Travel to Sacred Sites:
Serenity or Escape?

Some travel to sacred sites leads to man-made shrines, while other journeys will take you to mystical natural wonders like sacred trees and mountains and rivers.

There are thousands of sacred places and it would also take thousands of pages to list them all. So instead you'll read about just a few to whet your appetite for this kind of slow, sweet travel - and perhaps you'll add a few of your own to this list.

Europe's Sacred Past

In Europe, most sacred sites are of the human-made variety - abbeys, monuments, temples or shrines...

One of the greatest unexplained sites of Europe is England's Stonehenge, believed to be more than 5000 years old.

It's impressive up close, yet no one knows why it was built. Speculation ranges from astronomy to computer to alien spaceship docking station to human sacrifice. The most recent theory is that it is a giant female sexual organ - a symbol of fertility. Unfortunately, the stones are closed to the general public - you can only walk around the perimeter.

But you can walk through the stones of Avebury Henge, Britain's largest prehistoric stone circle, and even touch them. It's far less touristy than its neighbor Stonehenge, and pretty much as old. Many visitors believe it is the best bet of the two, although purists know many of the stones have been moved from their original places.

One of my favorite sacred European sites is the Benedictine Abbey on top of the tiny island of Mont-Saint-Michel, off the coast of Normandy in France (and not to be confused with St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, a similar site across the English Channel). According to legend, the monastery was built on the orders of the Archangel Michael - as was the English site, hence their name.

But beware. The tides are treacherous between the island and the Normandy coast. When they come in, they are faster than you can run so, no matter how tempting, take the causeway. People still die because at low tide, the seabed crossing looks so peaceful, even mystical.

Travel to sacred sites could be long-distance, by walking the St. James Way, known as El Camino, all the way to the sacred site of Santiago Cathedral. It houses the relics of St. James, or Santiago in Spanish, as well as pieces of what is believed to be the True Cross. Look for the shell on the altar - pilgrims kiss it as a sign of devotion - and gratitude at the end of their grueling journey on foot! This one is particularly close to my heart because El Camino (or at least a distant leg of it) passes right in front of my house in France.

Some travel to sacred sites is off-limites to women. Don't try to go to Mount Athos, a Greek Orthodox monastery that sits on a peninsula in Thessaloniki. Not only have women been barred from it for nearly a thousand years, but even female domestic animals aren't allowed.

On the other hand, the Flemish Béguinages are building clusters - churches, houses, gardens - created for communities of Flemish nuns. They were founded 800 years ago by women dedicated to God but who were not cloistered. They represent the unusual culture of northwestern Europe's independent religious women, and are classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of churches, basilicas, cathedrals and abbeys that populate every corner of the continent.

Europe also has its share of natural sacred sites.

Each year, up to a million pilgrims climb Mount Croagh Patrick, in County Mayo in Ireland. They walk the stations of the cross and attend Mass. As in many Catholic pilgrimages, it also serves as penance - in which case the climb takes place barefoot. Around 1 August there is a harvest festival, which was particularly important for women, who slept on the summit to promote fertility.

Travel to sacred sites from biblical times

From Europe to the Middle East, sacred sites dating back to biblical times stretch across the land.

The life of Jesus is rife with tales of sacred sites, most of which are in present-day Israel. Some of the most famous include the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, where it is believed the Angel Gabriel visited the Virgin Mary and told her she would undergo an 'immaculate conception' by the Holy Spirit; the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, reportedly built over the manger in which Jesus was born; the Jordan River, site of baptisms; the Church of Loaves and Fishes, where Jesus is said to have multiplied food to feed the multitudes; and the Tomb of Christ, possibly the most sacred site in Christendom, where the body of Jesus was laid to rest.

Rachel's Tomb, between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, is an important Jewish pilgrimage site, especially for infertile women. It is the third holiest site in Judaism.

And still in the East...

Photo: Inyucho via Flickr

Hagya Sofia in Istanbul is now a museum but acknowledged as one of the world's great buildings. It was once a Mosque, and a Byzantine church before but no longer a pilgrimage site. Any travel to sacred sites in Istanbul should include both the Blue and the Suleyman mosques, which continue to attract worshippers.

Another Christian-Muslim place of worship is the Mezquita (Spanish for Mosque) in Cordoba, in southern Spain. In contrast to Hagya Sofia, the Mezquita was first a Mosque and then a church: it is now Cordoba's main cathedral. Both of these buildings are extraordinary, whether you are religious or not, simply because they are intricate, magnificent and have stood the test of time.

Great Mosque of Djenne
Photo: zibaloo_1 via Flickr

You can travel to sacred sites in the heart of Africa, to the unusual Great Mosque of Djenne, in Mali, the world's largest building built with mud bricks.

Mecca in Saudi Arabia is, of course, holds the holiest mosque in Islam but is off-limits to non-Muslims and open to women only if they are accompanied by a man. Other notable Muslim sites include the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

If you prefer travel to sacred sites that are not man-made, four sacred mountains stand out in Judeo-Christian tradition:

• Mount Sinai, in Egypt, where Moses received the Ten Commandments
• Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, the presumed resting place of Noah's Ark
• Mount Zion in Israel, home to King David's Tomb and the Room of the Last Supper
• Mount Tabor, also in Israel, is believed by some to be the site of the Transfiguration (metamorphosis) of Jesus though this is widely disputed

Travel to sacred sites should include Mount Nebo in Jordan, overlooking the River Jordan and the Holy Land, mentioned in both the Torah and the Bible and may be the site from which Moses viewed the Promised Land. Pope John Paul II visited Mount Nebo during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land and planted a peace symbol - an olive tree - on its mountainside.

Travel to sacred sites of the East

Photo: Vijaykiran via Flickr

If you travel to sacred sites further east, Mount Kailash in Tibet is sacred to Hindus, Jains and Tibetan Buddhists - it is the most respected but least visited sacred mountain because of its remarkable holiness since time immemorial. It is believed that 108 tours around the mountain (clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on the faith) is a direct path to enlightenment, as is a dive into nearby - and also sacred - Lake Manosaravar.

China has two sets of sacred mountains. One is linked to Taoism and the other to Buddhism. But perhaps its most sacred mountain is Tai Shan, which is considered a god in itself. The Temple of the Princess, one of two temples at the top, may be China's foremost women's pilgrimage site.

Travel to sacred sites is easy in Bali, whose most sacred mountain is Mt Agung, or Gunung Agung, still an active volcano that occasionally spews ash and is the island's highest point. In fact most of Indonesia's volcanoes are sacred in some way, with ceremonies marking the various stages in people's lives.

Mount Fuji, or Fujiyama, is the highest mountain in Japan - you've probably often seen it on postcards, with its perfect snow collar. It is dedicated to the goddess Sengen-Sama, whose shrine is at the summit. Many people climb Mount Fuji - the first ascent was apparently by an unknown monk in 663 - but it was only opened to women climbers in the early 20th century. The mountain is believed to be the gateway to another world.

Not all sacred mountains are in Asia and you can also travel to sacred sites in North America. Native Americans have sacred mountains in the USA, such as the four sacred mountains of the Navajo:

• Blanca Peak in Colorado, also know as Dawn or White Shell Mountain
• Mount Taylor, known as Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain in New Mexico
• Abalone Shell Mountain in the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, Arizona
• Hesperus Mountain (Big Mountain Sheep) in Colorado

There are plenty of other Native American sacred mountains, such as Chief Mountain in Montana (sacred for hundreds of years) and Mount Shasta in California, a ritual center not only for Native Americans but for other faiths and some cults as well.

And in Australia, any travel to sacred sites would begin with Ayer's Rock - more of a rocky plateau than a mountain. It is considered sacred by Aborigines, who call it by its official name, Uluru. While many visitors want to (and do) climb it, the Aboriginal owners ask visitors to respect the rock's sacred nature and to refrain from climbing.

Travel to sacred sites of the Americas

Central America is filled with sacred sites. The Mayan city of Tulum, in additional to being a trading city, was also a pilgrimage site for Mayan women heading towards Cozumel, once a holy island. On Cozumel, the sanctuary of Ix Chel has been paying homage to the Mayans primary goddess for 800 years.

And then there's travel to Peru - to be more precise, travel to Machu Picchu, the sacred site of Incas. This sacred city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the best-preserved city of the former Inca empire, and receives - unfortunately to its detriment - hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

For Machu Picchu, first travel to Cuzco
Photo: eralon via Flickr

What is your favorite sacred place?

Have you come across an inspiring sacred place during your travels? What impression did it have on you? What was special about it? Was it worth the journey?

Please share your thoughts and impressions with us - we'd love to discover new sacred places we may not have thought of.

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