Mexico City: Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe

They sure do love their churches here in Mexico, which is a lovely thing! There are so many, but each one we've visited so far has been different and incredibly, incredibly beautiful. They just feel so sacred and full of love and devotion. Even though I'm not Catholic, I've enjoyed our brief stops in them a lot.

But my favorite has to be the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was one of our next stops. The Virgin of Guadalupe is pretty much THE trademark patron of Mexico. You'll find pictures of the Virgin EVERYWHERE, on EVERYTHING.

But the legend is pretty cool. Supposedly, during the colonial era when the indigenous people were being converted to Catholicism, an Indian man saw an apparition of the Virgin who told him to tell others to build a church dedicated to her. When he did so, the local Bishop did not believe him so, downtrodden, he returned to the place on the mountain where he had seen her. She appeared again and told him to fold up flowers in a cloak and open it to the bishop. He did so, and when he did, the flowers fell and revealed on the cloak a beautiful portrait of the Virgin herself. The Bishop believed, the Basilica was built, and to this day the cloak and its image are on display.

The old Basilica

The shrine of the cloak