LISBON TO FATIMA
We had a wake-up call at 6:00 and were down to a buffet breakfast by 6:40. We had a good night's sleep and are ready to go. We took a bus tour of Lisbon. The statue with the lion depicts the most wealthy man of Lisbon in the 1750's. There was an earthquake and tsunami. This man donated all his money to replace all the roads and buildings. Lisbon is known as the home of seven hills. St. George Castle was once occupied by the Moors. When they were conquered, it became Christian. There are fresh springs of water there and they use aqueducts to bring the water to the castle. Of course they no longer need to use this technique. Vasco de Gama is the most famous navigator of Portugal. He is buried in the Jeromimos Monastery.

Portugal was the first country to produce olive oil. The land is also good for growing grapes and creating wine. Eucalyptus trees were brought from Australia years ago and this has created a problem because the trees require lots of water and spread. In some places they are being removed and planting of them forbidden. Portuguese people are very friendly, polite, and helpful. They are very family oriented. They are also very disorganized and casual about getting things done. Education is completely free until college and then there is just a tax of $300-500 Euros. There are private ones that are expensive, but the best teachers are in the public schools. Healthcare is also free unless you use private institutions.

We arrived in Fatima about 11:00 and had free time to shop and have lunch. After checking into our hotel, we went to a very small village to visit the home of Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinto. Only 7 families lived there at the time of the apparitions. A local tour guide took us to the basilica where the Blessed Mother visited the children six times in 1917. We attended Mass and had dinner at the hotel. At 9:30PM there was a rosary at the shrine of the visitations in just about every language, but English. We all had candles and were led in a procession. There were hundreds of people and it was an amazing site.