Over 8 million people visit Fátima in Portugal, and I’ve visited TWICE this year, once in May and today. The story began on May 13, 1917, when three peasant children saw five apparitions of the Virgin Mary, on the 13th of the next five months. The three children were Lúcia dos Santos (who became a Carmelite nun and died at age 97) and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who died of the Spanish flu within a couple years of the apparitions. All three are now buried in the Basilica at Fátima.

According to Portugal.com:

The sixth and final miracle, the Miracle of the Sun, occurred on the 13th of October, 1917. This was essentially in response to the prophecy made by the three children. The children told the people in the village to come out and witness it, even the skeptics. There are reports of over 70,000 people being in attendance. According to various witness accounts, the rainy sky cleared up, and the ground that was wet from the rain became dry. The sun appeared “dancing around” and “zig-zagging” in the sky within broken clouds, giving it the name of the Miracle of the Sun. Some say that the dancing sun even appeared to fly closer to the earth and then jump back into its place quickly. Others also mentioned multicolored light and radiant colors all over the sky. They said the Miracle of the Sun lasted for at least 10 minutes. The children were then finally believed by the people of Fátima.

We met our local guide, Manuela, and visited the neighborhood where the three children lived, and a monument was built where some of the apparitions were seen. The trunks of the olive trees formed some very interesting shapes.

Back when I visited the shrines at Fátima in May, I thought this place was huge, with the square larger than St. Peter’s in Rome, and a capacity of half a million people. Go back and read my post, “The Fátima experience,” for the details. Now that I’ve seen Lourdes, though, I think it’s perhaps smaller?!

Here are some of the pictures I’ve taken on this trip—DIFFERENT from those I took in May! Notice that you can now pay your donations by debit or credit card!

This is our last night in Portugal and we make the long journey home tomorrow, leaving the hotel at 5:30 am! But our little group is lucky—there are people in our group who are leaving at 2:00 am!

This group of 15 travelers (plus our tour director Manuel), has been especially compatible. (Maybe it’s because we were specifically asked NOT to discuss American politics!) Tonight was our last night together, and we had a pre-dinner session in which we were asked to express our thoughts on what were the most memorable moments of the trip. Several people mentioned the kindness of people in this group and how we all looked out for one another. No other GoAhead tour that I’ve been on has seen people hugging each other to say goodbye and promising to stay in touch.

We began as strangers and ended as friends. Godspeed to all on your journeys home…