Fátima

Leave Batalha heading east on N356 toward Fatima. Just beyond Reguengos do Fetal are good views back over the ground you just covered, its green hills dotted with windmills. Another 10 kilometers brings you to Cova de Iria and Fatima which, like Lourdes in France, is a pilgrimage center of international renown (follow the signs reading “Santuario”). Legend has it that the Virgin appeared to three shepherd children—Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta—on May 13, 1917, and on the 13th of each month thereafter until October, bearing a message of peace. The spot began to immediately draw religious pilgrims, although the immense neoclassical basilica, enveloped by a 40-acre park, was not constructed until the 1950s. Popes Paul VI and John Paul II have both visited here. A small chapel marks the spot where the apparition occurred and, at almost any hour, you will witness the faithful on their knees, traversing the broad esplanade which fronts it. On the 13th of each month from May to October, in accordance with the legend, attendance multiplies and includes a torchlight procession at night.