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Join Cheryl Jordan and Fr. Christian Cook on a pilgrimage to Portugal and Spain. This pilgrimage will visit Fatima, Santiago de Compostela, Avila, and more.
Fr. Christian Cook, Cheryl Jordan, and a Christian guide will meet your party at the airport and accompany you every step of the way as you visit Avila, Fatima, and more!
Cheryl Jordan is a Catholic pilgrimage leader with Select International Tours. She has accompanied pilgrims through Portugal and Spain alongside Fr. Christian Cook, helping the group encounter Marian shrines and the Catholic heritage of the Iberian Peninsula.
Tipping /Gratuities for the guide(s), driver, and wait staff (please refer to the suggestions we will provide for you with your final documents) Suggested budget $200- $220.00 per person.
Depart on an overnight flight from Charlotte to Lisbon. Dinner and breakfast will be served on the flight. Premium economy and business class upgrade quotes are available upon request, starting 120 days before departure.
Welcome to Portugal! Upon arrival in Lisbon, we will meet our driver and English-speaking guide. Our pilgrimage starts with a panoramic city tour of Lisbon, followed by a visit to St. Stephen’s Church in Santarem to celebrate Mass (TBC) and venerate the Miracle of the Eucharist. Continue to Fatima for dinner and overnight.
After breakfast, a busy day awaits us as we meet in the lobby and walk to the site of the apparitions. We visit the Chapel of Apparitions and the Basilica complex, where we celebrate Mass. We visit the tombs of Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco, pray in the Adoration Chapel, and see the Miraculous Fountain. We pray the Stations of the Cross erected by the Americans and see the beautiful Shrine of the Crucifixion built on the highest point by Hungarian refugees. In the evening, we join the Candlelight Procession. Dinner and overnight in Fatima.
We drive to the site where the visionaries were baptized, visit their homes in Aljustrel, and see Valinhos, where the Angel appeared. Mass will be celebrated at the Basilica (TBC). Continue to Porto, the capital of the wine-making region of Portugal, known for its port wine. Porto, built on staggered hills along the river, invites you to stroll through its labyrinthine streets and stairways, medieval alleys, baroque churches, fountains, bell towers, Beaux-Arts buildings, and bohemian neighborhoods. It’s hard to take a bad picture in Porto, where houses are clad in painted tiles and fascinating, eclectic architecture awaits us around every corner. We see the magnificent Porto Cathedral and visit a local port-making facility where we enjoy a tasting of the port. Overnight in Porto. (B.D. Wine Tasting)
After breakfast, we depart for Bom Jesus, where we visit the Shrine of Bom Jesus de Monte, Portugal’s most spectacular religious sanctuary, featuring the steep Sacred Way with chapels of the 14 Stations of the Cross, crowned by the church at the top. Here, we celebrate Mass. After lunch on our own at the shrine, we depart for Spain and Santiago De Compostela. We join the Pilgrim’s Mass at the Cathedral of St. James tonight. Overnight in Santiago.
Our day is devoted to St. James, the First Pilgrim, and the exploration of Santiago De Compostela. We celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. James (TBC), visit the Saint’s tomb, the Archbishop’s Palace, the Plaza Del Obradoiro, and more. Overnight in Santiago de Compostela
Early this morning, we depart for the small village of Alba de Tormes, where St. Theresa of Avila died. We visit the Carmelite Convent, where we see her arm and miraculously pierced heart resting in a glass reliquary, as well as the Basilica and the museum. Following Mass, we drive to Avila for dinner and overnight.
Enjoy visiting the magnificent walled city dedicated to St. Teresa of Avila. Here, the atmosphere has changed very little since the days of St. Teresa, to whom the city is dedicated. St. Teresa, the great mystic, was the first woman named Doctor of the Church. We visit the crypt of La Santa Convent, built on the site of the house where she was born; La Encarnacion Convent, where St. Teresa became a nun and home to the most comprehensive museum dedicated to her life; the Cathedral and the Cuatro Postes (four columns) commemorate St. Teresa, who, at the age of seven, convinced her brother to run away with her to die as martyrs in the land of the Moors. Their uncle caught them at Cuatro Poste’s site and returned them home. Mass will be celebrated. Dinner and overnight in Avila.
This morning, we head towards Madrid. We stop and visit the world-famous Monastery of El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen, where a gigantic cross and a cavernous basilica are carved into a rocky hillside to commemorate the victims of a bloody civil war. We celebrate Mass and explore the palace before continuing to Madrid. Overnight Madrid.
Madrid is bustling with energy, as we can see at the Buen Retiro Park, which has its immense Royal Palace. Our program includes the main Catholic sites not often part of a city tour, such as Descalzas Reales and Encarnacion Monastery, where we can taste the sweets made by nuns called “torno” (turntable). We end our tour at the San Miguel Food Market, where the entire city of Madrid shops for their food supplies. Here, we grab some lunch. The afternoon is for leisure to enjoy the Spanish capital. Mass will be celebrated. Overnight in Madrid. Dinner on our own.
Our destination today is the romantic town of Toledo. We discover what inspired the artist El Greco in the 16th century and has remained relatively unchanged since his time. We tour the Toledo Cathedral, ranked as one of the greatest Gothic buildings in Europe. We also view from the outside the Mosque of Christ of the Light from the 10th century, the only surviving mosque in the city, and visit the Church of San Roman, now a museum. Toledo is the capital of the Catholic Church in Spain, and here we celebrate Mass. On the way back to Madrid, we stop at a local winery for a Spanish wine-making lesson and to taste local wine. Tonight, we enjoy a farewell dinner in a local restaurant with wine and tapas (small plates), which are popular in Spain. Overnight Madrid. (B. Special dinner)
We are transferred to the airport for our flight home to Charlotte.
Total Trip Cost. Main trip package.
Land Only. Main trip package.
Single Room Supplement. Additional supplement.
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