A pilgrimage through the heart of Catholic Europe, from the imperial cathedrals of Austria and Hungary to the quiet hillside village that has drawn millions of pilgrims in prayer. It joins two very different kinds of holy place — the great churches that shaped Christendom, and a parish in Herzegovina where people come simply to pray.

Through Austria and Hungary

Vienna opens the journey at St Stephen's Cathedral, the Gothic heart of the city. The road follows the Danube through Salzburg and the Benedictine abbey at Melk, one of the finest Baroque buildings in Europe, into Budapest — Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion above the river — and north to Esztergom, the largest church in Hungary and the seat of its Archbishop.

South to the Adriatic

Croatia follows: Zagreb and its Cathedral of the Assumption in the historic Upper Town, then Split on the Dalmatian coast, where the Cathedral of St Domnius stands inside the walls of Diocletian's palace — a church built into the mausoleum of the emperor who persecuted it.

At Medjugorje

The journey ends where it has been heading all along. Three nights allow time to climb Apparition Hill and Cross Mountain, to join the evening prayer programme, and to make a confession without hurrying. Daily Mass is arranged throughout, and the pace here is deliberately unhurried — this is the part of the pilgrimage that asks least of a schedule and most of a pilgrim.