Lourdes: Pilgrim’s Town

On my last day in Bordeaux, Iris tagged me along to visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, a small town lying in the foothills of Pyrenees, south-west of France. Lourdes rose to prominence in France and abroad due to the Marian apparitions claimed to have been seen by the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who was later canonized.

The town draws millions of visitors every year but unlike Paris or Mont Saint-Michel, people come here for religious tourism. Catholic pilgrims from all corners of the world come here for religious reasons and to get water from the stream believed to cure illnesses. This constant stream of visitors transformed the quaint town of Lourdes into the second most important center of tourism in France, second only to Paris.

However, this is not the only purpose to visit Lourdes. Before the apparition happened, the town was known for the Château fort de Lourdes, a fortified castle that rises up from a rocky escarpment at its center. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the chance to climb it due to time constraint. But we did walked along the narrow streets where little shops and restaurants are lined up and passed by the house of St. Bernadette.

Before we took our train back home, we sat down on a bench at the park to slow it down and talked before going back the distance again. I had to go back to Warsaw the day after but I’m coming back on December to continue the adventure. 😉 #dramaParaSaBlog