September 18th
After a good nights rest and a decent breakfast we are off to Lourdes, a 15 minute drive away although all in we will have a longish day.
We arrived just after 9AM, grabbed a good parking spot close to the main entrance and are a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of people, hotels, shops etc. and we haven’t yet reached the actual religious site.
You can get pretty well everything you need for a religious visit including jugs to collect curative water from the spring in the Grotto of Saint Bernadette
Some factoids: Lourdes has some 6 million visitors a year, 2nd most important tourist site in France after Paris and the 3rd most important religious site after Rome and the Holy Land…….
After that introduction……what did we think….it is a tough question but as Don Trump says you cannot argue with the numbers…….we were impressed not only by the magnitude of the site, the number of churches, chapels etc. but most of all with the behaviour of the people…..there are a lot of very devout people out there and it is not only the old. There is a tremendous committment to bring this experience and hopefully curative powers to the infirm, sick etc. via hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers. At first , the sight of hundreds of wheelchairs being pushed to the Grotto is somewhat unnerving…..per the statistics there have been over 4000 documented miracle cures over the years.
This is not the place to debate religious philosophy, so the only thing we can say is you have to see this place ……We’ve posted some pics but they don’t really reflect what is there:
Mass at the Grotto of Saint Bernadette, there are a number during the course of each day and by fluke we were there when one was conducted in English by an Irish priest….it must be said that if you are to listen to a sermon it should be in Irish, the lilting tones ricocheting off the Grotto walls were entrancing :
Yes Annie did light a candle for family and friends…..
A final look at the site from the Sanctuary of our Lady of Lourdes:
From Lourdes we got back into the Haut Pyrenees and made our way towards another Tour classic, the Col d’Aubisque. On the way up we enjoyed the views and a picnic lunch (cheese, Serrano ham and sausage from the market ……..yummy) before reaching the summit:
reminder of home….although we call it a more pedestrian name ….cattleguard:
We were enjoying another perfect day with warm temperatures and clear blue skies…..some of this drive is somewhat sobering and in bad weather would quickly escalate to scary..the first part down skirts the edge of the mountain and is known as the circle of death !!!
From there on turns, turns and turns but with spectacular scenery…..on the way down an Italian cyclist whom I photographed with his cell, zoomed past us never to be seen again. Then we were down, but not done, with our route leading us back to Spain and of course another pass,the Pouratlet del Frontera…..here we drove virtually alone viewing the beautiful vistas. With these high routes access to fantastic hiking is readily available and we saw scores of folks wandering on the numerous routes…..another area to return to !!
Now a straight run to Jaca and our day is done. Hotel is in a pedestrian zone so the park, take essentials and find hotel routine is as usual….easy check-in, room is good and price is right. Relax a bit, short tour of the town and dinner:
Our hotel:
The main square in the old town where we had a beverage and watched some wedding folk as well as a visit from the Jaca Hockey Team Mascot
and no we did not go to the game…note the 9:30PM start although it would have been a hoot:
then off for a lovely dinner at the Biarritz restaurant
……….over and out for another day……