Tour members depart on our flight to Frankfurt. After we board our flight for Europe, we will be served dinner according to the airline’s schedule.

Upon arrival in Frankfurt, we are welcomed by our tour escort who will accompany us throughout the whole tour. We board our coach and drive to the city of Mainz to get settled, relax, and enjoy some free time before our Welcome Dinner. Overnight in Mainz.

We start our day with a city tour of Mainz at St. Martin’s Cathedral, built in the 8th century, where seven kings’ coronations took place over the centuries. Then we will visit the Gutenberg Museum, the birthplace of printing, where two copies of the world-famous Gutenberg Bible are displayed in a special vault. We will also visit its legendary library. After lunch, we make our way to Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to Worms in 1521 by Emperor Karl V in order to justify his “heretical” conduct towards the Roman Catholic Church. A guided city tour shows us St. Peter’s Cathedral, one of three Imperial Cathedrals in Germany and one of the best examples of Romanesque architecture. This is the place where Luther made his “Here I Stand” declaration. We see the Church of the Holy Trinity, the oldest Jewish Cemetery in Europe, and the world’s largest Memorial to the Reformation. Dinner and overnight are in Worms.

Today we drive to Heidelberg, a gorgeous and charming town on the Neckar River. We take a leisure ride on the Heidelberg Railway up to Heidelberg Castle (where the Heidelberg Confession was written in 1653). We visit the castle and the Castle Church. Then we continue to the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber where we enjoy a walking tour inside the medieval walled city without a single modern building within. We see the Town Hall, the Glockenspiel, and explore St. Jakob’s Church which holds the famous altar carving by Tilman Riemenschneider. We stop at the Medieval Crime Museum (containing instruments of torture) and end our walking tour with a visit to Kathe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas Village for free time and shopping. We drive to Nuremberg for dinner and overnight.

We start our day with a city tour of Nuremberg. According to Luther, Nuremberg was “the eye and the ear of Germany” during the Reformation because there were 21 printing houses to publish news. Nuremberg’s printing presses played an integral part disseminating information in the Reformation, including mass-producing Luther’s 95 Theses. We take a walk through the Old Town including the churches St. Lorenz and St. Sebald. Enjoy some free time exploring this charming medieval city. Dinner and overnight are in Nuremburg.

Today we travel further north to Coburg to visit the famous Veste Coburg, the fortress where Luther took refuge and lived during the Augsburg Confession and one of the largest and best-preserved medieval castles in Germany. While visiting the castle, we’ll see the Luther Room, the art treasures in the various collections, and the royal building with the Luther Chapel. The inside is a museum of medieval military weaponry, Venetian glassware, china, and tapestries. Afterward, we visit the historic, picturesque city. Coburg is the quintessential German town with great food, drinks, and plenty to see and do. The vibrant “Marktplatz” is the center of the Old Town and a happy, bustling place. After lunch, we drive north to Erfurt, the spiritual training ground of Martin Luther. It was here that Luther obtained a degree in 1502 and where he took the decisive step to turn to theology and the monastic life. We explore the Augustinian Monastery, with a permanent exhibit depicting Luther’s life as a monk in Erfurt. Dinner and overnight are in Erfurt.

After breakfast, we enjoy a short drive to Weimer. Luther visited the city frequently between 1518 and 1540 where he gave counsel about implementing the Reformation. We tour the late Gothic Town Church St. Peter & Paul, built between 1498-1500, where Luther repeatedly preached. Now called the Herder Church, it holds the famous three-winged altar (1552-53) painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder as a major pictorial representation of the Lutheran doctrine. Then we tour The Duchess Anna Amalia Library, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most beautiful and historic libraries in all of Germany. It holds over one million volumes, including medieval manuscripts, pamphlets from the Reformation, and a collection of family registers and bibles (including the first complete edition of the Lutheran bible translation from 1534). Afterward, enjoy free time on your own for lunch, stroll through the park, visit Goethe’s home, or explore the charming Marktplatz before returning to Erfurt for dinner and overnight.

This morning, we make our way to Eisenach. We begin by visiting Wartburg Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here Luther found refuge during his exile and translated the New Testament from Greek into German. Here we will see the room where he lived and worked. Then we tour the city of Eisenach and admire all its beautiful sights, such as the Luther House and St. George’s Church, where Luther preached while “on the run” and later, in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was baptized. We visit the Bach House, the first and most comprehensive home museum of the composer. We tour the 17th-century home and attend a small concert of Bach pieces played on baroque keyboard instruments. After lunch, we make our way to Dresden for dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast, we tour the wonderful Baroque city of Dresden. We begin with Germany’s largest Protestant church, the Frauenkirche, which has been fully restored following damage during WWII. J.S. Bach was the first to play on the Silberman organ when the church was originally built. Luther often preached in Dresden and a statue of the reformer stands in front of Frauenkirche in the city center. A nearly 400-foot-long mural, known as the Furstenzug, or Procession of Princes, on the outer wall of the Dresden castle stables reveals how the movers and shakers of the day reacted to the seismic shift brought about by the Reformation. We walk along the Bruehlsche Terrasse containing sweeping views of the Elbe River. Enjoy some free time for lunch, shopping and exploring Dresden on your own, then we make our way to Wittenberg. Dinner and overnight in Wittenberg.

After breakfast, we tour Lutherstadt Wittenberg, the picturesque town at the heart of the Reformation. When it comes to Luther, there is almost no city more important than this one. We begin at the Lutherhaus, where Martin Luther lived with Katherine Von Bora and their children, and where he held his infamous table talks. Then we visit the famous Castle Church where Luther posted the 95 Theses, which sparked the Protestant Reformation. Luther is also buried in the Castle Church. We walk through the historic center and tour the Town and Parish Church where Luther often preached and married Katherine. Afterward enjoy some free time to explore this historic, charming town. Dinner and overnight are in Wittenberg.

After breakfast, we explore Berlin, the capital of the reunified Germany, on a guided tour that includes the Reichstag (Parliament) and its cupola, the Nikolai Quarter, the impressive boulevard “Unter den Linden”, the Gendarmen-Market, and the Brandenburg Gate. Time permitting, we will attend a short Noon prayer service at the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) and hear its stunning organ. We will see firsthand how World War II divided Berlin, visit Check-Point Charlie and the remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall, and walk through the holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. In the evening, the group will come together for our Farewell Dinner. Overnight is in Berlin.

We transfer to Berlin Airport for our departure back to the U.S.A. and arrive home today with a greater understanding of Martin Luther and the early Christian Church, and full of wonderful memories of the incredible once-in-a lifetime tour to Germany.