European Heritage Tour 2, June 23 - July 10, 2012

Holland, North-Germany and Poland, 18 day Hotel Tour, English spoken.

On this Tour you will experience the highlights of the Mennonite heritage in Holland, North-Germany and Poland. We follow the footsteps of the 16th century Mennonites emigrating from Holland to Germany and further on to Poland on their search for a place to live and work in peace, accordingly to their faith and without persecution. Also places of high cultural importance will be visited like the city centre of Berlin and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. We attend a worship service in the former Mennonite Church of Gdansk.

Tour Price: 2495 euro

Single room supplement: 325 euro

Map: Click here for a map of the itinerary of this tour.

Registration: Click here for the online Registration Form.

Day 1, Saturday June 23, 2012. Pick-up at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport and Zaanse Schans

Fly to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Pick-up time will be between 14 and 15.00 pm at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport. At Schiphol you will meet your Dutch tour guide and driver, Ayold Fanoy. Our first stop will be at the Zaanse Schans, one of Holland's main tourist destinations, with characteristic green wooden houses and historic windmills. Across the Zaanse Schans and the Zaan river is the Honig-Breet house museum. This used to be the home of three generations of a wealthy Mennonite trading family. The interior of the museum gives a good reflection of the way they lived.

Day 2, Sunday June 24, 2012. Amsterdam

We attend the worship service at the Amsterdam Mennonite Singelchurch (anno 1608) and enjoy a canal boat ride at the Amsterdam canal's. We will make a walking tour through the inner-city to explore the buildings of Mennonite interest and hear the accompanying story's. On our walking tour we visit the Royal Palace at the Dam, the former town hall of Amsterdam, built in the glorious years of the Dutch Golden Age (17th century).

Day 3, Monday June 25, 2012. Afsluitdijk and Friesland

This morning we will cross the 22-mile Afsluitdijk (Closing dam) to arrive in Friesland, the home-country of Menno Simons. Visit's to Pingjum and Witmarsum, sites related to Menno Simons. At the ceramic factory of Royal Tichelaar Makkum we will learn about the making of traditional and contemporary styles of ceramic art work. Visit of the Makkum Mennonite Church, known as the 'little castle'. Lodging will be in Harlingen.

Day 4, Tuesday June 26, 2012. Harlingen and Franeker

A guided Mennonite walking tour through Harlingen. Hear about the long history of the Mennonite congregations of 'Waterlanders' and the 'Flemish' in Harlingen. Lunch in Franeker, next to the Planetarium of Eise Eisinga. In 1781 Eise Eisinga was the first man to build a full moving model of our solar system, still working and accurate today. We will visit his Planetarium to see how it works. After lunch we will travel on to Münster, Germany. On our way we will stop in Bovenknipe to visit the Mennonite church where Anna Zernike, the first female Mennonite pastor, started her ministry in 1911.

Day 5, Wednesday June 27, 2012. Münster

Walking tour through Münster to learn more about the less known site of the Anabaptist history concerning armed rebellion. The cages once used to lock up the Anabaptist leaders are still hanging against the Lamberti Church tower. Sightseeing will include the museum with a small exhibition on the Münster rebellion. In the afternoon we will travel on to Hamburg. Halfway Münster and Hamburg is the Open Air museum of Cloppenburg dedicated to the rural culture of Lower Saxony with original buildings from the 16th up to the 20th century. Visiting this museum gives us a welcome opportunity to stretch our legs and to enjoy all kinds of historic farmhouses, workshops of rural craftsmen and different types of mills. Lodging in Hamburg for two nights.

Day 6, Thursday June 28, 2012. Hamburg Altona

Today we will explore Hamburg, a city with more than 400 years of Mennonite history. We will visit the Mennonite church in Hamburg's Altona where the pastor will lead us through the library and cemetery with gravestones dating from 1679. Free afternoon to do some shopping or visit one of Hamburg's great museums.

Day 7, Friday June 29, 2012. Bad Oldesloe and Potsdam

Mennonkate in Bad Oldesloe The Mennokate in Bad Oldesloe is the home where Menno Simons stayed and worked before he died. He published some of his books in this house. After his death in 1561 he was buried in the vicinity. The home is now converted into a small museum and the official memorial site for Menno simons. After visiting the museum we will travel on to Berlin. Our destination for today will be the Sanssouci Palace and park in Potsdam, near Berlin. Lodging in Berlin.

Day 8, Saturday June 30, 2012. Berlin

This day we will spend in Berlin. In the morning we will enjoy a guided tourist bus tour through Berlin and see all the famous places like the Kurfürstendamm, Gedächtnisskirche (Memorial Church), Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburger Tor and Unter den Linden. As we can hop-on and hop-off the bus anywhere we want, we will also explore some sites on foot. In the afternoon we travel on to Niedergörsdorf, a Mennonite settlement of mostly former Russian Christians who could travel freely to Germany after the fall of the Iron Curtain. For two nights we will be lodged in Niedergörsdorf.

Day 9, Sunday July 1, 2012. Niedergörsdorf

Worship service with our brothers and sisters in Niedergörsdorf. After worship and fellowship we can make this a relaxed day with our hosts, the Mennonite pastor and his wife. Possible visit of the local DDR (German Democratic Republic) museum, with an array of items from the communist time on display.

Day 10, Monday July 2, 2012. Poland and Krakow

After saying goodbye to our hosts in the morning, we travel on through the German and Polish countryside to Krakow. On our way we stop at the Open Air museum of Opole, to learn about the Polish folk culture. At the end of the afternoon we arrive in Krakow, a city alongside the Vistula river. This river will be our companion for the next days of our tour as we follow it from Krakow to Gdansk. Mennonite elders from the Vistula delta had to travel often to Krakow to negotiate with the Polish kings about their privileges. Lodging in Krakow city centre for two nights.

Day 11, Tuesday July 3, 2012. Krakow

As a royal capital for over 500 years, Krakow is today a treasure chamber of Gothic and Renaissance architecture. The city emerged miraculously intact after World War II. As a result no other city in Poland has so many historic buildings and monuments or such a vast collection of artworks. As all are located in the compact old town, we will explore this beautiful city on foot. Sightseeing includes: Wawel Cathedral and Castle with the Royal Chambers and Market Square. In the afternoon free time for individual exploration with an audio tour guide

Day 12, Wednesday July 4, 2012. Auschwitz-Birkenau and The Monastery of Jasna Gora

The first half of this day we will spend in Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp to witness on a guided tour the breath-taking horror that occurred here during World War II. After that it is on to Czestochowa for a visit of the Monastery of Jasna Gora, with its famous painting of the Black Madonna. At the Monastery it becomes clear to us how important the Catholic church is for the Polish people in their everyday life. More than 4 millions pilgrims visit this monastery every year!

Day 13, Thursday July 5, 2012. Torun

Today we reach the part of Poland where the Mennonites used to live, all the way alongside the Vistula river from Warsaw to Gdansk. Our first goal of the day is Wymysle, a former Mennonite village where we visit the Mennonite church. Torun is a beautiful historic city, virtually undamaged by World War II. Just south of Torun is the former Mennonite Village of Obernessau with a still existing Mennonite church, now used as a Catholic church. Lodging in Torun.

Day 14, Friday July 6, 2012. Vistula Delta and Malbork Castle

On our way to Gdansk we drive further along the Vistula River and Delta, the homeland of many Mennonite settlers after 1530. With their draining skills brought from Holland in the 16th and 17th century, the Mennonites turned this swamp into fertile farming land. Almost every village we find here has a Mennonite background. At the end of World War II, all the Mennonites were forced by the Russians to flee to Germany. What remains are the Mennonite Churches, homesteads and cemeteries. Today we will visit these Mennonite cemeteries, churches and 'vorlaubenhausen' (the typical Mennonite farms) in Schönsee, Montau, Montauerweide and Tragheimerweide. In the afternoon we will make a tour through the castle of Malbork. This magnificent Unesco-listed structure of the Teutonic Knights is a classic example of a medieval fortress, and Europe Largest Gothic castle as well. Lodging in the Vistula delta for two nights.

Day 15, Saturday July 7, 2012. Vistula Delta

In the morning we tour the former Dutch-Mennonite countryside south-east of Gdansk. Now we can see the remarkable resemblance of the Polish and Dutch countryside, which we traveled earlier. We will start today in Nowi Dwor (Tiegenhof) to visit the small Polish exhibition about the Mennonites in the Vistula Delta. In Elblag we find one of the oldest Mennonite churches, dating from 1590. Further stops at Thiensdorf, Preusisch Rosengart, Klakendorf, Heubuden, Neuteich, Ladekopp and Orlofferfelde, all former Mennonite villages in the small and big Marienburger Werders;

Day 16, Sunday July 8, 2012. Gdansk and worship service

Today we leave our lodging in the Vistula delta for Gdansk. We will attend the Sunday worship service in the former United Flemish and Frisian Mennonite Church of Gdansk, now a Pentecostal church. The service will be held in Polish, but as the language of the gospel is a universal one, we will understand the meaning. A plague in the entrance hall of the church commemorates the Mennonite past of the building. The Old Town of Gdansk, with its Town Hall, Artus Court, Great Arsenal, St. Mary's Church and lovely burgher's houses, is a masterpiece of post-war reconstruction. In Gdansk we will take a walking tour to see all the important Mennonite sites. In the afternoon free time to explore the city. We will enjoy our supper in 'Zum Lachs' or 'in the Salmon', founded in 1598 by the Mennonite leader Ambrosius Vermeulen and still one of the leading restaurants in Gdansk.

Day 17, Monday July 9, 2012. Return to Berlin

We leave early to return to Berlin, Germany. On our way we stop in the historic towns of Slupsk and Koszalin. It is also possible to stay in Gdansk and extend your visit of this city.

Day 18, Tuesday July 10, 2012. Departure home

Fly home from Berlin. Drop-off at Berlin Tegel airport at 09.00 am.

Photo Album: a photo album of a past tour to Holland, Northern-Germany and Poland is available on the Photo Album page.

Tour Price includes:

17 nights accommodation.
All breakfasts and dinners.
Entrance fees to all places mentioned in the itinerary.
Modern, comfortable transportation in a 9-person minibus.

Not included:

International Flights to Amsterdam and home from Berlin.
Noon lunches, beverages with included dinners.
Trip cancellation and holiday medical insurance.

Deposit and Payments: Your reservation will be confirmed upon receipt of a deposit of 350 euro. The remaining 2145 euro is due before April 1, 2012.

In the event of a marked change in foreign exchange rates, fuel costs or tariff rates, Mennonite Heritage Tours does reserve the right to adjust prices should it become necessary. The published price is guaranteed from the moment you have paid the full tour price.

European Heritage Tour 2, June 23 - July 10, 2012

Holland, North-Germany and Poland, 18 day Hotel Tour, English spoken.

Navigation: