Fátima Things to Do

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Thousands of people visit this wonderful center of faith, and we were so lucky to be able to go to it and even have mass and communion at the chapel right in the center of the grounds of Fatima. The mass was in Portuguese though and the ceremony was very quick, maybe just about 20 minutes or so.

The Basilica is where the tombstones of Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco are along with the Chapel of the Apparitions.

We were able to go to Fatima using the afternoon City Ram half-day tour which started at 230 PM. The tour only cost 59 Euro per person and it is a good 2 hour drive I think from Lisboa if I remember right (I fell asleep in the bus, lol)

Fátima has a wide reputation of miracles, thus becoming the meeting point of millions of visitors each year.

A long walkway in marble is always full of people "paying" promises they made to the Virge, in any dramatic situation, whose good end they believe was due to the holly help.
Halfway to the basilica, a smaller chapel signals the location of the tree where the apparitions were referred, is the ending point of walkway, and the meeting point for all the prayers.

Though, in my opinion, the only touristic attraction to non-believers is... people and the strength of their faith, Fatima is always crowded with tourists.

If you decide to be one more... OK.

You just have to respect the pilgrims, and make the merchants's happiness. But remember, nearby, you have some priorities that would make you feel sad if you miss them to see Fatima: I'm talking about Batalha, Alcobaça, and Nazaré... and Obidos... and... My Austrian friends Ingrid an Johanna wanted to go there, in winter, but (I was in command!) respecting the priorities

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Everything... Everything! We sell everything!

All kinds of crafts from wax to jewellery, statues, toys, clothes, paintings, and all you can imagine, are available around the hotels, hostels, restaurants, stalls, shops that ARE Fatima.

It's easy to find some "portuguese" krafts made in China, and if you search a little more, there's also Taiwan, Morocco, India, and many more, even... believe me... Portugal. So... hurry! Go search! And buy! Buy! Buy! For me ... bye.

After many millions and some polemic, the new cathedral is already working. Standing face to the other, it was decided to low it in the ground to preserve the image of the whole place.

I didn't enter it yet, I don't know the advantages of a double cathedral, but I may confirm that the general look was not spoilt.

Begun in 1928 and consecrated on 7 October 1953, its 15 altars are dedicated to the 15 mysteries of the Rosary.
The painting above the high altar depicts the Message of Our Lady to the little shepherds, prepared by the Angel of Portugal, through their encounter with Christ in the Eucharist. The Bishop of the diocese is shown kneeling on the left side, and the figures of Pope Pius XII (who consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1942, and whose Legate crowned the Statue of Our Lady in 1946), of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI.
Scenes of the apparitions are represented in stained glass, as well as invocations from the Litany of Our Lady.
In the four corners of the Basilica interior are placed the statues of the great apostles of the Rosary and of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: St. Anthony Claret, St. Dominic of Gusman, St. John Eudes and St. Stephen, King of Hungary.
The tombs of Francisco and Jacinta are in the Basilica, and, in the chancel, are the mortal remains of D. José Alves Correia da Silva, first Bishop of Leiria after its restoration in 1920.
The monumental organ, mounted in 1952, has about 12 thousand pipes.

EL MILAGRO DE FATIMA is a great new musical film in Fatima at the Fatimae auditorium. It is a filmed musical production recorded live in the Dominican Republic so it is in Spanish but offers both English and Portuguese subtitles for people that don't speak Spanish. The story of the three children (Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco) is told in a way I've never seen before. Not only does it use music to tell of the journey but it shows them as children: they laugh and joke and play. This musical is definitely something I recommend for people to do. The auditorium is on the lower floor of the mall, it seems that just by asking for the location of El Milagro de Fatima the movie, people aren't that sure of. When I got there, the young woman I spoke to told me it is most likely due to the fact that they are so new to Fatima.

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As you are driving towards Fatima you will see that there are crosses along the road and they symbolise the 9 stations where something significant happend to Jesus as he walked up the Via dolorosa with his cross.
there is roughly one kilometer between the crosses and they are scatterd along the road.