Tagged With "Father Serra"

So there really was a "Big Kahuna". I thought it was just a slang expression.

Somewhere I've got a snapshot of a very young me with a tiny lady holding an object who had insisted my friend take our picture in the garden together. It was in the village of Petra, Majorca and she officiated at the small museum commemorating Junipero Serra's birthplace. I was spending the summer on the island and every student educated in California knows his name almost as well as their own. The address of my high school was El Camino Real, Father Serra's road from mission to mission and...

We were there just before that, in January 2016, and found a broad wave of (over)optimistic expectation that we were the leading edge of a wave, and that Obama was something akin to Mother Theresa and Gandhi wrapped in one. On our last visit, this past January, we had less contact with locals, but found a belief among some that Trump was a glitch and soon the Americans would come again... It seems to me that there are a lot of misperceptions on all sides, including the idea that Cuba is what...

Interesting tour DrF. Other than a living museum does the mission have a function today ? Very comprehensive collection of photos and well described too. There must be a long and interesting story to these missions - other than teaching religion. Fascinating history of a new country. Thanks.

Thanks the comment Garry. Yes the mission still functions as a place of worship. But the main place of worship is the new basilica which is right next door. Today it is mostly a museum.

  AS we've discussed in the past, younger travelers have different demands for room accomodations than their parents did.  Besides the growth in AirBnB demand, many of the "flashpacker" travel generation are opting for upscale hostels....

  Duke Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968) is a legend in the world of surfing, but this was only one of his many great achievements.   Duke (aka "The Big Kahuna") was born in Honolulu and grew up in Kalia, Waikiki (near...

  Seen from Porto, Portugal, the Serra do Pilar Monastery crowns a hilltop in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto's across-the-river neighbor. The convent and its round church date to the 15th century. If it looks a lot like a fort, that should be no...

  Congratulations to ace traveling sleuths, PortMoresby and TravelRob, for recognizing Mission San Juan Capistrano!  That's indeed where Gumbo was.  Jonathan L also suggested the Los Angeles Mission, which I've never visited but...

Once the Presidential Palace (and scene of an attempted coup d'etat) this impressive building is now a museum of Cuba's revolutions. In front, a piece of the 17th-century city wall.

Samantha shares her emotional yet wonderful visit to her granmother's home town of Dresden, Tennessee on what would have been her 107th birthday.

Samantha shares more pictures from her tour of the only open air Capitol in the US, the Hawaii Capitol.

Jonathan L takes a road trip up the Hudson River to visit the contemporary art at Dia:Beacon

A quiet church now, in a quiet community, Carmel was once the center of California's Spanish mission system.

Like all of California's missions, Santa Ines has a story to tell; and as with many of the others, the story is complex and uneasy.

PHeymont shares views, notes and some history from Portugal's second-largest city.

Palermo Cathedral is one of the Arab-Norman cathedrals for which the region has received UNESCO recognition. It has a fabulous exterior that is well worth seeing

I love honesty in advertising!  When a place as historically famous as Mission San Juan Capistrano tells you it's "Worth a Visit", it's not only a believable claim but likely one of the most understated in all of California.