Fátima

Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém and the district of Santarém, is one of the great pilgrimage destinations of the Catholic world and the foremost Marian sanctuary in Portugal. Its fame stems from the apparitions of the Virgin reported in 1917 by three shepherd children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, at the Cova da Iria, today the heart of the sacred precinct. On that spot rises the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, flanked by a vast esplanade able to hold hundreds of thousands of the faithful, and the small Chapel of the Apparitions, the epicentre of devotion. Facing it, the modern Basilica of the Holy Trinity expands the sanctuary's capacity for the great celebrations of 13 May and 13 October. In the nearby hamlet of Aljustrel stand the birthplaces of the three visionaries. Each year around six million visitors come to Fátima on foot, by bus or in organised pilgrimage, many covering the final metres of the esplanade on their knees. Set in the Serra de Aire, within the limestone massif of Estremadura, Fátima combines spiritual recollection, lodging for the pilgrim and a devout atmosphere that sets it apart from any other stop.