Tour members meet for our flight to Geneva. After dinner is served, it’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the on-board entertainment to prepare for this exciting adventure of a lifetime.

After arriving in Geneva, we are met by our tour guide and board our motor coach to begin touring the city. Our first stop on our Journey is the International Museum of the Reformation. Here we will be submersed into 500 years of Reformation history. We will have the opportunity to see how the reformation impacted lives, from their faith to their education, even how it affected areas economically. Located right next to the museum, we will have the chance for an individual inside visit of St. Peter’s Cathedral. It is here that John Calvin preached every other week from 1536 – 1564. Next we will walk to the Reformation wall. This memorial is built into the area that would have been the old city wall. A representation of the reclaiming and protection of the Gospel that happened here. Some of the reformers represented in the Wall are John Calvin, William Farel, Theodore Beza and John Knox. We will have dinner in the city and head to our hotel for overnight.

After Breakfast we check out of our hotel and drive to Bern. This 12th Century city is the 5th most populated city in Switzerland and is a great place to stop, walk through the old city, we will visit the site on the river where several Anabaptists were put to death for their beliefs and visit the Cathedral of Bern. You can also spend time in the many shops along the Old City throughfare also a great place to grab lunch before continuing our journey to Lucerne. On our way to Lucerne, we will stop and visit Trachenswald Castle. Trachenswald Castle became a prison where Anabaptists were held, some of whom were then executed for their beliefs which differed from the ruling Reformed Protestants. In 2021 an exhibit opened in the castle’s prison documenting the oppression of Anabaptists in the region. After boarding the bus, enjoy the scenery as we drive to Lucerne with its beautiful location on the shores of Lake Lucerne within sight of the mountains Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps. Dinner and overnight are in Lucerne.

This morning, we enjoy a city tour of Lucerne. We visit the town’s landmark, the Chapel Bridge along with the water tower. The tower was built in 1300 as part of the city wall and used as an archive, treasury, prison and torture chamber. We see the Dying Lion of Lucerne-monument, which was carved out of natural rock in memory of the deaths of Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. Next we drive to Zurich. Zurich is definitely a combination of the old and the new. It is divided (as are many European cities) into the modern cosmopolitan district and the Altstadt (old city). Most of the time will be spent seeing the sights connected with Ulrich Zwingli. It was in Zurich where the Reformed branch of the Reformation got its start under his leadership beginning in 1520. We see his monument, the church where he was pastor (the Grossmunster), and the Guild Hall and Museum where we find artifacts and works of art associated with the Reformation. We will also have the opportunity to witness and be a part of the 500th anniversary Celebration of the Anabaptists. Zurich is the origin of the Swiss Brethren Anabaptist Movement. It had its start in the home of Felix Manz in 1525, only a few blocks from Zwingli’s church, when Manz and others were rebaptized as adults by Conrad Grebel. The Anabaptists (re-baptizers), then became a target of Protestants and the Catholics for persecution and martyrdom, with over 3,000 dying in a “mini-holocaust” over the next decades. Dinner and overnight in Zurich.

After breakfast as we drive to Strasbourg, we make a stop in Schleitheim to view the original Schleitheim Confession of Faith. Afterwards we finish our drive to Strasbourg and begin our walking tour. The ideas of the Reform Movement spread in Strasbourg as early as the beginning of the 16th century. These ideas helped to lay down a structure for theological education. In 1532 Martin Bucer started courses on the exegesis of biblical books in German and in Latin, and along with others like Capiton that followed the reformed ideas, they began teaching ancient languages and many other courses that were added to the exegesis course. Our first stop once we arrive will be the Statue of the Reformers at the University and also we will visit the Historic quarter known as La Petite- France. Before a break for lunch we will visit St. Thomas-Church. After lunch we will make a visit to the Strasbourg Cathedral. Dinner and overnight in Strasbourg.

After breakfast, we visit Heidelberg, a gorgeous town on the Neckar River where romanticism is both past and present. Our walking tour includes the Old Town, the famous Stone Bridge over the Neckar River, the Heidelberg Castle (where the Heidelberg Confession was written in 1653), the Castle Church, German Apothecary Museum, and the Church of the Holy Ghost. We stop for lunch, then we continue to Worms, one of the oldest towns in Germany. We visit St. Peter’s Cathedral, an exquisite example of Romanesque architecture. In 1521, Martin Luther was summoned here by Emperor Charles V to recant his teachings before the Diet of Worms. We also see where Luther made his famous “Here I Stand” declaration. We will visit the world’s largest memorial to the Reformation along with Europe’s oldest Jewish cemetery, the Holy Sands. Another Reformer named William Tyndale, finished his printing of the English Bible in Worms, escaping persecution in England. After an amazing day of touring, we finish with dinner and conclude our day with check in at our hotel in the Frankfurt area.

In the morning, we depart for Eisenach. Today, we will visit all of the “must see” of Eisenach city, including the Luther-House, and the St. George’s Church, where J.S. Bach was baptized, and St. Elisabeth was married. We also will enjoy a brief concert at the Bach house before continuing our drive to Wartburg Castle for a self-guided tour of the Palais (Great Hall), the Elisabeth Hallway, and the Luther Room where Luther, under his disguise as “Junker Jörg,” translated the New Testament into German. After our tour we board the motorcoach and make our way to Erfurt, where we will have lunch before a guided visit of the Augustinian Monastery, with a permanent exhibit depicting Luther’s life as a monk. If time permits, we will visit St. Mary’s Cathedral, where Luther was ordained as a priest, and St. Severus Church. We end our day with dinner and then check into our hotel for overnight.

We begin our day with breakfast and then board the motorcoach for our drive to Wittenberg. We will stop and visit the Buchenwald concentration camp and the memorial before continuing to Wittenberg. After arriving in Wittenberg, we begin with a guided walking tour with an exterior visit to All Saints’ Church of the Castle Church, the famous site where Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church door, sparking the beginning of the Reformation. It is here that Luther is buried alongside his fellow reformer, Philipp Melanchthon. On our tour, we will also have the chance to see All Saints’ Church. We take a break for lunch and then continue with a visit to the temporary exhibition “Luther” located in the Augusteum that was built in the mid-1580s. As Luther House is currently closed for renovation, selected pieces will be exhibited here. Luther hall was once an Augustinian monastery where Luther lived as a monk and again later in 1525 as owner with his wife and family. Luther Hall is the largest museum of Reformation history in the world. After our visit, we board the bus and drive to Berlin where we check in to our hotel before having dinner.

This morning we will explore Berlin, the capital of the reunified Germany, on a guided tour that includes all the important highlights like the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag (Parliament) and its cupola, the Nikolai Quarter, the impressive boulevard “Unter den Linden”, the Museum Island, the Gendarmen-Market, the Alexanderplatz and Check- Point Charlie. Time permitting, we will have the opportunity to enjoy exploring the city on our own after the city tour has concluded. In the evening the group will come together for the farewell dinner. We will spend the evening remembering all that we have seen and learned on this amazing journey to visit some of our roots in the faith. Overnight is in Berlin.

This morning we transfer to the airport for our return flight to the U.S.A.