My Delayed Europe Trip Story

I'm sorry for the extra-long time distance between my posts... I was really confused on what to write, so I think should just share some things that happened during my Europe trip in June.

So from my hometown, Jakarta, I went to Madrid. Before that, I had a 2 hour transit in Abu Dhabi. I got bad indigestion when I arrived in Madrid, due to lack of sleep and not eating enough during the flight. I did not know any remedies for indigestion, so I just tried asking my father if we could get food. It turns out after I browsed, I found out that non-caffeinated tea with peppermint is the best remedy. When we landed, we quickly got our luggage and the tour group that I'm in took the bus to Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. We were not able to inside, since there was an ongoing soccer practice. We took a few pictures and went downtown. That was when my stomach got angry.... so my father and I got pizza. My mother rushed to the nearest Zara because she heard from a friend that it's cheaper there compared to the ones in Indonesia, but sadly she found nothing. We had lunch in Madrid and went straight to Ávila. Ávila is a very beautiful town, and we stayed the night there. It was nice despite the AC did not work... and there were dog hairs too. In the morning my mother and I went for a walk around Ávila. We stayed within the walls, so there was not a lot of ground to cover. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and went to Salamanca. We went to Salamanca's Cathedral, then had lunch. After lunch, we set off to Fátima, Portugal. 

Fátima is indeed beautiful, I fell for it the moment I stepped down the bus. But oh boy that place is actually the hottest throughout my whole trip. It was unbearable when the sun is shining, but when it sets, I love it because it's cool. It was summer there, so the sun only sets at around 9 p.m. When we arrived at Fátima, we went to our hotel, had dinner, then we had a holy mass. After the Holy Mass, we attended the candle procession. There is a procession every day at 9.30 p.m. After the candle procession, I felt very beat and went straight to bed. The next day, we went to have our group's Way of the Cross, there was a place nearby that enabled us to do so. After the Way of the Cross, we went to Sister Lucia's, Saint Jacinta and Saint Francesco's houses respectively. We also met Sister Lucia's niece. After those activities, we went to a gigantic souvenir shop, which has a restaurant in it practically, to have lunch. But before we had lunch, my family and I basically went souvenir shopping. I bought a couple of small Mother Mary of Fátima statues for me and a couple of close friends and I went outside to sit down because I felt really bummed out by the heat, not to mention I had a nosebleed the night before. When the restaurant opened, my family went up because we were very hungry and thirsty. Knowing that I got a nosebleed the night before and an indigestion when I arrived, my parents banned me from drinking alcohol related drinks, and basically because it was too hot outside. So when the person who worked at the restaurant asked me if I wanted to drink wine or not, I sadly declined and got peach juice instead :(. Lunch was good because there was sriracha sauce there, which made my food slightly spicier. I’ve been dying to eat spicy food even though it has only been 3 days. After lunch, we had another Holy Mass and then we went to a museum that was about the apparitions of the Lady of Fátima. We had a break for a few hours and I took a nap, the best nap I have ever had. We then had dinner and we went to pray the Rosary on our knees. It was tiring, and my knee got scraped. Because I was too tired, I did not attend the candle procession but went back to the hotel to sleep.

The 4^th day of the trip was our last day in Fátima, and we got up early to join a Holy Mass with fellow Indonesians who came. After the Holy Mass, we showered, ate breakfast and headed to Burgos. However, we had a lunch break at Salamanca (again) at the exact same restaurant. Good thing the food there was good. When we reached Burgos, it was already 6 p.m., but as we expect from Europe summer weather, the sun is still shining very brightly. We went to the Burgos Cathedral and then went straight to the hotel to have dinner and call it a night. The next day we quickly went to Loyola, the Sanctuary of Loyola. The weather was very enjoyable for me because I like place with cool weather. We had a Holy Mass there, and after the Holy Mass, I had another nosebleed that lasted for around 10 minutes… which made me unable to pray in the Basilica. I was sad enough because of that, and also because my favorite shirt was also ruined by my blood. Luckily the shirt my mother got for me fits me, because practically the size I usually use is not available. We had lunch after and then we left Loyola for Lourdes. We passed by San Sebastián and the coast was very beautiful. When we arrived in Lourdes, it was around 6 p.m., so after we put our luggage, we went to eat dinner and then go to attend the candle procession.

In Lourdes, the candle procession starts at 9 p.m. I went to Lourdes 7 years ago, but I was still in primary so I did not remember so much. But I remembered that it has the coolest temperature that time, and I was very happy that it’s still cool there. During the candle procession, my parents and I met some of our tour friends from last year and we took photos. After the procession, we went to bed. We woke up very early the next day because we had to attend a Holy Mass before getting a bath in the Sanctuary. The queue for females is longer than the queue for males, so that is why we had to come very early. Despite coming early, we had to wait till 10.30 a.m. from 8.30 a.m. to get in. Whilst waiting, we prayed the Rosary. After the bath, we went for the Way of the Cross. After the Way of the Cross, we had lunch but the walk to our lunch place was very tiring… so much elevation. We ate Indonesian food, something that I finally enjoy. After lunch, we went to the church that baptized Saint Bernadette. We then went back to the hotel because we were given a break, so I took a nap. After the nap, I took a shower and then ate dinner. After dinner, we went for the candle procession again, but before that I stopped by a souvenir shop to get rosaries for a couple of friends. Since it was a Friday, the procession was more crowded than usual.

We left Lourdes the next morning and then went to Zaragoza. We went to a Basilica in Zaragoza but I forgot the name because it was rather complicated. We had lunch in Zaragoza and then took off to Lleida and spent the night there. I kind of forgot some things that happened there, I’m sorry about that. The next morning we went to Montserrat. Montserrat was very foggy when we arrived and quite cold, because it is located in the mountains. After Montserrat, we went to Barcelona to see a Basilica that has not been completed even after 135 years of construction, Sagrada Família. The Basilica has many complex designs inside and out, which made it difficult to build, but the designs contain beautiful symbolism and the Basilica is extraordinarily beautiful. After visiting Sagrada Família, we went to a nearby hotel to rest and call it a day since we had to go to Nice the next day, and it would be an 8 hour trip. There are strict regulations on driving in Europe, like speed limits and stops the time length of stops every two hours of driving, which turns an 8 hour trip into a 10 hour trip.

When we arrived in Nice, my mother wanted to go shopping, so we went somewhere that has department stores. My mother did not buy anything, but I did. After my mother’s attempt to shop failed, we wanted to go back to the hotel, but got lost because we had did not get Wi-Fi connection. Luckily, we met a fellow tour member so we went to the assigned dinner place together. So much for the phrase ‘getting lost in the city’… After dinner we went to a supermarket to get a few things and then we went back to the hotel. After leaving Nice we went to Monaco. Monaco is a very beautiful country, a small one too. The problem is that in my opinion Monaco is incredibly hot during summer because of its location, but I enjoyed it anyway. The view was splendid. We left Monaco after lunch and we went to Pisa. Of course in Pisa we would not miss the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa. Since the distance from Monaco to Pisa was a long one, after visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa, we went to Lucca, and that is where we spent the night.

The last destinations were Asisi, Rome and Vatican. After leaving Lucca, we went to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Asisi, and then the Basilica of Saint Clare of Asisi. We had lunch in Asisi and then we went straight to Rome. During this trip, I did not meet any traffic jams, well Rome was the first and last city I visited there that has traffic jams. It reminds me so much of Jakarta, which I was kind of already missing at that point. When we arrived in Rome, it was time for dinner, so we ate then we went to the hotel. The next day we went to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where we attended a Holy Mass since it was the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. After the Holy Mass we went to Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the place where the center of the Roman Catholic Church before Vatican. We initially planned to go to Vatican after visiting Basilica di Giovanni in Laterano, but since it was already very crowded in Vatican when we came, we moved it to the next day and went to Via Condotti and Spanish Steps instead.

On the last day of the trip, we went to Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore for a morning Holy Mass, and then we came back to Vatican. It was very crowded, but this time we went in anyway. The tour guide in Vatican has a lot of knowledge about the Basilica of Saint Peter, and I learned a lot from her. After visiting Vatican, we went to Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) to have our (very) delayed lunch. We ended up eating McDonald’s out of desperation. We then got gelatos for dessert. I then bought my favorite pasta, Arrabiatta for dinner. Not to forget that we threw coins at the Trevi Fountain, I had no problem throwing the coins because it is said that the coins were collected and put into a good cause. After leaving Trevi, we went straight to the airport and flew back home. My feet got swollen when I reached Jakarta due to the long flight. But I was very delighted to be back home!

It was a very memorable trip and I fully enjoyed it. I wish I could return in a year. J I will post some photos of the trip tomorrow. Thank you very much for reading!

*I will also provide concrete information about the places I visited so stay tuned! :)