Make your way to your local airport where you will board your overnight flight(s). Your meals will be served on board.

Upon landing at Copenhagen Airport, make your way to the baggage claim area and collect your luggage. Proceed to the arrival hall where you will be greeted by your tour guide and/or driver. Transfer to your hotel for a delicious dinner followed by a visit to the glittering lights and enchanting atmosphere of the world-famous Tivoli Gardens. End the day with a restful overnight at your hotel in Copenhagen.

After breakfast we will enjoy a guided tour of Copenhagen. See the statue of Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid gazing wistfully across the harbor, followed by a visit inside the Christiansborg Palace – the seat of the Danish Government – to marvel at the opulent interior. We will then celebrate Mass at Saint Ansgar’s Cathedral. Saint Ansgar is known for his missionary activities in Scandinavia and bringing the message of Christ to the people of these lands. The day will come to a close with dinner and an overnight at your hotel in Copenhagen.

This morning following breakfast we travel to Roskilde, where we will visit the Cathedral. It is the earliest major ecclesiastical building made of brick in northern Europe and is an outstanding example of a Cathedral complex. It is especially noteworthy for successive architectural styles used in the ancillary chapels and porches added over many centuries, during which it has served as the mausoleum of the Danish royal family. While in Roskilde we also visit the fascinating Viking Ship Museum and enjoy a cruise on Roskilde Fjord including tea and coffee, Danish pastries, and cheese. We will enjoy a light lunch at leisure in Roskilde before continuing our journey to Odense. While in Odense we visit the Hans Christian Andersen Childhood Home, followed by a visit to Funen Village – an open-air museum where you can experience a village as it was at the time of Hans Christian Andersen. With living history, activities, and theatre performances you can enjoy the atmosphere of an afternoon in the country in 18th century Denmark. Continue across the island of Funen to Jutland, the main peninsula of Denmark. The day will come to a close with dinner and an overnight at your hotel in the region of Vejle.

After breakfast we head into the heart of Jutland to visit the Fyrkat Viking Centre, with the historic Fyrkat Ring Fort and Viking Farmstead, which provides a variety of activities, such as Viking clothing, wool work, bread making, forging, and archery. The ring fort was erected in 980 during the reign of Harold Bluetooth, a Danish Viking King. Fyrkat consisted of 16 bow-sided long houses. They are today indicated by slabs of white stone. One house has been reconstructed outside the fort, built out of oak. After free time for lunch, we will continue our journey to northern Jutland to visit Børglum Abbey, first established on the site of a Viking palace in around 1060 as an episcopal residence. In the 12th century, at the request of Archbishop Eskil, the Premonstratensian Order settled here and became the headquarters for its monasteries in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. We arrive this evening at the port of Hirtshals for our overnight ferry crossing to Bergen, in Norway, arriving the following day. The day will end with dinner and an overnight cabin accommodation on board the ferry.

After disembarking the ferry, we meet our friendly Norwegian guide and enjoy lunch at leisure in a local restaurant before starting our guided tour of Bergen. We will explore Bryggen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an important part of the city, where strolling through its narrow alleyways and overhanging galleries will be like stepping back in time to a bygone era. The tour includes a ride on the Fløibanen funicular for wonderful panoramic views. This evening we celebrate Mass at the Church of Saint Paulin Bergen. The day will come to a close with dinner and an overnight at your hotel in Bergen.

After breakfast, we will enjoy scenic journeys through the fjordlands of Norway and, while on our way to Hardangerfjord, we make a stop at Fantoft Stave Church. This reconstructed stave church, originally built in Fortun in Sogn around the year 1150, was threatened by demolition until it was bought by Consul Fredrik Georg Gade, who had it moved piece by piece to Fantoft in 1883. Outside the church stands a stone cross from Tjora in Sola. We continue to the shore of Hardangerfjord where you will have free time for lunch while admiring the beauty of the scenery – steep mountain slopes plunging into the clear water, shimmering with reflections of little houses, forests, and fruit orchards. After lunch we drive along the winding shoreline road until we reach Eidfjord. We will continue to Måbødalen for a wonderful view of Norway’s most famous waterfall, Vøringsfossen, with a vertical drop of 145 meters and a total fall of 182 meters. We return to Eidfjord for a visit of the Hardangervidda Nature Centre, where you will see an exciting panoramic film by Ivo Caprino and learn more about Norwegian fjords, mountains, and waterfalls. You will then check into your hotel for a delicious dinner and a restful overnight.

After breakfast, our journey east toward Oslo takes us through the scenic landscapes of Hardangervidda National Park, which also spans the Hardanger mountain plateau. Continue south to visit the Heddal Stave Church. This triple-nave stave church is Norway’s largest and was constructed at the beginning of the 13th century. After the reformation the church was in very poor condition and a restoration took place during 1849-1851. However, because the restorers lacked the knowledge and skills required to make adequate repairs, there was another restoration in the 1950s, which revealed the interior has markings from the period after the Lutheran Reformation in 1536-1537. Following lunch, we will enjoy a leisurely drive through the countryside, passing by the northern shore of Inner Oslo fjord until we reach Oslo, the capital city of Norway. We will end the day with dinner and an overnight at your hotel in Oslo.

This morning following breakfast, we will be shown the spires of Oslo and tell the story of Blanche of Namur, who arrived there in 1374 to become the consort monarch of King Magnus VII of Norway. You will hear about Saint Bridget of Sweden, who served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Blanche before leaving for Rome in 1349. The royal couple made large donations to Saint Bridget’s planned Vadstena Abbey. Visit Frogner Park, the world’s largest sculpture park for a single artist, housing controversial works by Gustav Vigeland, featuring more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite, and wrought iron. After lunch, we will enjoy a guided tour of Akershus Fortress, founded in 1299 during the reign of King Håkon V. The medieval castle had a strategic location at the end of the headland and withstood several sieges throughout the ages. King Christian IV (1588-1648) had the castle modernized and converted into the Renaissance royal residence that you see today. The day will end with evening Mass at Saint Olav’s Cathedral in Oslo, dinner, and an overnight at your hotel in Oslo.

After breakfast we will take the highspeed train from Oslo to Stockholm, traveling in the comfort of First Class all the way. The journey will take just over five hours and passes through the beautiful lake country of southern Sweden. Lunch is provided on board the train. On arrival in Stockholm, we have a coach transfer to the hotel where you can relax. The day will conclude with dinner and an overnight at your hotel in Stockholm.

After breakfast, we start our grand tour of Stockholm, including a visit to the City Hall’s “Gold Room.” We will continue into the heart of the city to visit the Cathedral, walk through the Old Town, and see the Royal Palace. This afternoon we enjoy a cruise (about 3 hours) around the Stockholm archipelago to experience the untouched nature and beauty of the scenery so close to the city. The onboard guide will tell you all about the surrounding sites during this beautiful and informative outing. This evening we will celebrate Mass at Saint Eugene or Saint Eric Church followed by dinner and an overnight at your hotel in Stockholm.

Today our journey will lead us through southern Sweden, heading first to Linköping, where we visit the Cathedral, located where a small church in the form of a cross was built in the 12th century. After 100 years the church became too small – it was decided that a bigger church was needed, which took 300 years to complete. We will visit the nearby Vreta Abbey, founded at the beginning of the 12th century by King Inge the Elder and Queen Helena, on the request of Pope Paschal II, and is the oldest known abbey in Sweden. We will continue our journey to Vadstena Abbey, Motherhouse of the Bridgettine Order, located on the shores of Lake Wetter, in the Diocese of Linköping. Although founded in 1346 by Saint Bridget, on arriving at the abbey in 1374 she found just a few novices under an Augustinian superior. They chose Saint Catherine as their abbess. The day will end with Mass at Vadstena Abbey, dinner, and an overnight at your hotel.

After breakfast, the day starts with a scenic drive along the northern shore around Lake Wetter to visit Sweden’s oldest Christian place at Varnhem Abbey, where you’ll find a churchyard from the Viking era – evidence of their conversion to Christianity over 1,000 years ago. Following lunch, we will continue to the port city of Gothenburg where we will visit the splendid Botanic Gardens – one of the largest and best in Europe – with over 16,000 species of plants in the different greenhouses and areas like the rock and herb gardens. This evening we will celebrate Mass at the Church of St. Mary Magdalen in Gothenburg followed by a delicious dinner and an overnight.

Following breakfast, we will travel south to the Scania (Skåne) region of Sweden to visit Lund Cathedral. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1145 and contains many well-known artifacts and features of considerable historical interest. Among them is a magnificent horological artistic masterpiece from 1424. This early time and dating machine remains in working order with rotating mechanical figures marking the passage of time. There are also three bronze pillars with mounted statues from around 1240. The finely carved oak choir stalls are from the mid-14th century and the majestic altar dates from 1398, while the fine Absidens mosaic by Joakim Skovgaard is from the 1920s. We will head to the coastal town of Ystad to visit the Franciscan Ystad Monastery. Founded in 1267, this is the oldest medieval monastery in Sweden and, together with Vadstena Abbey, one of the best preserved. Today the monastery houses a museum that presents several temporary exhibitions covering the many different uses of the building over time. Continue to the city of Malmö with its famous Turning Torso, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. This neo-futurist residential skyscraper is the world’s first twisted skyscraper and the tallest building in Scandinavia. The day will conclude with evening Mass at Our Saviour’s Church in Malmö, dinner and a restful overnight at your hotel.

After breakfast we check out of the hotel and take a short coach transfer across the Øresund Bridge to Copenhagen Airport for our flight back home, saying farewell to our Viking friends after a memorable tour of Scandinavia.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.