Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Lourdes 7th June

What has this round-about guy got to do with Lourdes? Absolutely nothing, but sometimes I think Roger feels like doing this after he has been driving for 2½ hours in French traffic, either throwing his arms up in total disbelief of their driving skills or lack thereof, or he is triumphant in the fact he survived the journey.

The drive to Lourdes is scenically pleasant as most of it is rural countryside, and even when you arrive in the city there is very little traffic and lots of free car parking.
You wouldn’t know until you walk into the centre of the village that the quietly unassuming town on the fringes is the 4th most frequented Catholic Marian Pilgrimage site in the World, or the second biggest hotel city in France.

Located at the foot of the Pyrenees, Lourdes became a centre of Catholic Pilgrimage in 1858 when there was a supposed apparition of the Virgin Mary. So like the millions of other pilgrims who visit each year we went off in pursuit of a spiritual experience. Unlike Roger, I haven’t been to the Vatican City, so I can’t compare it, but he tells me Lourdes is quite modest in comparison, there is not the overstated gold opulence everywhere here.

Here is some of our day:

• First stop was to buy cheese for lunch
  Cheese Experience No.47 - Tomme de Pyrenees A local cheese, described as a mild, ivory white, rustic cheese. It is made and matured at the same place that the milk is produced. A Tomme is any medium size round disk of pressed cheese, in other words it refers to the shape the cheese is formed into when it is left to mature. The cheese below still carry’s the Tomme name even though it is only a small wedge of a larger round.

• The Parish Church of the Sacred Heart of Lourdes

• The Catholic spiritual souvenir shops leading up to the main pilgrimage site. I’m the perfect consumer; I bought the container to put my holy water in, which comes from a spring further down the road

• The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes - there is an outdoor setting for big events, then in the interior: a chapel on level one, a crypt on level 2 and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on level 3. The terrace includes the crown, the only bit of gold bling

• The Cave of Massabielle where in 1858 , Bernadette Soubirous was said to have seen 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary and to have discovered a source whose water has since been considered miraculous by believers. We sat here for some time watching the pilgrims and waiting for the prayers to be read

• A view from across the river, people are watching history videos, outside the baths with the special healing waters

• The candles - to light a candle in a French Catholic church can cost anywhere between 1 to 5 euro, these candles sell for up to 500 euro. They are placed in outside shelters, which is a good idea as quite a number of the older church ceilings are covered in a black film from the smoke, often destroying the frescoes

• Last photo is the Chateau fort of Lourdes on the hill. It wasn’t open when we climbed up the hill, it still mystifies me why a tourist attraction in a tourist town would be closed during the middle of the day [Ed: c'est la vie]