Sep 17. 2023 - Pilgrimage to Lourdes and on to Biarritz

In the morning, we visited Lourdes, which is a town in southwestern France in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. It’s known for the Sanctuaries Notre-Dame de Lourdes, or the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, a major Catholic pilgrimage site. It is the site of 70 medical miracles recognized by the Catholic Church. Each year, millions visit the Grotto of Massabielle (Grotto of the Apparitions), the very place where Bernadette Soubirous was said to have witnessed the Virgin Mary in 1858. In the grotto, pilgrims can drink or bathe in water flowing from a spring. They believe that it has healing properties.

The sanctuary itself is huge and very impressive. We also hiked up the nearby trail Chemin de croix des Espélugues (Stations of the Cross of the Espélugues). From this trail, we had the best view of the sanctuary.

We arrived at Biarritz in late afternoon.  After checking into hotel, we ventured out ourselves to visit Richer de la Vierge (Status of the Virgin) which was built in 1865. It has paths that lead through lovely gardens and across the bridge to the Rocher. The story goes that on one particularly stormy evening in the 19th-century, a group of fishermen who were hunting whales were returning towards the port when the seas became particularly rough. Fearing that they were in their last moments, a divine light suddenly appeared at the top of what is now known as the Rocher de la Vierge, leading the fishermen home. Once they were safe and sound, they installed the Virgin Mary statue atop of the rock.

Then we had a nice dinner at Cafe du Commerce.