7 day Europe , Vatican city Rome and Lourdes

Arrive in Rome , transfer to hotel and rest of the day relax and free and easy or explore the city and enjoy some shopping.

Overnight in Rome 

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After breakfast be ready for pick up for city tour of Vatican and Rome 

Benvenuto a Roma! Open your heart to a whirlwind of fiery passion, fascinating antiquities and hearty flavours crafted by Italian mammas over centuries. Spend your first day meandering through the Eternal City before joining your travel companions and Travel Director for a Welcome Reception and orientation drive to see St. Peter's Basilica and the bustling cityscape by night.

Cross the Tiber to the Vatican for an included sightseeing tour with a Local Specialist at the Vatican Museum. Admire the works of great masters - the smooth, step-less spiral staircase designed by famous architect Donato Bramante and the magnificent frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel and sorrowful Pietà inside of St. Peter's Basilica. In Ancient Rome, we remember the brave gladiators who fought for supremacy at the Colosseum during our included visit, and see the Circus Maximus where chariots thundered to the applause of thousands. This afternoon we have time to explore more of the city's sights, or relax in the Piazza Navona sipping cappuccinos and watching the world go by.

You'll discover hidden backstreets, piazzas and fountains of the 'Eternal City' with a Local Specialist. Along the way, you'll marvel at the timeless Pantheon, the best-preserved Roman temple in the world. Many additional highlights are revealed on this relaxed tour that also offers free time in a gorgeous Baroque square with street artists, trattorias and gelaterias!

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We leave Rome this morning and travel north to the city of Pisa, visiting its Square of Miracles to view the architectural feat of the Leaning Tower and picturesque UNESCO designated Piazza del Duomo with Italy's largest Baptistery. Venture past Renaissance walls to Lucca, the city of one hundred churches, embarking on an orientation tour past the 14th century San Martino Cathedral, Piazza San Michele with Archangel Michael standing watch and the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, built on the site of the Roman amphitheatre. Meander along the medieval streets to the dramatic aria sounds of Puccini, one of Lucca's most famous sons, or ascent one of the city's ancient towers for panoramic views.

Overnight in San Remo 

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The sun-kissed shores of the French Riviera are yours to explore today. Meander along Nice's elegant Promenade des Anglais treading in the footsteps of the aristocrats of yesteryear, relax on the beach with your fellow sun-worshippers , a popular haunt for actors seeking a relaxing retreat. enjoy the fresh sea air and perhaps indulge in delicious Salad Niçoise overlooking the beautiful Bay of Angels.

We drive toward the Pyrénées and arrive in Lourdes, the global centre of the Marian pilgrimage. You will have an opportunity to see the Basilica perched atop St. Bernadette's Grotto where the young girl have seen visions of the Virgin Mary. on arrival we check in to the hotel and after the dinner we will walk to the Esplanade the holy area where we will find the Grotto where Holy Marie appear for Bernadette, on 11 February 1858. Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary , Basilica of St. Pius X , Église Sainte-Bernadette.

One the first evening we will follow the procession and visit Holy Marie , where we also light a candle and we will visit the Our Lady of the Rosary. This is the church what was built on the rquest from the holy Marie on one of the last visions of the holy Marie to Bernadete, 

Overnight in Lourdes 

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Lourdes is the second most popular tourist city in France. Nestled by the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, this city is the most visited pilgrimage shrine in the Christian world. Pilgrims visiting Lourdes for its healing qualities bathe in pools of water from Bernadette's spring. Everything you will want to feast your eyes upon is in walking distance, and of course there's the castle where you can get a panoramic view of all the beautiful sacred buildings and countryside.

• Take a walking tour of one of the most spiritual places in Europe
• Discover why Lourdes became a site of pilgrimage 150 years ago
• See the 3 Basilicas and the Grotto where the Virgin appeared

Enjoy a guided walking tour of the Sanctuary of Lourdes. that takes you through the history of the Marian apparitions that occurred 150 years ago. Visit the 3 Basilicas, the Grotto, and the watertaps, and you have the oppertunity to experience a bath in the holy water what is a experience by it self. 

Lourdes is world-famous for being the 1st French shrine and the 3rd in the world, after the Vatican and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. On this immersive tour you will travel to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes and let your guide explain the story that changed the destiny of one small Pyrenean town.

Visit the Basilicas of the Immaculate Conception, the Rosary Basilica, and the Underground Basilica. Continue to the Grotto, where the Virgin appeared 18 times to a young girl in 1858.

Whether you are a believer or not, you will be enchanted by the unique atmosphere that makes Lourdes so special and come to understand why 6 million people a year make the journey to the otherwise tranquil town located at the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Overnight in Lourdes 

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After breakfast we Leave Lourdes from the Route de Tarbes, and drive through Adé. There you will find Bartrès, hidden in a large corrie. At the exit of Bartrès, you will find on your left the sheep barn and the thick grass where Bernadette used to keep her nanny's sheep.

Take the twisting road to drive back to Lourdes, and contemplate the magnificent panorama of the city, the Lézignan plain and the Pyrenees' chain. At the entrance of Lourdes, take right to the route de Pau and Pontacq to the Lourdes Lake, 

Bartrès, in the footsteps of Bernadette

Discover Bartrès, a little village in the mountains, and its surroundings where Bernadette Soubirou's spent her childhood.

Bernadette first arrived in Bartrès in October 1845, when she was left to her nanny's care. The latter, Marie Lagües, had just lost her son and was looking for an infant to take care of. Bernadette stayed 9 months there then returned shortly to her parents' in Lourdes. She was then brought back to Bartrès where she stayed until she was 21 months old. Later on, she went 2 to 3 times a year to visit her nanny.

In September 1857, she is 13 years old when her nanny, needing her help, asks her to come back to take care of her children and keep a few sheep and cows. Bernadette then went back to her family in 1858, the year the Virgin Mary appeared to her.

From here we have ride up to the pyrenees mountain , where we maybe find snow 

The Cirque de Gavarnie, about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of the village, is described by the 19th-century French writer Victor Hugo as “a mountain and a wall at the same time…the colosseum of nature.” From its floor, glacially eroded rock walls rise to about 5,000 feet (1,500 metres). It has three conspicuous terraces in which precipitous faces are succeeded upward by steep slopes of ice and snow. The Grande Cascade waterfall plunges about 1,400 feet (425 metres) from the eastern side. Above the amphitheatre are the high mountain summits of the Franco-Spanish frontier ridge, rising to nearly 11,000 feet (3,350 metres). Also conspicuous is the deep cleft known as the Brèche de Roland. Nearby is the Grotte Casteret, containing a frozen underground stream. In 2016 the village of Gavarnie was merged with the neighbouring town of Gèdre to form the municipality of Gavarnie-Gèdre , we have also the oppertunity to ride donkey and try the famous farmers pate' , we will also pass by the famous bridge called Pond Espanje one of the bridges connect to Spain. 

On return to Lourdes we will have some rest and dinner before we go to the explanade to join the procession and have a last visit to Grotto 

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After breakfast end of the tour, enjoy the free time till transfer to Airport or extent your stay 

WE FROM ABOVE-5.COM HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED YOUR HOLIDAY AND RECIEVED YOUR BLESSINGS IN LOURDES AND WE HOPE YOUR PRAYERS WILL BE HEARD AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO WELCOME AND TO SERVE YOU AGAIN IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

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February 11 is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most famous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary that took place in southern France. On this day in 1858 a young, poor girl named Bernadette Soubirous was out collecting firewood with her sister and another friend near a grotto when she saw a vision of a lovely lady.

"The grotto was my heaven" 
Grotto of Massabielle as it appeared in 1858

In the words of St. Bernadette,

“I raised my head and looked towards the grotto. I saw a Lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same color as the chain of her Rosary.”  

In the vision Our Lady was praying the rosary.

Bernadette reluctantly told her parents of the apparition, and in response they forbade her from going back to the grotto.  A few days later, on February 14th, Bernadette was permitted to return to the grotto, and again the Lady appeared to her.  This happened again on February 18th.  On this third visit the Lady asked Bernadette to come back to the grotto every day for the next two weeks.

At these subsequent visits the Lady (who had not yet identified herself as the Blessed Virgin Mary) asked for a chapel to be built on the grounds, for Bernadette to pray for the conversion of sinners, and for her to drink the spring water that was revealed to her at the grotto.

Word of these apparitions spread rapidly and caused quite a stir in town.  In response, Bernadette was detained, interrogated, and harassed by the civil authorities as if she were a common criminal. The villagers, however, came to her rescue and demanded that the child be released.

Through all these difficulties that came to her because of the apparitions, Bernadette was given an interior strength:

“There was something in me that enabled me to rise above everything.  I was tackled from all sides, but nothing mattered and I was not afraid.”

Many of the townspeople believed that Mary was appearing to Bernadette, and they came down in large numbers to the grotto to pray.  The spring that the Lady asked Bernadette to drink from quickly revealed itself to be blessed water with miraculous healing properties.

On March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, the Lady appeared at the grotto again, this time identifying herself as the Immaculate Conception.

“With her two arms hanging down, she raised her eyes and looked up at the sky, and it was then that she told me, joining her hands together now at the height of her breast, that she was the Immaculate Conception. Those were the last words she ever said to me.”

The Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception had only recently been pronounced by Pope Pius IX a few years previous, on December 8, 1854. This infallibly defined dogma declared that the Blessed Virgin Mary, “from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.”

As for herself, Bernadette suffered much, not only through physical suffering due to her chronic poor health, but also through the jealousy and suspicion from others because she was given the grace of visits from the Blessed Mother.  This proved true the words Our Lady spoke to Bernadette at the grotto, “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the other.”

Four years after Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St. Bernadette, the local bishop ruled that the apparitions were authentic.  St. Bernadette eventually entered a religious house where she continued to suffer physically, uniting her suffering to Christ, and died at an early age.

Today a beautiful church has been erected on the grounds near the grotto at Lourdes. After Rome and the Holy Land, Lourdes, France is the most popular place of pilgrimage for Catholic faithful. The water of Lourdes is readily available to all pilgrims, and numerous healings have been medically documented to have occurred there, as well as conversions to the faith because of these miracles. St. Bernadette’s feast day is February 18th.

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