DAY 1 – DUBLIN TO LOURDES
Make your way to Dublin Airport for your direct flight to Lourdes. Our Dublin rep will meet the group at the departures desk to assist with check in.
A Joe Walsh Tours representative will meet the group on arrival and travel by private coach to our hotel in Lourdes where we will be staying for the next three nights.
The origins of the pilgrimages to Lourdes began when Bernadette Soubirous reported the first of eighteen visions of Our Lady on 11 February 1858. Since then, Lourdes has become the largest Catholic pilgrimage destination in Europe. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, where the sacred grotto and the two Basilicas are located, embraces twenty-two places of worship and numerous facilities for the pilgrims and the sick, as well as the spring that began to flow from the spot dug by Bernadette on Our Lady’s instructions.
DAY 2 AND 3 – LOURDES
A full religious programme has been organised for your time in Lourdes, where you will have the opportunity to take part in the Blessing of the Sick, the Blessed Sacrament and the Torchlight Processions. The group will also enjoy a guided tour visiting places associated with St. Bernadette, including the Boly Mills, Le Cachot, the Hospice, the Parish Church and the Cemetery and a guided walking tour of the Grotto Domain visiting the Grotto, the Baths and the Basilicas.
DAY 4 – LOYOLA AND BURGOS
After breakfast, we will leave Lourdes and travel to Loyola in Spain to visit the Basilica of St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, and his home. We will then continue to Burgos, once the capital of the Crown of Castile. Burgos has many historic landmarks including the spectacular Cathedral of Burgos which was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, Las Huelgas Reales Monastery and Miraflores Charterhouse and many churches, palaces and other buildings from the medieval age. The city is surrounded by the Fuentes Blancas and the Paseo de la Isla parks. It is also an important stop on the Camino de Santiago Camino Frances route for pilgrims.
DAYS 5 AND 6 – BURGOS AND AVILA
After breakfast at the hotel, the group will enjoy a walking tour of beautiful Burgos. We will then continue our journey and travel to Avila, one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the country. Sometimes called the Town of Stones and Saints, Avila is the home of St Teresa de Jesus and has one of the highest numbers of Romanesque and Gothic churches in Spain. It boasts an impressive medieval wall built in Romanesque style and some parts are accessible for locals and tourists to walk along. Avila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
DAY 7 – AVILA
After breakfast, we will take a guided walking tour of Ávila with a visit to the Museum dedicated to St. Teresa of Ávila and the Convent of the Incarnation. We will celebrate mass and the group will be free for the rest of the afternoon to explore Avila. The Old Town is surrounded by imposing city walls comprising 8 monumental gates, 88 watchtowers and more than 2500 turrets, and is one of the best-preserved medieval bastions in all of Spain.
DAYS 7 TO 9 – FATIMA
After breakfast, we will travel to Fatima. Located north of Lisbon, Fatima is site of the events of 1917 in which three shepherd children, Lúcia Santos and her cousins, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto, witnessed apparitions of the Virgin Mary on 13 May 1917 and on the thirteenth day of the five following months.
The sanctuary built to commemorate these events is dominated by the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, a magnificent church that overlooks a large open plaza where millions of pilgrims gather throughout the year.
The group will be spending three nights in Fatima where you will visit the Chapel of the Apparitions, Cova da Iria, Valinhos, the homes of the visionaries, the old Parish Church, the Rosary Basilica, wherein lie the remains of Francisco and Jacinta, and the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration.
Day 10 – LISBON TO DUBLIN
Today is the last day of your Shrines of Europe Pilgrimage. The group will have free time in Fatima until departure for Lisbon Airport for your direct flight back to Dublin. We hope you enjoyed your pilgrimage with Joe Walsh Tours.
*Itinerary may be subject to change.
