Join Father SIFISO NDLOVU on an exciting Pilgrimage to Italy, Portugal and France. From the beautiful Basilicas of St Francis in Assisi to the ancient Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo, home of Padre Pio, to the Basilicas of Rome. You will then head to Fatima. Travel by road to Lourdes passing through Santiago de Compostela, Leon and Burgos. In Lourdes you will visit the healing baths, the upper and lower Basilicas and have international Mass in the Grotto.
R53 995.00 pp/s based on 25 person
Subject to change
Services Included
Services Excluded
Tour Itinerary
Day 1: JOHANNESBURG SUN, 10 SEP 2023
Meet at O.R Tambo International Airport at the check in counter for your flight to Rome. Please ensure that you arrive at the airport at least 4 hours prior to departure.
Overnight on board your flight
Day 2: ROME, ASSISI MON, 11 SEP 2023
Arrive in Rome, proceed through customs, collect your luggage and exit the terminal. Meet the guide and transfer to Assisi. Meet the guide in Assisi and visit St. Francis Basilica dedicated to the saint. Explore the quaint hilltop birthplace of St. Francis that still retains something of the atmosphere of the early 1200s, the period when the saint began his ministry. Contained within the huge 13th-century Basilica are many of the saint’s possessions and a series of frescoes by Giotto depicting his life. After a look at the ancient Roman temple, we go to the Basilica of St. Clare to see the saint’s incorrupt body. The foundress of the Order of Poor Clares followed the teachings of St. Francis by living a life of poverty and humility. Possible private Mass. Check in to your accommodation upon arrival.
Dinner and overnight in Assisi
Day 3: ASSISI, SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO TUE, 12 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation. Celebrate private Mass in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, built around the Porzuincola. Enjoy a guided visit by a local friar and thereafter transfer to San Giovanni Rotondo. Check in to your accommodation upon arrival.
Dinner and overnight in San Giovanni Rotondo
Day 4: SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, ROME WED, 13 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation and celebrate private Mass at the ancient Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Thereafter enjoy a guided visit of the new Church and the convent where Fr. Pio spent a good part of his mission: especially the crucifix from which he received the stigmata in 1918. You will see the confessional where Padre Pio spent innumerable hours with a multitude of pilgrims, directing them on their journey towards God.
Time at leisure for private devotion.
In the afternoon, transfer to Rome and check in to your accommodation upon arrival.
Dinner and overnight in Rome
Day 5: ROME THU, 14 SEP 2023
After breakfast, visit St. John Lateran, the seat of the papal throne, the oldest and the first in the established order of the papal basilicas and St. Mary Major, the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrate private Mass. In the afternoon, transfer to St. Paul Basilica, situated on the road that led to Ostia and built over the burial place of Paul the Apostle. Transfer to the Vatican and visit St. Peter’s Basilica.
Dinner and overnight in Rome
Day 6: ROME, LISBON FRI, 15 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation and transfer to Rome Apt for your flight to Lisbon: arrive in Lisbon and collect your luggage. Meeting the guide and visit the city, including St. Anthony church. Transfer to the hotel in Fatima and check in to your accommodation upon arrival.
Dinner and overnight in Fatima
Day 7: FATIMA SAT, 16 SEP 2023
After breakfast, celebrate at the Chapel of the Apparitions.
Meet the guide and transfer by coach to visit to Valinhos e Aljustrel, to see the houses of the three Shepards.
Visit to the permanent exhibition “Light and Peace”
In the afternoon, guided visit of the Shrine.
Dinner and overnight in Fatima
Day 8: FATIMA SUN, 17 SEP 2023
After breakfast, depart to the monastery of Batalha and meet the local guide. (interiors and cloisters). Continue to Nazaré, ancient fisherman place: ascent to the Sitio, panoramic point overlooking the Atlantic ocean and visit of the small chapel of Nazaré.
Free lunch.
Continue to the Monastery of Alcobaça, visit the interiors (cloisters excluded).
Dinner and overnight in Fatima
Day 9: FATIMA , SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA MON, 18 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation and transfer to Santiago de Compostela.
In the afternoon, enjoy a guided visit Santiago with the cathedral where you can see the remains of St. James, housed within a silver crypt. A statue of St. James the Apostle sits high above the main altar and the enormous censor, known as the “botafumeiro.”
Dinner and overnight in Santiago de Compostela
Day 10: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, LEON, BURGOS TUE, 19 SEP 2023
After breakfast check out of your accommodation and transfer to Burgos, with stop on the way in Leon for a guided visit to its very important historic-artistic monuments, like its Cathedral, a Gothic gem and a masterpiece of the Gothic architecture with the best collection of stained-glass windows in Europe (only after Chartres), the Roman Saint Isadora Basilica (eleventh and twelfth century) and the Saint Marcus Monastery, with its fantastic front decorated with shells (the symbol of the pilgrim).
Dinner and overnight in Burgos
Day 11: BURGOS, LOURDES WED, 20 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation and transfer to Lourdes. Meet the local guide and visit this beautiful city which still preserves important vestiges of its medieval splendor: visit the cathedral declared a World Heritage site. Check in to your accommodation upon arrival.
Dinner and overnight in Lourdes
Day 12: LOURDES THU, 21 SEP 2023
After breakfast, enjoy a guided tour of Lourdes: see the places where Bernadette use to stay, the Cachot where she was living during the time of the apparitions, Her Birthhouse and the Hospice where she retired after the apparitions and where she received her first holy communion. You will end the tour on the shrine and see the underground basilica and the rosary basilica.
Time at leisure for private devotion: possible private Mass.
After dinner, possible participation to the candlelight procession on the shrines’ esplanade.
Dinner and overnight in Lourdes
Day 13: LOURDES FRI, 22 SEP 2023
After breakfast, celebrate private Mass in a chapel of the shrine or concelebrated Mass at the Grotto.
Enjoy the day at leisure for private devotion, with opportunity to visit the healing baths and take part in the Way of the Cross.
Dinner and overnight in Lourdes
Day 14: LOURDES, JOHANNESBURG SAT, 23 SEP 2023
After breakfast, check out of your accommodation and depart to the Airport for your flight to Johannesburg.
Dinner and overnight on board your flight
Day 15: JOHANNESBURG SUN, 24 SEP 2023
Arrive in Johannesburg at O.R. Tambo International Airport.
