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Showing posts with the label Bernadette Soubirous

A Day in Lourdes

  Our Lady of Lourdes Bayonne is the ideal home base for explorations in the Atlantic southwest of France (Basque country). This town has distinctive architecture characterized by colorful window shutters. It also has an impressive Gothic cathedral with a medieval cloister. Bayonne reminds me of Zürich without the glitz. From Bayonne, its an easy 15-minute train ride to Biarritz, the surfing capital of France and an elegant seaside resort. Biarritz has a long promenade with breathtaking views of the Atlantic as it crashes into the rocky shores below. St. Jean de Luz is a picturesque village just south of Biarritz. It has a vibrant harbor, ornate iron balconies and a protected beach. And I love its sleepy small town feel that is suddenly transformed after siesta. But my main destination during this trip was Lourdes, the second most visited city in France. I wanted to see the grotto where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the young girl, Bernadette Soubirous (this story was popularized