The three shepherd children of Fatima

Having reached the end of the world, we were ready to say goodbye to Spain for now. We drove all the way down to Spanish-Portugese border, crossed it and turned our clocks one hour backwards. We were ready to find a camping site for the night. The third one had a free spot. At that moment we weren't absolutely sure, though. Cause we could have also bought something else... Cause the guy at the... I wanna say reception, only spoke Portugese. We didn't (and still don't). Anyhow, there were plenty of free spaces, so that must have been it after all.

I'll write more about the camping sites we visited some other time. Now, I'm going to focus on the place we visited the following day.

The first place that we visited in Portugal was Fatima. The sanctuary only, though. We had navigation in the car, that was guiding us all the way during the #Eurotrip2016, but it had trouble finding the sanctuary (or I couldn't find the right words to search for it. It's also possible). We figured that there are always road signs that could lead us there. Santiago all over again. Only this time we couldn't count on pilgrims.

Suddenly, I saw a huge cross somewhere in the distance, but close enough. We drove off the main road onto a ground parking lot. A big one, which was good. But it was something like 40 degrees, pure sunshine and hardly any shade. Yeah, it was so good to be back in the car after two hours (or so) spent walking around.

Anyhow, it turned out that the sanctuary was only a five minute walk away from us. So, again, we were pretty lucky.

Why did we decide to visit Fatima? What is so special about it?

Holy Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children near the town of Fatima between May and October 1917. She gave them instructions what should be done to save the earth. What might happen to mankind. She specifically emphasized the necessity of praying the Rosary daily.

She also left the kids with what is known as the Secret. That Secret consists of three parts. First, was a horrifying vision of hell. The second part prophecised the outbreak of WW2. The third part, made public in 2000, predicted the attack on Pope John Paul II (in 1981) and describes the possible outbreak and course of the Third World War.

Two of the kids died not that much time later. Francisco Marto and his sister, Jacinta, got sick on the same day, December 23, 1918. Francisco died in 1919 (aged 11) and Jacinta died in 1920 (aged 10). Their cousin, Lucy dos Santos, died in 2005 at the age of 98.

From Fatima, we drove to Peniche. That was the place we chose for the next two nights. Cause it seemed close to the places we still wanted to see, but it was right on the beach. Yes, finally.