Loiola and the Jesuits.

Riding in the front seat on the top deck of a double decker bus is the way to go if you want to tour the countryside in an unfamiliar place.  You have a FANTASTIC view, nothing's blocking it because you're up so high, and since you don't have to drive, you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenery until you arrive at your destination.  There is no other way I would have preferred to see the Basque country.

When we knew we were nearing our stop, we climbed down below and the driver, knowing we were headed to Loiola, told us (in a conglomeration of languages) that we weren't quite there yet.  Meanwhile, an old Basque woman also figured out we were headed to Loiola, so everytime we stopped she said, "No.  No."  :)  It was pretty funny, and nice to know people were watching out for us.  

We thought, since we couldn't even find Loiola on a map, we'd probably have to hike a few kilometers or so to get to the Basilica we wanted to find (Sanctuario de Loiola); boy, were we mistaken!!  The bus pulled up RIGHT IN FRONT of one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.  The old Basque lady gestured to me and said, "Aqui!  Aqui!  Loiola, aqui!!"  Which essentially means, "Here!  Here!!  This is Loyola!!"  The driver confirmed it, so we disembarked and marveled at the church before us.

Due to a stroke of sheer dumb luck, we managed to arrive right at the beginning of the 3 hours a day everything in the Sanctuary was open to the public!!  Woohoo!  (And even more remarkable was that the next bus, the one we'd need to take back to San Sebastian to catch our train, would pick us up just 20 minutes after everything closed!)  We stopped at the gift shop and bought some souvenirs, just in case it wouldn't be open by the time we were finished.  Ben had to make a little stop by the bathroom, but in my impatience, I was dying to go inside!!  I told him I'd meet him in a few minutes, and I walked up the stairs to the church.

Upon entering, the first thing I heard was amazing organ music, continuing the entire time we were inside.  This church was GORGEOUS.  Not quite like most other churches I've been to, even in Europe.  It was an ornate basilica, yes, but in a more simple, natural way...if that makes sense.  It was beautiful.

The sanctuary was built around St. Ignatius's childhood home, which is where he was born and where he had his conversion.  The original tower house he lived in is still standing and has been incorporated as a museum-like part of the whole complex.

We went out of the Basilica to try to find how to get to the house and came upon a woman in a booth--you had to buy a ticket to go in.  Bummer.  We spoke to the woman, first in Spanish, then finally in English, and she asked us how we had heard about the sanctuary.  I explained that we had both graduated from Gonzaga University, a Jesuit school in the States.  She immediately brightened up, and said, "Yes?  For you, it is free!"  AWESOME.

We went in and explored, and it was awesome to be walking in the same place where the man who started the Jesuits used to walk.  Ben remarked that this guy, St. Ignatius, had had a direct and very major impact in his life--indeed, in both our lives.  If he hadn't started the Jesuits, there would probably not have been a St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and my alma mater--a major part of my life--wouldn't exist.  Pretty cool.

St. Ignatius was the founder of the Jesuit order, an order of priests dedicated to scholastics, service, and social justice, among other things.  Many, many religions and churches have taken ideas from Ignatian spirituality and incorporated those principles into their own faiths.  He came from nobility, and after fighting and nearly dying in a battle in Pamplona, he had a major conversion to God and lived a life of simplicity.  Sooooo cool.

(See how the Basque language (top) is NOTHING like Spanish (bottom)?)

So we got to see his birthplace, the site of his conversion (now a cool little chapel)...

...and then we wandered through a diorama display chronicling his life--it was awesome.  They also had a number of statues, belongings of his (hundreds of years old--he was born in 1491!!), beautiful stained glass windows about him, and much more.  It was cool to see all this about someone who had devoted his life to serving God and the poor.

Anyway, we finished up our tour of the house and the Basilica just as things were closing.  We had just enough time to sit down and write a few postcards before catching our bus back to San Sebastian to begin our next adventure.