14 Day Marian Sanctuaries
DAY 01 – USA / ROME: Departure from the United States.
DAY 02 - ROME / ARRIVAL: (D/O) Arrival at Rome Fiumicino International Airport. Meet at the airport with our English-speaking assistant and proceed to coach. Transfer to the city center for the tour (with local guide) including the Colosseum, Piazza Venezia, Fountain of Trevi and Spanish Steps. Free time in Colosseum Area. Dinner and check-in to the hotel.
DAY 03 - ROME: (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Morning visit (with local guide) to the Vatican Museum and to admire the frescoes of Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel (entrance included). We will also visit St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican Area. In the afternoon, we will visit (with local guide) the other Basilicas of Rome: St. John Lateran with the Scala Santa, Sta. Maria Maggiore and St. Paul’s outside the walls. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
DAY 04 - ROME / ASSISI (175KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check-out of the hotel and depart for Assisi, where we will visit (with local guide) the most loved St. Francis. Commune in the Basilica, the hub of a religious order devoted to the ideals of humility, forgiveness, simplicity, and love for all God’s creatures. We will hear about monastic life and view priceless frescoes adorning the walls of the church. Dinner and overnight.
DAY 05 - ASSISI / PISA / MONTECARLO / NICE / CANNES (255+335+20+35KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check-out of the hotel and board your coach. Free time to visit Pisa: we will stop at Piazza Duomo to take photos of the breathtaking Leaning Tower of Pisa. Today, you will drive to the exhilarating Montecarlo of the Principality of Monaco. After arrival, we will visit (with local guide) the Palace of the Grimaldi’s and visit the Cathedral of Monaco. We will also see the famous Casino Montecarlo and then continue to Cannes for dinner and overnight at the hotel.
DAY 06 - CANNES / CARCASSONNE (445KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check-out of the hotel and board your coach. Long distance drive to Carcassonne. Carcassonne is in the Aude plain between historic trade routes, linking the Atlantic to the sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrenees. Its strategic importance was quickly recognized by the Romans who occupied its hilltop until the demise of the Western Roman Empire and was later taken over in the fifth century by the Visigoths who founded the city. Upon arrival, proceed to a guided tour of the medieval city and we will visit (with local guide) the Castle (entrance included). Transfer to the hotel for dinner and overnight.
DAY 07 - CARCASSONNE / LOURDES (260KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check out of the hotel and board your coach. Drive to Lourdes. Upon arrival, free time to visit the Sanctuary of Lourdes. In 1858 Lourdes rose to prominence in France and abroad due to the Marian apparitions seen by the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who was later canonized. Shortly thereafter the city with the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes became one of the world’s most important sites of pilgrimage and religious tourism. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
DAY 08 - LOURDES: (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. We will visit (with the guide of the Sanctuary) the places related to the life of St Bernadette, her house, museum, etc. The rest of the day is free for personal activities. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
DAY 09 - LOURDES / BURGOS (260KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check out of the hotel and board your coach. We will cross the Spanish border and stop in Burgos. Upon arrival, we will visit (with local guide) Burgos Cathedral (entrance included), a Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which is in the Spanish city of Burgos. The official name is Santa Iglesia Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de Santa María de Burgos. Dinner and overnight in Burgos.
DAY 10 - BURGOS / SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (490KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check out of the hotel and board your coach. We will continue our journey to Santiago De Compostela. Upon arrival, we will proceed to a guided city tour (with local guide) of Santiago de Compostela, where we will see the Cathedral (entrance included). Santiago is the local Galician evolution of Vulgar Latin Sanctus Iacobus “Saint James”. According to legend, Compostela derives from the Latin Campus Stellae; it seems unlikely, however, that this phrase could have yielded the modern Compostela under normal evolution from Latin to Medieval Galician. Dinner and overnight at hotel.
DAY 11 - SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA / FATIMA (420KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Check out of the hotel and board your coach. We will cross the Portuguese border and drive to Fatima. Upon arrival, free time to visit the Sanctuary of Fatima. The sanctuary includes various buildings, shrines, and monuments to the religious, political, and social consequences of the event dispersed throughout a complex of open panoramas and vistas dominated by the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Basilica of the Holy Trinity. Central to the complex is the small Chapel of the Apparitions and its shelter, where legend suggests many of the events of the apparitions took place and where the first pilgrims venerated the Marian apparitions. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
DAY 12 - FATIMA: (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Morning city tour of Fatima including Aljustrel to visit the preserved homes of the 3 shepherd children who saw and spoke to the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia. Several scenes are set up and depict life in the area in the late 19th century and well into the 20th century. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
DAY 13 - FATIMA / LISBON (127KM): (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Free time in the morning. Transfer to Lisbon, where we’ll have a visit (with local guide) including the Bairro de Alfama, Belem Tower and the Jeronimo’s Monastery. Dinner and overnight in the hotel.
DAY 14 – LISBON / DEPARTURE: (HB) Buffet breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to airport for return flight.