many of the buildings, some still with Yiddish inscriptions, survived. Today, the revival of Jewish life and activity in Kazimierz is visible in the numerous restored buildings, fashionable cafes, and restaurants.
Day 7 Krakow
Traditional Polish dinner
Details: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum guided excursion
Travel to Auschwitz, Nazi Germany’s largest internment and extermination camp, to pay your respects and remember the millions of innocent men, women and children who were killed there during Hitler’s reign
Day 8 Krakow--Prague
Travel to Prague
Prague city walk
Mala StranaJewish Quarter
Details: Prague city walk
Feel the inspiration for Franz Kafka’s novels as you stroll the medieval streets of the Mala Strana (Little Quarter). Stop in Josefov (Jewish Quarter), to view Europe’s oldest synagogue, dating from 1270.
Day 9 Prague landmarks
Details: Prague guided sightseeing tour
Follow a professional licensed tour guide on a sightseeing adventure through the most prized city in Eastern Europe. As the former capital of the Holy Roman Empire, the city was built on beauty and decadence from a wide array of architectural styles (including Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau). See Hradcany (Prague Castle) where Europe’s grand ruling family, the Habsburgs, lived and reigned. Wander into the castle’s courtyard to view the richly textured flying buttresses of St. Vitus Cathedral, the sacred structure that took 600 years to complete.
Details: Prague Castle
Prague Castle in the Hradcany quarter, was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest ancient castle in the world. Prague Castle represents virtually all of the architectural designs of the last millennium and contains several churches, a monastery, gardens as well as multiple museums.
Details: Visit St. Vitus Cathedral
Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Profession of Faith 2: Faith Seeking Understanding, Christian Moral Development 2: Seeking Understanding // Grade 11 & 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived, Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer // Grade 12: Prayer and Sacramental Life 2. Sacrament, Prayer and Sacramental Life 3. Living out Prayer and Sacrament
Details: Prague Communism and Nuclear Bunker guided visit
Look behind the Iron Curtain on a guided visit of a real nuclear bunker from the 1950’s, hidden 4 floors deep, built for 5000 people to survive a nuclear blast behind a 4-ton heavy door.
-
Day 10 End tour

  • Or
  • -
    Day 10 Start extension to Munich
    Travel to Munich via Nuremberg
    World War II Art Bunker guided tour
    Nuremberg Trial site visit
    Day 11 Munich Landmarks
    Details: Munich guided sightseeing tour
    Join a professional licensed tour guide for a whirlwind look at Munich. Founded in the 12th century by Henry the Lion, Munich now roars with the hustle and bustle of modern German life. As you pass by Marienplatz (named after the square’s gilded Virgin Mary and Child statue), mechanical knights joust and coopers dance to the folk-music chimes of the Neues Rathaus’s Glockenspiel. The twin onion-bulb towers of the Frauenkirche Cathedral frame this whimsical display, while the scents, sounds and colors of the nearby food market attempt to draw your attention elsewhere. Resist temptation and continue on to Olympiapark, a new suburb built for the 1972 Olympic Games. Pass by several museums, such as the BMW Museum, Alte Pinakothek (home to Munich’s most precious art collections), and the Deutsches Museum of science and technology.
    Details: Marienplatz
    Discover the area of Munich around Marienplatz, which is dedicated to the patron of the city. See the Neues Rathaus and observe the Glockenspiel on its facade. This is the fourth largest chiming clock in Europe, and stages an elaborate performance twice a day.
    Details: BMW Welt showroom visit
    Visiting the BMW Welt showroom is an immersive experience where you can explore the latest BMW models, learn about cutting-edge automotive technology, and enjoy the sleek, modern design of the venue.
    Details: 1972 Olympia Park
    See Olympia Park, the site of the 1972 Olympics. Buildings include the Olympic Stadium, Olympic Hall, and the Aquatic Center. Many cultural events are still held at Olympia Park.
    Details: Dachau Concentration Camp & Memorial visit
    A grim glimpse into the past, Dachau was the first of Nazi Germany’s camps and a model for the 3,000 work and concentration camps to come. A chilling memorial to the 206,000 prisoners who were interned in the camp from 1933 to 1945, the museum examines pre-1930 anti-Semitism, the rise of the Nazi party, and the documented lives of prisoners. Curriculum Connections: Grade 11: Prayer and Sacramental Life 1: Prayer // Grade 12: Profession of Faith 3: Faith Lived , Christian Moral Development 1: Foundations
    Day 12 End tour
    Tour Includes:
    • Round-trip airfare
    • 8 overnight stays (10 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
    • Full European breakfast daily
    • Dinner daily
    • Full-time services of a professional tour director
    • Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
    • Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
    • Tour Diary™
    • Local Guide and Local Bus Driver tips; see note regarding other important tips
    • Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
    • Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.

    We are better able to assist you with a quote for your selected departure date and city over the phone. Please call 1.888.378.8845 to price this tour with your requested options.

    Please select a postal code
    0.00 total fee
    Basic Options


    Estimate total number in your group, including yourself and any chaperones
    Private Tour
    Please wait while we process your request...

    This site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; others help us improve the user experience. By using the site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Read our privacy-policy to learn more.