Depart New York for your overnight flight to Lisbon. Dinner and breakfast will be served on board.

Upon arrival in Lisbon Airport, , retrieve your luggage and exit the baggage claim into the arrivals hall where you will be greeted by a tour guide/driver. You will be escorted to the vehicle which will then take you to a sightseeing tour of this beautiful Portuguese city. We will then visit Saint Anthony’s Church (the patron saint of lost objects). We will then continue to Fatima, where the Blessed Mother appeared in 1917 to three simple shepherd children and exhorted mankind to pray for world peace. The reminder of the day will be free for you to rest, reflect, pray and explore. We will get together in time for dinner and retire for a restful evening.

Six times from May 13 to October 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three novices belonging to the diocese of Leiria. A new church has been constructed, however just as beautiful, an older church was constructed here in 1928, and millions of pilgrims visit each year. Fatima is one of the most visited holy places for Catholics from around the world. The atmosphere of intense spirituality and the importance of Fatima have been attested to by the visits of two Popes: Paul VI and John Paul II. Touring Fatima, see the Little Chapel of the Apparitions, Basilica, the site of Francesco and Jacinta’s graves, the Hamlet of Aljustrel, where the children lived, and Valinhos, the site of Our Lady’s appearance after the children’s return from prison. Follow the Stations of the Cross along the Via Sacra (The Sacred Way) culminating in the Chapel of Calvary, which overlooks all of Fatima. Join pilgrims from around the world in an evening candlelight procession to pray the rosary. Dinner and overnight in Fatima.

Today after breakfast we will travel about forty-five minutes south to the old city of Santarem. In Santarem, your group will visit and attend Mass at the Church of St. Stephen, which holds the oldest (13th century) recorded Eucharistic Miracle: The Miracle occurred when a woman yearned to change the ways of her unfaithful husband and consulted a sorceress. The sorceress agreed that she would cure the husband’s infidelity in exchange for a consecrated Host. The woman committed the sacrilege, but when she exited the church, the Host began to bleed. It bled so much that her fellow parishioners thought she had cut her hand. The woman ran home and hid the bleeding Host in a trunk. When her husband arrived home, the wife told him what she had done, and later that night there was a light emanating from the trunk. She and her husband began to kneel before the trunk. The following morning, the husband and wife brought the Host to the parish priest It was then moved to the Church of St. Stephen where another miracle occurred; the miraculous Host was originally put in a wax container however, when a priest opened the tabernacle to view the Host, the container was found broken, and the Host was found enclosed in a crystal pyx. Following your visit to this miraculous site, your group will board the bus and return to Fatima. You will arrive in time for dinner at your hotel, and a restful overnight.

This morning, we depart Fatima towards Santiago de Compostela. On our way, we will visit the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte. Located on the slopes of Mount Espinho, overlooking the city of Braga, this landscape evokes Christian Jerusalem, recreating a sacred mount crowned with a church. The sanctuary was developed over a period of more than 600 years, primarily in a Baroque style, and illustrates a European tradition of creating Sacri Monti (sacred mountains), promoted by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in the 16th century, in reaction to the Protestant Reformation. The Bom Jesus ensemble is centered on a Via Crucis that leads up the western slope of the mount. It includes a series of chapels that house terra cotta sculptures evoking the Passion of Christ, as well as fountains, allegorical sculptures and formal gardens. The Via Crucis culminates at the Basilica where we will celebrate Mass today. We will continue to the city of Braga where you will enjoy some free time for lunch on your own. Continuation of the journey. Arrival to Santiago de Compostela. Dinner and overnight.

Visit Cathedral of St. James is one of the finest examples of architecture in all of Europe. As pilgrims, we have the opportunity to climb the stairs behind the high altar to visit the crypt where the relics of St. James are preserved, touch the central pillar (Portico de La Gloria), view the ‘botafumeiro’ and admire the wealth of medieval art inside the Cathedral, before visiting the cloister museum. Enjoy a stroll on own, though the beautiful streets of Santiago de Compostela, the city of the apostle, full of historical buildings and other attractions (before or after dinner). Dinner and overnight in Santiago de Compostela.

Arise this morning to depart Santiago de Compostela abd visit the village Covadonga and the Basilica of Our Lady of Covadonga. You will then arrive to the hamlet of Garabandal. Dinner and accommodation for the next two evenings will be at one of the modest hotels in Garabandal. This sparsely populated village consists of only about 90 humble dwellings.

This day is dedicated for prayer, reflection and personal devotion in the village of Garabandal.

After breakfast we will travel to Potes where you will see the “Lignum Crucis” – True Cross that is considered the biggest wood piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Visit the chapel and the cloister where you may see reproductions of the “Beatos.” We will also see The Door of Forgiveness in which you can see Jesus and his Twelve Apostles, with a round arch that opens only for pilgrims during the Jubilee Year that occurs only on the feast of Santo Toribio. The Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana is located in the Cantabrian Mountains, and one of the five places of Christianity thathas the privilege of plenary indulgences. Return to Garabandal for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, depart Garabandal and motor through the scenic countryside of Cantabria before arriving in Loyola, the birthplace of St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. Here, we will see the 17th-century Basilica dedicated to St. Ignatius and also visit his family home behind the sanctuary. We will have time to pray at the most venerated room where Ignatius, at age 30, was brought following his serious wounding at the Battle of Pamplona. We then continue through the spectacular Pyrenees Mountains on your scenic drive to Lourdes. Upon arrival, check in to your hotel and relax or explore before dinner. Following dinner you may choose to participate in the candlelight procession before retiring for the evening.

While in Lourdes you will have an opportunity to: Attend Mass at the Grotto, watch a video presentation telling the story of Lourdes, and walk in the footsteps of St. Bernadette. See Boly Mill where St. Bernadette was born and the “Cachot,” an abandoned prison where Bernadette’s impoverished family lived. Join your prayers with those of pilgrims from around the world as you pray for the sick, drink water from the miraculous spring or submerge yourself in the healing baths. Experience Christ’s love as you walk the life-sized Stations of the Cross overlooking the holy Grotto. Kneel in the chapel built on the very rock of the Grotto, in obedience to the request of the “Immaculate Conception.” Evenings are free for optional Blessed Sacrament Procession before dinner. Your role in the universal church will have new meaning as you join the candlelight procession and group rosary.

Early morning departure to Pau or Toulouse Airport for your homebound flights back to the New York.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.