Blogs from Fátima, Central, Portugal, Europe

Dear All Praise the Lord! What an absolutely wonderful day I had today! I spent it on a Pilgrimage in Fátima, one of Catholicism's holiest sites in the world and visited by around five million pilgrims each year. On this day in February, I was one of them. As I believe I mentioned in my last blog, my arrival in Fátima the evening before was just ethereal. The sun was setting and darkness encroaching, as a thick drizzly fog had also settled in this high plateau, bringing a kind of hushed peace to the place. The atmosphere felt instantly spiritual, as I made my way to my accommodation a short walk away from the bus station through the back alleys of this special town. I had booked myself into a Convent, the Sisters of the Church, ... read more

Italian-born Christopher Columbus got the gong in 1492 for scoring the first goal in the exploration game. But as he was financed by the Spanish crown, his actions were on behalf of Spain. Portugal’s Vasco de Gama succeeded in something different when he found a sea route to the riches of India and beyond in 1498. Then Spain and Portugal began a series of colonial conquests that fetched riches in proportions never before dreamt of. (Note to classmates from U3A – sentence ending in a preposition. But as Winston Churchill noted – “that is a rule up with which I will not put”) Anyhow Spain and Portugal became super powers, selected citizens became filthy rich, and a whole new world opened up. Some rich merchants from Italy realised they had been left behind at the starting ... read more

I woke up quite late this morning, so I couldn’t make the trip to Tomar. Plus, I didn’t want to get stuck there since buses don’t run very often on the weekends. Instead, I decided to take a relaxing day and just explore Fatima. So I took my time getting ready. Once I was done, I headed towards the cathedral. Fatima is very well known for people seeing an apparition of Mary. On May 13, 1917, three children saw it. No one believed them; in fact, they told them that they needed to be punished for it. A little while later, 60,000 people saw the apparition. It appeared every month on the 13th and ended in October. Every month on the 13th between the months of May to October, people come from all over to see ... read more

On Thursday we left Lisboa bound for Porto. We stopped in Fatima on the way which is a very special religious place that a lot of pilgrims come to visit. The Pope has also visited a number of times. Even when we went on just a normal day, there was a large mass and people walking on their knees down to the chapel which was quite a long way! The Basilica didn’t seem to be anything special in terms of it’s architecture or beauty however it did have a different feel and there were many people praying there. It was quite an emotional place even a little bit for us. Although it did spark a healthy debate between us regarding evolution/religion! We didn’t have another stop planned for this leg however we decided to pull off ... read more