Editor’s Note: Tom and Sue Melillo traveled extensively to Catholic shrines and have graciously shared their experiences with us via their daily “trip reports”. Sadly, Tom is no longer with us, but his trip reports live on…and so do the memories of this faith-filled man.
Bueno Dias:
Sure you thought we were going to take the day off, we almost did but it’s Sunday and going to Mass every day doesn’t count as much as we just wanted to stay in our apartment. We woke up fully refreshed, as Susan slept on the large sofa and I had the bed. I think she got the better deal. I made breakfast with the vulture eggs we bought and some ham and cheese and toast and a pot of coffee and we headed out at 9 AM in order to make the 10:30 Mass.
This shrine was only 24 miles away but we didn’t know what to expect as far as the drive. It was a good thing we left early, the road was awful although the ride was beautiful along the northern coast of Spain. The narrow roads were treacherous and the bikers and walkers didn’t make it any easier. Susan developed a headache early on and I also did 1/2 way through.
This ride made the Amalfi Coast look tame with so many blind corners, S-Turns and the like … that at the end I just wanted to jump out of the car. We had to park over a mile from the Basilica of Our Lady of Lekeitio and walk back. I didn’t care, I was out of the car yet, I was plotting our course back for the next 2 hours, there had to be a better way.
The church was quite spectacular and old, right near the ocean. Today wastheir First Holy Communion Service and the children were precious…..Theadults, another story. Mass was hard to follow since the priest kept stoppingat the most important parts and would talk for 5 minutes. We were hoping he was instructing the children if not he needs a friend to talk to.
The children went to receive Communion the same time everyone went to theside altars to receive from the EMOCH’s. They needed some guidance fromsome of the ushers to pull this off properly but Susan and I kept our mouths shut and sat there.
At the end of Mass they began the procession of the Blessed Sacrament intothe town. We took a couple of photos before the church emptied, saw thefamous miraculous statue of sailors and made our way along the route. Wesnapped a couple of photos in the Basilica Plaza but we didn’t want to spendanymore time than we had to because we had another 2 stops so we made our way back to the car and headed out, gratefully via another route.
The next stop was only 12 miles away in Markina-Xemein (The Parish Hermitage of San Michel the ArchAngel and Saint Pallonia (the local Saint). Butit took forever with construction and treacherous “S Turn” (Welcome toBasque Country roads). I think we were both thinking it’s time to go home to our cozy apartment.
We were glad we went to this famous shrine, where it is said that St. Michael cast Satan into hell and placed the rocks on top that are believed to be 40 million years old. As I walked under them, I was hopeful that they had at least another 1/2 hour to go before they crumbled.
(See Photos.)
Our next stop that we had planned … we skipped. We were done for the day. We headed back to our “hacienda apartment” and arrived by 2:00 P.M. after 5 hours it took us to attend Sunday Mass and drive a total of 60 miles.
Our first line of business after arriving “home” was a Sunday cocktail to get rid of the terror shakes from the drive up and down. Susan then began to expedite the drying of our laundry via the hair drying in our apartment. Our laundry had been out on the “dry rack” for two days and was still wet.
I began preparing for our dinner this evening before I “faded” and Susancontinued trying to type as I lie here on the couch “chilling” after a grueling drive. I realize I love this sofa … maybe I’ll let Susan have the bed tonight and I’ll take the oversized couch with my “body pillow”.
We had a great dinner of steak, mushrooms (for me), corn (for Susan on her potato), nuked potatoes and a nice bottle of 2008 “something Tinto”.
After cleaning up, we locked up our apartment for the last evening, sat andtried to find English speaking TV for about 30 seconds and retired for the evening … looking forward to tomorrow.
In the morning, we are back in France.
So, Au Revoir … Adios from Espana!
Hail, White Lily of the ever peaceful and glorious Trinity! Hail Vermilion
Rose, the Delight of Heaven, of whom, the King of Heaven was born, and by
whose milk He was nourished! Do thou forever feed our souls by the
effusions of your divine influences.
Amen.
Love Susan & Tom
Bueno Dias:
Sure you thought we were going to take the day off, we almost did but it’s Sunday and going to Mass every day doesn’t count as much as we just wanted to stay in our apartment. We woke up fully refreshed, as Susan slept on the large sofa and I had the bed. I think she got the better deal. I made breakfast with the vulture eggs we bought and some ham and cheese and toast and a pot of coffee and we headed out at 9 AM in order to make the 10:30 Mass.
This shrine was only 24 miles away but we didn’t know what to expect as far as the drive. It was a good thing we left early, the road was awful although the ride was beautiful along the northern coast of Spain. The narrow roads were treacherous and the bikers and walkers didn’t make it any easier. Susan developed a headache early on and I also did 1/2 way through.
This ride made the Amalfi Coast look tame with so many blind corners, S-Turns and the like … that at the end I just wanted to jump out of the car. We had to park over a mile from the Basilica of Our Lady of Lekeitio and walk back. I didn’t care, I was out of the car yet, I was plotting our course back for the next 2 hours, there had to be a better way.
The church was quite spectacular and old, right near the ocean. Today was their First Holy Communion Service and the children were precious…..The adults, another story. Mass was hard to follow since the priest kept stopping at the most important parts and would talk for 5 minutes. We were hoping he was instructing the children if not he needs a friend to talk to.
The children went to receive Communion the same time everyone went to the side altars to receive from the EMOCH’s. They needed some guidance from some of the ushers to pull this off properly but Susan and I kept our mouths shut and sat there.
At the end of Mass they began the procession of the Blessed Sacrament into the town. We took a couple of photos before the church emptied, saw the famous miraculous statue of sailors and made our way along the route. We snapped a couple of photos in the Basilica Plaza but we didn’t want to spend anymore time than we had to because we had another 2 stops so we made our way back to the car and headed out, gratefully via another route.
The next stop was only 12 miles away in Markina-Xemein (The Parish Hermitage of San Michel the ArchAngel and Saint Pallonia (the local Saint). But it took forever with construction and treacherous “S Turn” (Welcome to Basque Country roads). I think we were both thinking it’s time to go home to our cozy apartment.
We were glad we went to this famous shrine, where it is said that St. Michael cast Satan into hell and placed the rocks on top that are believed to be 40 million years old. As I walked under them, I was hopeful that they had at least another 1/2 hour to go before they crumbled.
(See Photos.)
Our next stop that we had planned … we skipped. We were done for the day. We headed back to our “hacienda apartment” and arrived by 2:00 P.M. after 5 hours it took us to attend Sunday Mass and drive a total of 60 miles.
Our first line of business after arriving “home” was a Sunday cocktail to get rid of the terror shakes from the drive up and down. Susan then began to expedite the drying of our laundry via the hair drying in our apartment. Our laundry had been out on the “dry rack” for two days and was still wet.
I began preparing for our dinner this evening before I “faded” and Susan continued trying to type as I lie here on the couch “chilling” after a grueling drive. I realize I love this sofa … maybe I’ll let Susan have the bed tonight and I’ll take the oversized couch with my “body pillow”.
We had a great dinner of steak, mushrooms (for me), corn (for Susan on her potato), nuked potatoes and a nice bottle of 2008 “something Tinto”.
After cleaning up, we locked up our apartment for the last evening, sat and tried to find English speaking TV for about 30 seconds and retired for the evening … looking forward to tomorrow.
In the morning, we are back in France.
So, Au Revoir … Adios from Espana!
Hail, White Lily of the ever peaceful and glorious Trinity! Hail Vermilion
Rose, the Delight of Heaven, of whom, the King of Heaven was born, and by
whose milk He was nourished! Do thou forever feed our souls by the
effusions of your divine influences.
Amen.
Love Susan & Tom
