Lourdes, France

While in Pamplona, we took a day trip to Lourdes, France. This is perhaps one of the most famous pilgrimage sites, right after Fatima (Portugal) and Guadalupe (Mexico City), with 4-6 million visitors each year.  In 1858 the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl named Bernadette (now St. Bernadette) on this spot and revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception. From Pamplona, it's a three hour drive by car and as we quickly found out, you can really only get there by car (not bus, train, etc). A friend of Martha's at Navarra did us the huge favor of lending us her car for 4 days (with 3 car seats to boot!) and this made it possible to visit Lourdes.

The town is basically in the middle of nowhere in the south of France. Nestled in the middle of hilly green pastures, you would drive right by it if it weren't for the fact that it now has a magnificent church to house all of its pilgrims (seen above). The day we went it was really overcast and gray, but we still found ourselves in the middle of sizeable crowds of people. It was very moving to see the endless numbers of sick, handicapped, and elderly people who come to Lourdes to be healed by the miraculous waters. When the Virgin Mary appeard to Bernadette, she was asked to dig at the spot of the apparition and a spring of water came forth. Thus, many still come to bathe in this water in hopes of a cure.

The Sanctuary Basilica is adjacent to the river and from this spot you can also see a fortified castle (in the picture above) on a nearby hill called Chateau Fort de Lourdes from the 11th and 12th centuries.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful mosaic of another famous apparition: Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City. In the picture above, the kids and I are in front of the exact spot were Our Lady appeared. As you can see, they have placed an image of the Virgin Mary as she appeard to Bernadette in the little niche in the side of the mountain.  It is surreal to pass through there and to know you're on sacred ground! The kids were very impressed and we all enjoyed the trip.

On the way back to Pamplona, we stopped in St. Jean de Luz -a beach town just a few minutes from the border with Spain. If any of you have been to San Sebastian, this would be considered its French counterpart. I don't know what it is about kids and beaches, but they were just meant to go together. Although we were not equipped to go to the beach that day, the kids stripped down and enjoyed romping around in the water. That's it for this post, next up: Olite and Artajona!