A special tour to the European Capital of Culture 2016
Travel Date: 2016, year-round
Already on arrival at the hotel you will feel the meaning of true Polish hospitality. You will be warmly welcomed and while the room keys are issued, the friendly hotel staff will serve you a tasty and refreshing welcome drink. After that you have a little time to recover in the comfortable room of your cozy hotel. A delicious 3-course dinner will be served in the restaurant and you should use the rest of the evening for a first city walk to enjoy the very special flair. In recent years Wrocław has become the most beautiful city of Poland. The Old Town was set up in the 13th century and is surrounded by burgher houses. The Market Place is a real tourist attraction and as there are many canals of the Odra river inside Wrocław, the city is known as “Venice of Silesia”. The attractiveness of Wrocław will further increase, when the largest city of Lower Silesia becomes the “European Capital of Culture” in the year 2016. The whole city presents itself then spruced up and alive. Daily and spectacularly events, held throughout the whole city area, will be offered to locals and tourists. Wroclaw then excites with a unique atmosphere that attracts and fascinates all the guests in 2016.
After a full and sumptuous buffet breakfast, you will be met by our friendly tour guide who takes you on a discovery journey through his hometown, which is an excellent example of a multicultural metropolis situated at the interface of ethnically diverse areas. The Gothic town hall was built between 1328-1504 and houses now the city’s historical museum. The oldest part of the city is the Ostrów Tumski Island. It shelters a complex of sacral buildings with gothic double-spire Cathedral of St John the Baptist. It was the first Gothic temple on Polish Islands and the view from its tower is splendid! Right after that you will visit the University of Wroclaw, which houses the world-famous “Aula Leopoldina”. It is the most magnificent reception hall in the city, which can look back on a long tradition and impresses with valuable mural paintings. In the afternoon you have free time to stroll through the city center and to visit one of the many events on the subject of "Capital of Culture 2016", which will take place today. Our guide will be happy to advice and show you the most important event stages. On request we can also book a boat trip on the Odra river for you, that shows you Wrocław from a different perspective and leads you to some secret places you cannot reach by bus either on foot. If you are interested in art, we recommend a visit to one of the many museums in Wrocław. A very recommendable one is the “Rotunda”, in which a three-dimensional panorama painting can be admired, that belongs to the rarest and biggest in the world. Today’s dinner will be served in a city restaurant and it will be a pleasure for us to provide you with tickets for a visit to a cultural event in the Wrocław Opera or the new Music Forum, most modern concert hall in Europe.
In the morning you admire the Wrocław Centennial Hall, designed by the German architect Max Berg. It is a huge hall built in 1913 to host an exhibition celebrating the centenary of Battle of Leipzig and was entered on UNESCO List of World Heritage. 65 meters and 23 meters tall, the hall is an audacious piece of engineering even by present standards. Today the hall is used mainly for bigger sports and cultural events and its acoustics are legendary. The next visit is planed outside Wrocław. The Church of Peace in Świdnica is one of largest timber-framed religious buildings in Europe and entered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The church is under the invocation of the Holy Trinity and was built in the mid 17th century. It offers 7,500 seats and its galleries are adorned with 143 unique scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Your lunch will be served at a nice local styled inn and then you continue the trip to an imposing building and destination of many pilgrimages in Wrocław region: the monastery of Trzebnica. In the chapel of the monastery is the grave of the St Hedwig, patroness of Silesia. The property was founded 1202 by Prince Heinrich the Bearded, husband of the in Germany born Hedwig. She was a very well-educated woman and always concerned about the welfare of the people. Although it was only after the death of her husband when Hedwig joined the holy order and became a nun, she was canonized. Back in Wrocław, you can use the remaining time to walk for the last time through the European Capital of Culture 2016. The farewell-dinner will be served in one of the many traditional restaurants. The “Piwnica Świdnicka” is the oldest restaurant in the country and hosted already famous personalities such as Frederic Chopin, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German Emperor Wilhelm II. and Otto von Bismarck. The food is excellent and a grand finale of your Wrocław trip.
After breakfast departure or extension day in Wrocław.
A preview of the calendar of events can be found on our website at the following link:
http://www.poland-incoming.com/travel/362,schedule-wroclaw-european-capital-of-culture-2016.html