After our three-day visit to Porto, Portugal, we made our way south to Lisbon. We decided to break up the multiple-hour car trip with stops at two towns along the way, each well-known for very different reasons. Our first stop would be Fátima, a little more than halfway to our final destination and revered by Catholics as the site of apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917 to three shepherd children. Along the way we passed signs of a wildfire on both sides of the four-lane highway south of Porto. We passed through forests of pine and eucalyptus as well as vineyards, orchards of lemons and apples and expansive fields of vegetables and produce.

We arrived in Fátima just past midday and passed huge parking lots on our way to the shrine. Depending on the liturgical calendar and the date, these could be overflowing with vehicles, but we arrived on a Monday on the last day of September. We drove straight to the closest lot to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima and had our choice of shaded spots. Had this been the 13th of any of the months from May through October, we no doubt would have been joined by tens of thousands of pilgrims, for those dates mark the anniversary of the several appearances of Mary to three young children of a small village. The Catholic Church has acknowledged these events, which were capped with “The Miracle of the Sun” on the final apparition in October of 1917, as authentic, and Fátima is one of the major Marian shrines in the world.

The site (aside from the parking lots) encompasses several acres, dominated by the Basilica of Our Lady   on the east side of an enormous plaza    which is bracketed on the west by the very modern Basilica of the Holy Trinity. A colonnade of some 200 pillars topped with statues of saints curves around on either side of the Basilica of Our Lady, housing beneath it 14 large ceramic Stations of the Cross. To the north side of the plaza, near its center point, sits the Chapel of the Apparitions. This marks the actual spot of the apparitions, where Mary spoke with the children. Here Masses are offered on an altar before the Chapel, accommodating several hundred worshippers on pews under cover of a large, open-sided roof.

Unfortunately, our time was very limited there, but we did enter the Basilica and took in some of the beautiful artwork adorning the space.   This is quite a new church (completed in 1953), unlike so many of the ornate, centuries-older churches we had seen earlier on this trip. Modern stained glass windows and panels depicting the mysteries of the rosary    mark 14 side altars, and the entire space is bright and light-filled. Built of local limestone, the brilliantly white façade stood out stunningly against the deep-blue sky of this autumn day.

We next made our way to Názare, a seaside town of about 20,000 permanent residents which boasts a lovely long stretch of golden sand, making it a popular summertime resort for Portuguese and foreign visitors. The timing of our visit meant we avoided the crowds of the summer (although the weather was lovely), but we had arrived too early in the year to witness what today this area is best known for: its enormous waves. During the winter, the surf off the Praia do Norte, Názare’s north beach, builds into huge waves, deemed the largest surfed waves in the world. Drawing the best towed-in pro surfers in the world and the crowds who line the cliffs to watch them, the waves can reach 80 to 100 feet or more. Check out the numerous YouTube videos to witness the incredible scene.

We nevertheless enjoyed strolling the paved promenade   and dipped our feet in the ocean. The waves, though not large, still crashed upon the sand with some force,      reminding me of the surf on the western shore of Maui; it could be deceptively strong. We wandered among the shops and cafés along the waterfront, enjoying the pleasant afternoon. Názare boasts the easy, welcoming vibe of many a beach town, and I thought how lovely it would be to spend a few days here during the less-crowded season or witness the fury of those winter storms.

But Lisbon was calling, and we wanted to get there before dark. Though all too brief, we still enjoyed our small side trips, adding two more places to that list of “want to go back and spend more time there” spots.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor