Rome & Medjugorje

YOUR TRIP INCLUDES:

Round-trip air from New York to Italy and Medjugorje

10 nights in accommodations as follows: (or similar)

3 nights: Hotel Cicerone or Quirinale, Rome
7 nights: A modern home/hotel with private baths in Medjugorje

Breakfast and dinner daily
Transportation by air-conditioned motor coach
Guided tours and admission fees
Hotel taxes and service charges
Papal Audience (if available)

Catholic Priest and Mass daily
Baggage handling
Flight bag & portfolio of all travel documents

Not Included: Lunches, Beverages with dinners, Airport tax (approx. $200-$380). Travel Insurance optional at $99-$219. Tips to your guide & driver ($6 per day). Items of a personal nature.

Sample Day-by-Day Itinerary:

Day 1 – USA - Italy

Depart USA for our overnight flights to Rome . Dinner and breakfast are served on board.

Day 2 – Arrive Rome

Upon arrival your escort will warmly greet you this morning and welcome you to Italy. Transfer to your hotel and enjoy a free afternoon for rest, relaxation, or exploration. You tour escort can suggest sights or walks for you to enjoy

Day 3 – Rome (Papal Audience and Vatican Museum Tour)
Wake up in Eternal City, one of the greatest centers of Western Civilization and the first truly cosmopolitan city on earth! It is also spiritual capital for all the Catholics around the world. Today is truly a day we will have in our minds for many years to come. This morning we go to Vatican City to attend the weekly Papal Audience or Blessing given by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI (pending papal schedule). Following the audience visit of the Vatican Museums, a group of most impressive edifices with hundreds of galleries filled with art treasures. See awe-inspiring relics and works of art donated throughout centuries as tributes of faith. We’ll cover The Tapestry Gallery, The Raphael Rooms and the most overwhelming Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s Masterpiece, restored mural of the Last Judgment. Later, enter the largest church in Christendom St Peter’s Basilica, built on the site where St Peter was martyred. Unsurpassed in beauty, a monument to the long history of the Catholic Church, to which pilgrims come from around the world, St Peter’s is the grandest of the world’s churches. Marvel Pieta and Bernini’s amazing bronze canopy. We will also visit the grave of Pope John Paul II located at the Vatican (time permitting). Before dinner, we’ll have some time at leisure, to explore your own paths, to shop, or just to sit in one of the outside cafes and watch the world go by.

Day 4 – Rome

This morning we depart for a sightseeing tour with focus on "Christian Rome" .Touring we will see many important cultural and monumental sights around Rome. Stop for a visit at three major Basilicas: St Mary Major, one of the oldest shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, a shrine that contains a relic from the manger of the infant Jesus. The Basilica of the St John in Lateran, is the former residence of the popes prior to their return to Rome in 1377. St Paul Outside the Walls, which houses the remains of St Paul under its main altar. We will also see the ancient Baths of Caracalla, Arch of Drusus, Chapel "O’Domine Quo Vadis?" the remains of imperial tombs, Tomb of Celilia Metella, and the catacombs of St Callixtus where the early Christians hid themselves to escape persecution. Dinner and overnight for your last evening in Rome.

Day 5 – Rome – Medjugorje

Afternoon departure from Rome for your flights to Medjugorje. Upon arrival, you’ll be greeted by a tour guide and/or driver who will then take you on the 2 1/2 hour drive by private coach to the village of Medjugorje. Guide will be with your throughout your stay. Once there, you’ll meet your fellow pilgrims and your spiritual leader and be introduced to your host family in whose modern and comfortable house you will be staying for the next seven nights.

Days 6 to 11 – Medjugorje

Experience the beauty and peace of this simple village. During your stay in Medjugorje you will have the opportunity to share faith with pilgrims from all over the world. Our local guide will accompany us throughout your stay.

Here are some of the activities you’ll be sharing with our fellow pilgrims: Each morning at 10am we assemble at St James Church for the English-language Mass (Feast days and Sundays English Mass is at Noon). Follow the path up Apparition Hill where the visionaries first encountered Our Lady. Touch and pray before the cross that commemorates the spot where Mary first appeared to the visionaries.

Each evening at 5pm or 6pm daylight savings time, we will join the villagers and pilgrims to pray the rosary. The apparition takes place at 5:40pm or 6:40 daylight savings time, and then stay on for Croatian Mass. Don’t miss on Tuesdays and Saturdays Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and on Fridays Veneration of the Cross in the Church. Each evening during Croatian Mass, there is the Blessing of the Sick and blessing of the items you have with you.

Our guide will arrange meetings with the visionaries at their own homes provided that they are in Medjugorje during your trip, and pending their availability. We will have the opportunity to climb Krizevac Mountain, where in 1933 the villagers built a 30’ high cross on the anniversary of Jesus’ crucifixion. Visit and pray at "Blue Cross", which is a place of great healings and graces- a very special place at the base of Apparition Hill. We will visit the Oasis of Peace, which has an incredible 24-hour Adoration Chapel.

Day 12 – Medjugorje – USA

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, we leave by motor coach for Dubrovnik Airport (Spilt or Sarajevo) for return flights home.

*2009 Travel Dates:

Mar 27-Apr 05
Apr 24-May 03
May 22- May 31
Jun 05-Jun 14
Aug 14-23
Sep 11-20
Oct 30-Nov 08

2010 Travel Dates:

Feb 26-Mar 09
Mar 26-Apr 06
Apr 23-May 04
May 21-Jun 01
Jun 04-15
Jul 16-27
Aug 13-24
Sep 10 -21
Oct 7-19
Oct 29-Nov 09

In categories: Tours for Groups