For a long time I had promised my mother to take her to Fátima, a Marian place of worship linked to the apparition in 1917 of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherds.
I had already been a couple of times in Portugal, several years ago. I had visited Lisbon and Porto during the rotations with Swissair, then in the company of my father we had visited Sintra, Fátima and Coimbra and then continued with the car up up to the extreme north on the border with Spain. I have vague memories, and the pictures of that time have faded. It was a period at the end of winter, early spring and it was cold because the Atlantic currents affected the temperature of the whole country. In 1996 I went back with my husband and we visited the city of Porto better.
In life we must seize the moment: and so I did.
I wanted to take mom to discover some special little corners, so that our journey would remain alive in her memory.
This year, having received more days of vacation for the jubilee, I decided to keep my promise. Last year I had brought her to Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo… and being able to stay with her in another place of profound religiousness, makes her happy!
The 8-day itinerary was as follows: Lisboa, Sesimbra, Cabo Espichel, Sintra, Ericeira, Fátima, Tomar, Monsanto, Castelo Branco, Castelo de Vide and back to Lisbon.
Claudine Giovannoni 
Herzlichen Dank für die schöne Reise, bin gerne mitgekommen…
Liebi Grüess Ernst
Meine Freude! Wir gehen immer so weit weg, aber auch in Europa wir haben wunderschöne Länder zu besuchen. Ich würde sehr gerne ein Mal für langere Zeit dortin reisen, mit einem Kamper wurde irre sein! Wie warend meine “jungere Jahre” ah ah ah 🙂 🙂 schöne Woche :-)c
Lovely to spend time with your dear mum Claudine. Really lovely photos.
Thank you Sue… the pictures where taken with the cell phone, not really a good quality! But such memories are engraved into the heart.
Hugs and have a lovely week :-)c
What a marvelous trip! You certainly did some exploring, how lovely to have that time with your mum. xxx
splendido! 🙂 un abbraccio, Claudine e buon fine settimana.
Un forte abbraccio anche a te, carissima! Sto rileggendo il tutto, levando un bel po’ di “…” che effettivamente possono essere evitati il più delle volta. Non ho parole per ringraziarti! Ma avrò certamente modo di farlo di persona. A presto, con l’augurio di un mondo di serenità :-)c