LOURDES 00017
The journey to Lourdes takes 2 days from southern Italy. The trains are old, with no aircondition. The two sick cars accommodate the patients needing the most care. Despite the age of the train cars, it runs at a maximum allowed speed of 160km/hour. ====================== Despite the global economic crisis, the pilgrimage city of Lourdes in the south-west of France has only seen a slight decrease in the number of visitors that come to the city. Every year more than five (5) million people of all etnicities travel to this small and remote place at the foot of the Pyrénées mountains. In 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous allegedly saw what many believe to have been the Virgin Mary, Lourdes was nothing but a village of little interest to anyone. Since then, Lourdes has become the center of economic growth of the entire region. With more than 250 hotels in a city of 15.000 inhabitants, only Paris can accommodate more visitors on a nightly basis. The water of Lourdes is shipped to destinations all over the world on a daily basis. Trains of both sick and healthy pilgrims from all over Europe arrive at the station everyday, and depart every morning. People walk from the trains, or they are pushed in wheelchairs or on gurneys. But Lourdes is more than just numbers and financial perspectives. Those who believe that Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary while she was collecting animal bones by the river banks more than 150 years ago, come to Lourdes to find peace and pray for a cure to the illnesses of their loved ones. Others simply despise the Grotto of Lourdes and the religious tourism that it attracts. But few remain indifferent to it. Eric Saint-Germier, 52 years old, who died of cancer in October 2012, lived in the city of Lourdes. By his own perspective, he only had a few months to live. He knew he was going to die: "I respect people's faith," he said. "But I cannot stand the commercial aspect of the town." During that same month, the church proclaimed the 68th miracle to have taken place at the Grotto...
