Visit Lourdes in south west France

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

Visit Lourdes in South West France

We arrived to Lourdes much later than we wanted because we stopped in Pau (blog post and travel vlog coming soon) and at first the Google GPS took us to a small patch of land with ONLY one statue…

Hubby was flabbergasted and couldn’t understand how people could rave so much about this Lourdes when he expected so much more… LOL I told him that the place we were at definitely didn’t look like the photo I saw of an enormous Cathedral, next to a river, when I searched for it on TripAdvisor.

So we re-booted the GPS and by ´gps luck´ found the right location… We parked down the hill and walked-up and suddenly we could see an enormous cathedral-like structure in front of us and from that moment on we were in AWE.

Where is Lourdes?

At the foot of the Pyrenees mountains in southwestern France, nestled between the spectacular mountain river, Gave de Pau, is Lourdes. It´s known for the ´Sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes´ or the Domain, a major Catholic pilgrimage site. According to 206tours.com six million pilgrims visit Lourdes each year to see the Grotto of Massabielle (Grotto of the Apparitions) where, in 1858, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a local woman.

Fast-flowing river Gave de Pau

Things to see in Lourdes

• • The Sanctuary of Notre Dame (Our Lady) of Lourdes

• • Basilica of St Pius X which is the world’s largest underground church.

• • Drink from the spring that the Virgin directed Bernadette to locate at the base of the grotto, which has flowed uninterrupted since 1858 (this will be featured in my travel vlog / video).

• • Wash yourself in the baths where hundreds of miraculous cures have taken place.

• • Contemplate Christ’s Passion as you pray the unique three-dimensional Stations of the Cross.

• • Participate in the nightly candlelight processions (this will be featured in my travel vlog / video.

• • Daily Mass, and Mass at the Grotto on Sunday will be followed by a video presentation telling the miraculous story of Lourdes.

• • The fast-flowing river Gave de Pau from the south coming from its source at Gavarnie, into which flow several smaller rivers from Barèges and Cauterets

• • The Fortified Castle – This thousand-year-old fortress, which has never been conquered, is a listed historical monument and a museum of France and offers exceptional views of the city

• • The Pic du Jer which overlooks the city with the most beautiful view of the Pyrenees. The access via the funicular leads you to the top at 1000 meters high in just a few minutes.

Where we stayed

Johlene
xoxo

What I wore in these photos

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The beret is a similer one that I bought from Laulhere in Oloron Sainte Marie which are made of pure Merino virgin wool from the best flocks around the world.