We leave Belfast for Scotland on the morning HSS and drive directly to Hull, on the east coast of England, where we take the overnight P&O ferry to Mainland Europe.

Our journey today takes us through Holland, into the German province of Thuringia and the small town of Gotha - the area associated with Bach, Luther and Queen Victoria's Prince Albert. We stay at the Schlosspark Hotel, a favourite overnight stop with Ulsterbus travellers over the past few years.

We continue east today, calling at Colditz, the famous WWII prisoner-of-war camp (involving a walking tour over some uneven ground, with a considerable number of steps).We travel on to the town of Gorlitz, right on the border, and our second hotel.

After crossing into Poland this morning we travel through Lower Silesa - a historic 'voviodeship' (administration division or county) in Southern Poland, which borders the Czech Republic. We stop briefly in Wroclaw (pronounced Vrotslaf), the 'Polish Venice' - so called because of its many canals - and continue on to our final destination, Krakow.

This morning is spent to know beautiful Krakow with a guided tour Having survived the war, it retains its charming medieval shape, focused around the central Market Square, the largest in Europe. In the middle of the square is the magnificent Cloth Hall.


The afternoon is free to explore. Krakow was formerly the Polish capital and an ancient centre of learning, with a university dating back to 1364. The castle and cathedral are located on majestic Wawell Hill, overlooking the river Vistula. To the south lies the Kazimierz district, the main cultural centre for Poland's Jewish community since the 16th century. It was devastated during the war, but today shows healthy signs of revival. Here we find Szeroka Street, where Schindler's List was filmed.

Once described as being “as remarkable as the pyramids and more useful!”, today we visit the UNESCO world heritage site, Wieliczka Salt Mine. We take a guided tour through the rooms, passages and great chambers which make up the mine, including the stunning Kinga’s Chapel, a splendid underground "cathedral" - every feature carved out of solid salt. We will also stop at the multicoloured lake of the Erazm Baracz Chamber. There are lots of steps down, but a lift to bring you back up the 135 metres to the surface.

It is perhaps fitting that we visit Auschwitz today, the Jewish Sabbath. Our guided tour of this infamous camp includes a film showing the liberation. You will also see the flower strewn Death Wall, the national memorials, the rail line, the chambers and the ovens of this notorious institution. A place that many want to see but few wish to return to.

We begin our return journey today, calling briefly at perhaps the greatest timber-framed church ever built (a UNESCO World Heritage building), the "Church of Peace" at Swidnica. Later we cross into Germany, to Dresden, on the River Elbe.

Dresden was a beautiful city before the infamous allied bombing of WWII. Thankfully it has been magnificently restored after being flattened during the war. Its geographical location, as well as its history and beauty demand that we spend an extra day here on our return journey.

We have a morning guided tour, concluding at the recently re-opened Frauenkirche Cathedral, inextricably linked with Coventry in World War II legend. We have the afternoon free.

From Dresden we take the scenic route through the magnificent Harz Mountains to our final hotel, in Hildesheim.

We drive directly through Holland to Europoort, near Rotterdam, where we catch the overnight sailing back to England.

The last leg of our tour takes us from Hull to Stranraer, from where we take the evening HSS back to Belfast