Lourdes between tourism and faith

I confess that the idea of visiting Lourdes rather astonished me, since I am not a practising Catholic, but the experience was nevertheless lovely, interesting and worth repeating. Lourdes has two souls: that of the religious-tourism business, with shops, brasseries and restaurants everywhere, whole streets where the buildings are nothing but hotels, and the religious soul in the place of silence, of the churches, of the thousands of people on stretchers with the stretcher-bearers who then enjoy themselves in the evening, with the evening processions lit by hundreds of torches and the Ave Maria recited in every language, even the rarest. Outside the town, the caves of Bétharram, an interesting underground structure visible only in the summer months and partly covered by water (you go along a stretch ferried like Charon with the souls of sinners).

On the whole, a visit worth recommending, especially for those who love seeing these hidden treasures!