Valencia

At the end of August, myself and five other Brothers traveled to Spain for the ordination of one of our Brothers (more on this later) and for a bit of relaxing.  And, as it turns out, we evidently went there to eat!  Our first stop was Valencia.  It is a beautiful city that mixes both the medieval and the modern (as the pictures will show).  Our guide, Bro. Javi kept saying that it was "the city of the sun" but we only believed him when the sun came out after three days of rain and gray clouds.  Enjoy this first installment of pictures from my Spanish adventure.

Ciao!

Valencia and its architecture are really beautiful.

So, we'll start with the older section of town.

The Cathedral.

Mary, the patron of the city.

Supposedly the chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper.  And I always thought Indiana Jones had found it.

I actually thought the "chapel of the chalice" was nicer than the cup itself.

The hand of St. Vincent Martyr.  This one's for my friend Andrea.

The pulpit wear St. Vincent Ferrer preached.

The main altar of the Cathedral.

All the touring makes you hungry.  Here we tried horchata, a Valencian treat.  Sort of like a milkshake.

With Bro. Javi, our guide, at the beach.  Unfortunately, we never went into the sea because of bad weather.

Real Valencia oranges.

At the Marianist parish.

And now on to modern Valencia.  There is an area with museums, an opera house and a park.  All built around water features.

With Fr. Pachi.

Valencia's version of Central Park.

The Opera House.

Museums.

Chapel in the Marianist school.

The Marianist school.

More food.  This time, paella.

Here we are with a family that was very generous to us.  They fed us way too much food...

...gave us beautiful views of the beach...

...and let us stay in their villa.

Yes, there was a pool....

...and rooms with a view.

Valencia makes for a bunch of happy brothers.