SPECIAL PILGRIMAGES
We thank you for your interest in Special Pilgrimages.
As a leading Christian Tour Operator, we take every measure to ensure an unrivalled service to our clients and have been taking pilgrims to the Holy Land since 1983.
We are the official agents for the Franciscan Holy Land Commissariat and have our own fully staffed office in Jerusalem as well as a professionally trained and enthusiastic team in our main office in Southend who are totally committed to nothing less than perfection.
Although we have never limited ourselves to the Holy Land, we are proud to offer today an even wider range of pilgrimage and holiday destinations for the Christian traveller. We are happy to arrange tailor made itineraries for groups within Italy, including Rome, Assisi and Florence; Spain, including Santiago de Compostela and Montserrat; Turkey and Greece, by land or cruise ship; Poland, including Czestochowa and the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow; Russia, Finland, Egypt, Syria and Jordan; and the traditional Catholic destinations of Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje and Mexico.
Tour 1 The Holy Land
This has always been our first and most popular destination and is building up again now that confidence is slowly being restored to our pilgrims.
We offer a standard 8-day programme covering the main Holy sites, which can also be combined with Egypt (Mt Sinai) and / or Jordan and Syria. And we are also happy to offer our tailor made service to group leaders wishing to include use specific hotels and include some more unusual sites.
Tour 2 Italy
Another immensely popular destination for our groups: we offer a week in Rome plus the opportunity to travel also to Assisi, Florence, San Giovanni Rotondo, Pisa – there is no shortage of beautiful and inspirational places to visit in Italy! In Rome we use 3-star or 4-star hotels within 15 minutes walk of the Vatican and St. Peter’s and as well as English speaking guides for all your visits we can also provide you with a tour leader.
Tour 3 Spain – Santiago de Compostela and Portugal - Fatima
We can arrange for your group to follow the Way of St. James, travelling by bus and on foot from Burgos to Santiago de Compostela, via Carrion de los Condes, Leon, Astorg, Villafranca, Samos and Portomarin. Alternately we also arrange long week-ends in Santiago de Compostela. Groups can also combine Santiago de Compostela with a visit to Fatima in Portugal – an unforgettable two centre pilgrimage.
Tour 4 Poland
We offer tours to Poland, visiting Warsaw and also the shrine of the Black Madonna and Czestochowa and also St. Faustina’s Shrine of Divine Mercy at Krakow. A tour to Poland can also be combined with a visit to the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic or a Vilnius in the adjacent Lithuania.
Tour 5 Finland and Russia
We continue to operate tours to Karelia in Finland and Russia into the Orthodox communities to visit the ornate churches, attend liturgies and learn more about the spirituality of icons. A visit to Finland can be combined also with the cultural centre of St. Petersburg in Russia. Or you can travel simply to Russia, a two-centre holiday visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Tour 6 Mexico
Every year our groups travel to Mexico City to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th with the famous Mass of the Roses at her Shrine. It is a unique opportunity to invoke the help of the Blessed Virgin for peace and justice in the world today. There is also a full programme of sight-seeing, including Puebla, Chapultepec Park, Xochimilco floating gardens and an opportunity to take an excursion to Taxco and extend your stay with a week in Acapulco.
Tour 7 Turkey and Greece
Our groups can go to Turkey or Greece for coach tours of the Seven Churches of the Apocalype and in the Footsteps of St. Paul. Alternatively, they can choose to join a cruise across the Aegean Sea to visit the lands of the New Testament, following the routes of St. Paul and visiting Rhodes, Athens, Thessaloniki, Kavala (Neapolis) and Ephesus, Pergamum and Troy, Kusadasi, Ephesus, Patmos, Piraeus and Corinth.
Tour 8 Lourdes
Lourdes also takes its place among our tours and we fly groups to Lourdes or take them by coach stopping to visit en route Paris, Nevers and Rocamadour, or whichever other places the group favours. We use 3-star hotels within easy reach of the grotto and a tour leader is in attendance.
Special Pilgrimages, Christian Tours
55-57 Queens Road
Southend-on-Sea
Essex
SS1 1LT
Phone/Fax
Tel: 01702 394000
E-mail: info@special-pilgrimages.co.uk