Stacy: Day 3 - More Fatima!
Today was a lot of fun! We ended up walking about 9.5 miles, and we're not even 'on' the Camino, yet! Some people start from much farther South in Portugal, but we're just playing Catholic tourist here. I mean... we did obtain our first stamp in our Credentials at the main premises.
'It's only a mile and a half walk from our hotel,' claimed my mother... 8 miles later, we were HOT (85 degrees, with little shade the entire day), starving, and tired. LOL. She did not account for the miles in between each of the places...
The goal for today was to walk the path that the 3 children (to whom the angel and later Mary appeared in the early 1900s) as they were shepherding their sheep (the apparitions occurred everywhere they usually were).
We started at our hotel (which is about half a mile away from the main Fatima church premises), and walked a mile and a half to where they herded their sheep. We walked through gorgeous olive groves on a lovely cobblestone path just for Fatima Pilgrims.
Along this path were beautiful Hungarian Stations of the Cross (paid for by Hungarian communities throughout the world), which ended at a magnificent chapel with the scene of Jesus' crucifixion on its roof. It is from that roof where I took the photo at the top of this article, looking back towards the main Fatima premises.
Somewhere in the above photos are spots where the angel appeared to them. Again, sorry that I'm not more knowledgeable about Fatima. My mom knows a ton more than I, and I, for whatever reason, cannot remember the names of these children, churches, or even cities/villages.
We then walked to their village, and saw their houses! The kiddos were cousins--two being brother and sister. Two of them died of the Spanish Flu at very young ages（not even 10 years old).
Now here comes the 'fun' part. We make an effort to eat.
Three very important points you need to know for this part of our story.
- You see, I have Celiac Disease, and cannot eat any gluten because it literally kills the lining of my small intestine. So, I have several apps that help guide me to finding restaurants where I can eat. They are location-based（I open them, and can search nearby).
- Portugal and Spain, like Mexico, take siesta from 2-5pm. Literally EVERYTHING shuts down. Well, the churches in Fatima were open...
- And, lastly, many places are closed on Sundays and/or Mondays. This was a Monday.
I find a restaurant on my app, and we start walking there. Probably 1 or 2 miles. Then, my sister thinks to check their website, and finds out that they're CLOSED on Mondays! So, we decided to walk back towards our hotel. I hadn't taken us toooo far out of the way because at least we weren't going away from our hotel.
But, then my parents decide to walk directly to the Fatima Sanctuary so we can be certain to obtain our first Credential stamp for our Pilgrimage. So, we walk the maybe 2-2.5 miles to the Sanctuary.
We pass a restaurant that was open, but my parents wanted to get that stamp out of the way!
We trekked onward, and successfully obtained it! I even had a 'conversation' with a nice gentleman where, through my broken Portuguese (I used one of my 'cheat' cards where I ask 'Where is the main office?' and then waved my Credential at him. I understood the very basic Portuguese he used so I could understand (and, I did only thanks to it being soooo similar to Spanish in many ways!!!), and we made it there.
THEN, my parents tell me to look for a restaurant near our hotel (and thus the Fatima premises). I found a great one, but, guess what! It was closed on Mondays, as was every single one nearby on that app.
And, it was now about 3pm. I think.
We walked past so many closed restaurants, and the ones that seemed open were either bakeries (not with pastries, but with bread), or snack bar types of places (think a cafe, but with homemade hamburgers, hotdogs, and similar quick foods). Too risky for me.
Needing to sit down for a minute, we walk back to the hotel so my mom can switch shoes so she doesn't get blisters [VERY bad for walking the Camino!]. I get the bright idea to check UberEats, and I find a gyro-like place (but it wasn't Greek food--it was just that same rotisserie style meat).
My parents don't want to get delivery, so they decide to walk and see if there's anything else open. But, we head towards that restaurant I found, anyway.
Suffice it to say, that's how I discovered the open bakeries and snack bars.
We make it to this meat place, and we're standing outside, looking at the menu (all throughout Europe, it is commonplace to have your menu posted outside). The owner sees us, and comes out.
By now, it is 4pm. We had an amazing breakfast at our hotel (which included GF rolls for me!!!!!! The GF bread here is AMAZING. America's outright sucks......).
Anyway. I handed the owner (who is very obviously not Portuguese) my 'I have Celiac Disease' card that is in Portuguese. He takes it from me with this... look on his face... and then starts speaking English! This whole time, he spoke English, and that look on his face was 'WTF is this!? I can't read this....'
Cutting the story down, it was cheap fast food, but he listened very carefully to me, and did his best. I did not worry about cross contamination (for example, with french fry friers) because I needed the carbs and calories at this point. I'm lucky that I'm asymptomatic, so I virtually cannot tell when I have been Glutened. It's a double edged sword, really.
He was a fantastic guy, and we're all very glad the day occurred the way it did so that we could meet him and support his business.
Check out my mom's post for today because she has a photo of my sister and I with him.
We ended with some shopping, a break, and then back to the Fatima Sanctuary/Premises for a very special Candlelight Rosary. Each decade is in a different language (or, sometimes that decade is split into a couple languages).
In Portugal (and possibly Spain, but I do not yet know), at every 'Our Father,' everyone rises to their feet. This Rosary was no different, except that we were holding candles!
My sister and I were using our brand new Rosaries made from local seeds. Check out her post for a photo. It's super cool! The style was created by one of the three Fatima children--the only one to make it to adulthood. She made it for Pope Saint [Saint Pope??] John Paul II.
I digress. This Rosary. It was a beautiful ceremony afterwards, where we ALL processed, with our candles, behind a giant lighted cross, and a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, on a bed of flowers. Everyone (who knew the languages) was singing a beautiful song.
We only walked in a circle, but it was a fantastic sight to behold.
I'm sure my sister has some amazing photos. I was holding my dad's candle so that he could use his hiking poles. He did more walking today that he's ever done at the mall! But, he did have some good breaks in between... as well as longer stints of walking...
Anyway. It's now 2:25am, and I need to get to sleep. We're heading back to Porto tomorrow (the city we flew into), after another yummy breakfast at our hotel.
But, I'm not behind in my posts, anymore! :D Laters, all. Thanks for reading.
Some miscellaneous photos from the day:
