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… Read More The Fátima miracle
Yesterday was a transfer day, meaning several hours on the bus. We left at 9:00 am and didn’t arrive in Fátima until 5:00 pm! However, I’m grateful that our tour director planned a three hour stop in Porto, one of my favorite cities in Portugal. When we arrived in Porto, we walked across one of… Read More We are in Portugal!
Up to now, I really haven’t said much about the food we’ve been eating. It has been absolutely fabulous, starting with sumptuous breakfast buffets every morning. You name it, they have it: eggs, toast, croissants, pastries, deli meats, sausages and ham, cereals, and fruits of all kinds. Every hotel has been a little bit different,… Read More Eating our way to Compostela
Our tour director, Manuel, had good news for us. Someone had already paid the 300 euros to sponsor the botafumeiro at the pilgrim mass we were planning to attend at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. Otherwise it would have cost our group 20 euros each to sponsor the botafumeiro, which is only used on certain… Read More Botafumeiro
Before this trip began, I tried to talk myself out of signing up for the Galician dinner, described as follows: For a true taste of Galicia, sit down to a succulent dinner at a local restaurant in Santiago de Compostela. Savor the freshest seafood and meat specialties Spain has to offer as you choose from… Read More A traditional Galician dinner — a Feast!
Back in 2018, I signed up for The Marian Sbrines and Way of St. James tour with GoAhead Tours, and as you know, there weren’t enough people signed up for the trip to be viable. The tour was then postponed three times until this year 2022. Curiously, though, there were four other people from Hawaii… Read More One man’s journey to Compostela
As soon as we walked through the doors of the León Cathedral, my visual senses were on overload. Apparently León Cathedral houses one of the largest collections of medieval stained glass in the world. Everywhere you look, you see the brilliant colors of the stained glass windows. The great majority of them date from the… Read More Sensory overload
[POST UPDATED! Okay, I’m a brazen thief and have stolen some of my sister Doris’ photos!] Owwowwoww … my aching feet! We have just come back from walking part of the Way of St. James, on our way to the Santiago de Compostela. The bus dropped us off at San Juan de Ortega and picked… Read More Burgos and the Way of St. James
We woke up in Zaragoza, the fifth largest city in Spain, and the capital of the region of Aragón. We met our local guide, Benoit, at the hotel and set off for the Palacio de la Aljaferia, a fortified medieval palace built during the second half of the 11th century. We didn’t go in, but… Read More Zaragoza and La Guardia
This morning we woke up in Lourdes—but tonight we’ll be sleeping in Zaragoza, Spain. I don’t know why I decided to wear this particular T-shirt, but at breakfast, I challenged my sisters to identify the music. My sister Margo correctly identified the composer as Bach. I was sure that my organist companions knew what the… Read More On the road to Spain