Fatima III

The inside altar of the New basilica. The golden mosaics are really quite nice in person.

Fatima II

The old basilica from the new basilica.

Lisbon

Wednesday, July 2
We enjoyed spending the morning exploring the sanctuary of Fatima. It is a remarkable place. There is the old basilica and a new modern one, which is quite nice. We got to Mass and spent some time praying in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.
However, the more people we asked, the clearer it was that there was no early transportation to the Lisbon airport in time for our international departure, except to pay $300 for a taxi which we certainly didn't want to do. So we paid $20 for a bus ticket to Lisbon, found a hotel to stay in, and are only 15 minutes from the airport in the morning.
As a bonus we got to go see the Lisbon Cathedral. It was big and old, Romanesque, with very little stained glass, but impressive none the less. Then we found a restaurant that had a Portuguese menu and had supper. It was very good. So we are back at our hotel, ready to fly home tomorrow.
See everyone soon.
Love Dave

Fatima

We spent so much time getting to Santiago, it was hard to think it was time to go again. We spent some time this morning in the cathedral enjoying the peace and quiet before the crowds arrived. So that was nice. We also knew that there was an English Mass at 10:30 which we wanted to attend. But we also had decided to take the noon bus to fatima, but how long could a weekday Mass take? Surely we had time. But we didn't count on everyone introducing themselves at the beginning, a delightful old Irish priest as the homilist, and thanks and gifts at the end. So it was a little longer than your typical weekday Mass. But still we gathered our backpacks, caught a taxi and made it to the bus station on time. Spent the next seven hours on the bus, and got to Fatima. Amazingly I had been able to find a hotel on the Internet on the bus and book us a room, so we knew where to go when we got here. We found a delightful restaurant for supper, and then wandered over to the basilica, where the rosary was just beginning. They do it amazingly well, in at least 10 different languages, with singing and a procession at the end. So we are looking forward to our day here tomorrow.
May Our Lady of Fatima fill your hearts with joy this night.

Santiago

We made it! Here we are in front of the cathedral, unfortunately mostly covered in scaffolding.