Day 4 - Fatima

Walked today: 10.5 km
No of steps: 13150
Total walked: 31.8 km

I slept again a long time, over 10 hours, not counting a couple of hours when I was up in the middle of the night reading. Still trying to change time zones.

Up at 7:30 am which is sunrise time  here.  We packed and had a very good breakfast at the hotel.
Lazy as I am these days, we took a taxi to the bus terminal.  Our bus left around 10 am and we were in Fatima at 12:30 pm.

We walked towards the basílica and we stopped at a small restaurant for a nice lunch.  One of the ladies working there, Juliana, lived in Mississauga for 20 years, right by our condo. We had a good chat.

On the way we passed by the explanada of the basilica and casually we started talking to a young Spanish priest.  Before we left him he gave us a blessing asking our Lord Jesus to protect us in our pilgrimage.

The residence, San Francisco Marto, is economical, the rooms are very small but that is not unusual in Europe.  Still, very clean
After we checked in, I found out I left the electric converter in Porto. We had to go and look for one. No one seem to know where we could go.  Finally I asked a young girl at a restaurant, she called her mom, then her brother arrived and after a while they said we could go to the Chinese store  - Chinese stores here and in Spain are like Dollarama in Canada. We walked over and yes, the Chinese store had the converters.

We came to the basilica and attended Mass in the chapel of the apparitions.  What a blessed privilege to be in the same place where our Holy Mother Mary came to see us.

From the chapel we walked outside up the stairs to the old basilica.  Two years ago we could not go in because it was being restored. We spend some time praying for family and friends.  Both Brenda and I had made lists of the people we wanted to ask Our holy mother Mary to pray for and protect.

We visited the tombs of three shepherds children: St. Jacinta, St. Francisco and Sister Lucia.

By then we were tired so we headed back to the hotel, we stopped for dinner and then to our room.

Again, it is a blessing and a privilege to be here, in Fatima.

Holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners.
Today is St.Therese of Lisiux feast.  One of favorite saints just like little St  Jacinta is.  I will also ask SantaTeresita and Saint Jacinta to pray for us

It is now 10 on, good night

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