DAY 1
Arrival in Poznan. Airport transfer to the hotel. Dinner in a traditional Polish restaurant in the Old Town.
DAY 2
Poznan, one of the oldest cities in Poland, is famous nowadays for the international trade fairs taking place here (about 30 big international events every year). But the city has much more to offer. Our guided tour will start in Ostrow Tumski island, which in 10th century started to be one of the major centers of power of the Piast dynasty - the first Polish rulers. Here we’ll visit the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, the first cathedral in Poland, a burial place of three kings and five dukes of the oldest Polish Piast dynasty. Then the tour continues in Poznan’s Old Town. In the Old Town Square we’ll admire the beautiful Renaissance tenement houses and Town Hall and wait till the clock strikes noon to see the landmark of the city - two charming billy-goats butting heads. At the end of our walk we’ll see one of the most impressive Baroque churches in Poland - the Parish Church of St. Stanislaus.
After lunch we’ll have a chance to relax during a guided tour to one of the most famous Polish breweries – Lech Brewery. The Lech Visitors Centre offers the opportunity to explore the beer production process during a guided visit combining a classical tour and a visit to a state-of-the-art multimedia center. The last part of the tour is of course… tasting!
DAY 3
OPTION ONE: Today we will go back in time to the Iron Age. We’ll visit the archeological open-air museum in Biskupin, situated on a marshy peninsula in Lake Biskupin, about 90 km from Poznan. The fortified settlement dates back to the Lusatian Culture period around 2,700 years ago. The village used to have about 1000 inhabitants and was surrounded by a 6 meters high embankment. To protect from waves and ice a massive wooden breakwater was built, the entry to the settlement was via a big gateway with an observation post. In the summer period it is possible to get to the museum by narrow gauge railway running slowly through the beautiful landscape of the region, with numerous lakes and villages.
OPTION TWO: Romantic tour to the Palaces of Kornik and Rogalin. It is not necessary to drive far from Poznan to visit the two amazing palaces, landmarks of the Wielkopolska (Great Poland) Region. We’ll start with Kornik – 14th century, Neo-Gothic castle, nowadays homing a museum, famous library with over 350 000 volumes and beautiful park-arboretum. Next we travel to Rogalin to visit a 18th century impressing Rococo-Classical Raczynski Palace surrounded by a beautiful park. The palace houses a museum and painting gallery. In the area of the palace, The Rogalin Lanscape Park was established in order to protect one of the largest in Europe concentrations of centuries - old oaks. Those trees have become a symbol of the Wielkopolska region, some of them are 600 years old and reach circumference of 10 meters!
DAY 4
Airport transfer and departure from Poznan.