Stop 5 - Lourdes

We awoke to thunder and lightning this morning, then heavy rain.  Fortunately this didn’t last all that long and by 10 am the sun was shining and it was a lovely day. Our first stop this morning was to Biarritz, an ancient fishing village turned trendy seaside resort. It is a lovely little place, right on the Atlantic Ocean.  Nice beaches and interesting Basque buildings with their blood red roofs (they used to use the blood from the animals to paint the roofs…) We had a walk all around this area, walked through a tunnel to go see The Virgin Rock, which is a rock formation with a Statue of the Virgin Mary on the point of the land.  A very nice Cathedral and an attractive Casino are situated on the concourse near the water.  A really nice place…we could see why it was a popular holiday spot.

Biarritz

 

Some interesting facts learned along the way.  Trucks are not allowed to travel on the highways on Sundays or on Public Holidays. French pay 20% VAT. They pay a TV Tax of 250 Euro per year. They work a 35 hour week. Minimum wage is 9.85 Euro per hour. They get 5 weeks paid holidays and with the extra days for long weekends and special days, it ends up being around 7 weeks holiday. The population of France is around 66 million people. Just thought I’d share that with you…..

We continued on this afternoon to Lourdes. As we travelled along, the Pyrenees Mountains were on our right and we could see the snow on these hills.  LOURDES. Holy Dooly! What a surprise this place is!! There are certainly a lot of People here, many, many lined up waiting to be dipped in the holy Water. These people have to be naked and they are helped into the water by ‘helpers’ as the water is cold and they have to exit the water quickly. There were various Masses being held both inside the HUGE Cathedral and outside it.  People buying candles of all sizes to light…and we assume ready for the candlelight and Rosary procession which is starting at 9 pm tonight.  Apparently hundreds of people join this procession…we may join briefly, but will go and have a look at it all at least, no doubt.  We paid a visit to the Grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to St Bernadette in 1858.  A mass was being held here so we couldn’t get too close to it.  It’s all so HUGE and ornate. The River flowing next to the Cathedral is flowing fast as the snow is melting in the Pyrenees Mountains which are nearby. The number of Souvenir shops have to be seen to be believed.  You can buy Candles, Rosarys, fans, hats, t-shirts, hankies etc etc….and the list goes on.  There are many people here in wheelchairs so I guess hoping for some healing.  The Cathedral has many alcoves and the interiors of the buildings are just beautiful.  We climbed up the many stairs and went into all of these,…. and got some nice photos.  It’s all certainly an experience! Once Lourdes became a popular place for Pilgrims, the locals turned their homes into Hotels so there are a LARGE number of Hotels here, 2^nd largest, only to Paris, in France. We look forward to seeing what happens tonight.

 Lourdes