Now that my travel series to Branson is over, I thought I would spend the next several weeks sharing our fall travels. My husband and I travel a lot during the fall for we enjoy all the fun activities fall has to offer. We love the fall foliage, all the fall festivals, and the cooler weather, if there is any. It seems the past few years fall has felt more like summer and then suddenly goes straight into winter. We planned our first fall weekend trip the second week of October, where there is usually a riot of color. This year however, the color was very late, if we had any color at all. I tried to google what happened to our fall color in Wisconsin, but no one had any answers for me, other than most people thinking there wasn't much color this year.
Color or no color, hotel reservations were made quite a long time ago for they fill up fast in the fall, so we still took our weekend trip and I was glad we did, for we had a great time. We planned on spending the weekend in a beautiful small town on the shores of Lake Michigan called Port Washington. But first, we stopped at a place called "Holy Hill" which has long been on my bucket list.
Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians sits on top of the highest elevation of Southeastern Wisconsin. In the fall, visitors come from all over to climb its 192 foot scenic tower to get views of amazing fall color. See that spire on the right in the photo below. Yup, I climbed 178 stairs to the very top open window to get those scenic views, and for someone who is afraid of heights, yes, it was scary!
Approximately half a million people from all over the world make the pilgrimage to Holy Hill.
The Neo-Romanesque basilica was built in 1926.
Visitors are welcome to attend daily mass, climb the spire, or walk their beautiful grounds and experience the Stations of the Cross.
Every detail of this basilica is incredible starting with these gorgeous entrance door. You are allowed to walk around the building and take photos, but not during mass. They also ask that you be quiet and respectful as a lot of patrons come to the basilica in between mass to pray.
I am not Catholic. I was raised and baptized a Catholic but converted to Protestantism in my early twenties. I love the worship and Bible teaching of my current religion, but I often miss the beauty and holiness of the Catholic Church.
The sanctuary has gorgeous mosaics.
Beautiful stained glass depicting the life of Christ surrounded the nave.
This incredible painting of Jesus was located in the Sacred Heart Alter.
The Shrine Chapel is located just off the main church and houses a rare statue of Mary. It is separated by glass doors from the main sanctuary. Here you can quietly light a candle and pray. I just loved the ceiling which looked just like a starry night sky.
Now it was time to climb the tower! The warning of "Good Luck" climbing the 178 stairs was hysterical.
At first, the ascent was fun. The staircase was wide enough and there were landings to rest a bit before continuing the climb.
We could hear the organ music playing in the sanctuary coming from the other side of this beautiful door.
There are multiple landings with open, but barred windows to look out of before you get to the tippy top. I felt pretty safe here. It is very cold and windy the higher up you go. The temperature can vary vastly from the ground to the top of the spire.
I loved seeing the top of the spire that was opposite from the one we were in. What a cool perspective.
When you get to the very top, these are your views. It would have been much more spectacular had we had any fall color this year. You can look at their website and see what this view looks like in a typical fall. It is incredible.
I was most nervous at the very top so I don't have many pictures. Even though I knew I was perfectly safe, I was really experiencing vertigo. At the very end of your climb, the staircase gets very narrow and you have to crawl up a doorway to get to the final landing.
After our tour of the Basilica and the 178 stair climb, we were hungry so we headed over to the Holy Hill Cafe. There is a cafe, gift shop, and a guest house on the Basilica grounds. We thought the cafe was super cute and the food and coffee was excellent.
This cross is the oldest relic of Holy Hill. It was erected in 1858. The 14 foot cross was hewn by a parishioner and custodian of Holy Hill from a white oak that grew at the foot of the hill. Carved into the wood are German words that when translated to English read: "I am the life, who believes in Me shall be Saved".
Perhaps my favorite part of Holy Hill was The Stations of the Cross. It is a beautiful walk through a peaceful forest where you can experience 14 stations of the last few days of Jesus' life.
Pictured below is the entrance to the Stations of the Cross with the first station pictured in the background.
The Stations took Milwaukee sculpture Joseph Aszklar fourteen years to complete. He finished in 1928.
I won't show all fourteen stations, but here are just a few so you can get an idea of what they are like. Pictured below is "Jesus falls a second time".
This is "Jesus dies on the Cross".
"Jesus taken down from the cross".
The chapel is dedicated to a Discalced Carmelite nun from France who died in 1897 and was canonized in 1925. She showed a remarkable grasp of Christ's grace and mercy in her autobiography.
And the last one I have to show you "Jesus is laid inside the tomb".
There is also one more chapel on the property called The Chapel of St. Therese. It is located below the main church. Today this chapel is used for liturgies for special groups and for masses in the winter when the congregation is smaller.
It is a beautiful little chapel filled with stunning stain glass windows and interesting architecture.
Have A Great Day! Amy
