Fátima

After my first day in Fátima Lisbon, and my prior defeat at the train station, I woke up early on the second day to make sure I had plenty of time to get to Fátima. The night before, I spoke with the woman who runs the hostel about the best way to get there. She was incredibly helpful and nice. With her help, I took a cheaper bus that took much less time to get there and left from a closer station. And I was back in the game…

The bus from Lisbon to Fátima took an hour and a half. On the way there and back, I got to see the Portuguese countryside – including Vasco da Gama Bridge - a very famous suspension bridge a ways outside of Lisbon that I otherwise would never have been close enough to see.

For those of you that don’t know, Fátima is a small Portuguese town of Catholic significance. It is one of the more famous sites of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. In 1917, Mary appeared six times to three small Portuguese children and established the town as a religious site and the destination of many pilgrimages. My home town has a large Portuguese population, and the private Catholic school that I went to from kindergarten until eighth grade was called “Our Lady of Fatima.”

So Fátima was a small little town, and at first, I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go. When I stumbled across the right area, though, I knew it immediately. I was instantly struck by the size of the square surrounding the church. It was massive. There were quite a few people all over the square, but apparently, the whole place actually fills up with worshipers at times. It was quite a site.

At one end of the square is an older Cathedral. (Including the basilica in Belem, this is the fourth church - for those of you counting. Wait; no one is counting?) Of course, it was beautiful. Believe it or not, a couple was getting married there as I walked through. I bet the waiting list for that location has a few names on it.

At the other end of the square is a newer, very large church. (#5) The square also features a handful of chapels and a rectory. On the grounds, they offer many masses and rosaries every day and in a variety of languages. Nothing was offered in English until after I had to leave, but I did observe some of the rosary in Portuguese. I also hear that if you stay until nightfall, everyone holds a candle for the rosaries. It’s supposed to be beautiful, but I wasn't around late enough to see it. In the daytime, they still allow you to light votive candles, though, as they do in many Catholic churches. Their system for doing this in Fátima was pretty intense because of the number of visitors. Essentially, you bought your candles, lit them in a huge bonfire, and placed them among countless others. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of this. (In general, you can’t take a picture in Fátima without a random Portuguese person posing in it. It’s chaos. They’re all in each other’s pictures, and there’s always someone standing there. If you want a picture of just a statute, you’ll have to wait a while. I attempted to take the picture below at least 8 times.)

After I finished walking around the square, I looked over the map that I got for free by pretending to be a guest at an adjacent hotel. I noticed that on the other side of Fátima, they had a hike where you could walk past the stations of the cross and arrive at a little chapel on top. I had some time to kill, so I thought this would be a nice little experience. It was quite a walk to where the trail began, so I got to see much of Fátima. It was neat to see what a little town is like. I wish I had taken some pictures of just the town, but I wasn't thinking. There were also cars parked everywhere. It seemed like a lot of people come to Fátima every day.

Apparently, walking this mile-long scenic trail in 95-degree weather is not a popular activity. I didn’t see many people doing it. It did get pretty hot, and it was kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it was nice to have a quiet little walk through Portuguese hills. I was glad that I did it.

On my long walk back to the bus station, I stopped at a local restaurant off the beaten path. I ordered bacalhau – which is a traditional Portuguese cod dish. It was fun to watch the people in the restaurant, but I wasn’t sold on the cod. When I later arrived back in Lisbon, I washed it down with another traditional Portuguese dish known as the “McFlurry.”

I am glad that I visited the little town of Fátima. It was an interesting experience. And so far, the people in Portugal have been really nice and helpful. While the people in Madrid seemed a little annoyed by tourists, the Portuguese were more than happy to give directions. One older woman practically walked me to the castle in Lisbon, and it seems like the younger kids are excited to practice their English skills.

And of course, it has been interesting for me to be in Portugal because I am Portuguese myself. Everyone here looks like the people from my home town. It’s startling. And I must look like them too because people get five paragraphs deep talking to me in Portuguese before I can slip in my trademark, “No Portuguesa.” I just said that to the train’s ticket taker. He only got louder. Feels like home.

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More Pictures of Fátima: