Ships & Our Lady of Fatima

Well, its already March which means we have 2 weeks left in Portugal! Jared and I have been traveling around Lisbon and Portugal doing all the things we can that are left on our list. In the last 2 weeks, we have gone to Oriente (an area of Lisbon where the 1998 World Expo was held) and visited the Oceanario, walked the river-walk, and rode the Sky Shuttle, we visited the Museu do Oriente, which is dedicated to the Portuguese influence in Asia, the Mariner Museum, which is honestly one of our favorite museums ever, as well as visited Fatima, a small city northwest of Lisbon.

If there is one Museum to define the history of Portugal, it would have to be the Mariner Museum. The Portuguese were the first Europeans allowed in Japan, they were a huge part of the African slave trade, and they were the first to "discover" India and the Americas, so this museum, as you can imagine, was AWESOME!! Jared loved it because there was a lot concerning what he studies, but it was also cool to me because of all the replica ships, maps, paintings, and such. Not to mention the cargo hold that had tons of boats to see and touch, like the Royal Barge used in the 17th century for the King and Queen of Portugal. To see lots of pictures of this museum, click here.

Fatima is the place of holy apparitions of Mary to three children, in 1917. Since then, the sight has become a place of prayer and pilgrimage for many believers around the world. If you google Fatima, lots of sights come up with the story of the apparitions.To see some of our pictures, click here. The reason I wanted to go to Fatima was because of a book I read when I was younger called “The Unexplained”. It was a book about visions and sightings and ghost stories from around the world – kind of cheesy – but in it was Fatima. I always remembered the story and the place because it involved children and 3 secrets that they were not allowed to talk about until the Vatican released them. As an avid talker, I thought this was insane! If I saw a vision and it gave me a message, there is no way I could be silent about it!! Anyway, when Jared received the Fulbright, one of the first things I said was that I wanted to visit Fatima, and I did!

These last 2 weeks are going to be crazy because we want to leave with no regrets. Our plans include traveling to Cascais, Evora and Sintra (all cities in Portugal), watching at least one show in a theater here (I’m hoping for the Wizard of Oz which is playing this month), and listening to some live Fado (a Portuguese type of music that is soulful and moving). I have no doubt that these and more will be done by March 18^th! Wish us luck!

Love,

Michelle